10-Ball
With the closest result possible, Nick van den Berg (NED) wins over Tony Drago (MLT) 8:7.
Drago’s performance was, as usually, determined by aggressive and fast play. He went for all shots and did not take too much time, even if the situation was awkward. When playing with all shields down, of course sometimes one leaves a good position for the opponent. That is exactly what happened to Drago. After 10 racks, van den Berg was leading with 6:4. It looked like it would be a clear victory for van den Berg. But Drago is known to be a great shotmaker. Whenever van den Berg left him a shot, Drago ran the rack and closed the gap. Though van den Berg was even leading 7:5, he could not close the book on Drago. The “Tornado” from Malta even managed to tie the match at hill-hill. Then van den Berg broke the balls, pocketed one ball and almost had the cue ball scratching in the corner pocket. It was just lying outside the jaws of the pocket. Van den Berg played a push out and rolled the cue ball a bit forward, not giving any shot of value to Drago. But Tony Drago tried the impossible and failed, leaving an open table to van den Berg. The only problem left was the 7-ball which was uncomfortably close to the 10-ball. But van den Berg showed no nerves, played all balls down to the 7-ball and then announced the 10-ball in the side pocket. He played the 7-ball very thin and made the 10-ball in the called pocket. That gave him the rack and the match with a heartbreak result of 8:7.
Other notable results from tonight include Artem Koshovyi (UKR) steamrolling another local hero, Fabio Petroni (ITA) with 8:3. Oliver Ortmann (GER) won over Roger Rasmussen (NOR) with 8:7. The winner of the last Dynamic Euro-Tour in Sarajevo, Albin Ouschan (AUT), remained victorious over Babken Melkonyan (ARM). European 8-ball Champion Dominic Jentsch (GER) won his match over Tomas Larsson (SWE) with 8:6.