Souquet and Van Den Berg in Finals

In an exciting match, Ralf Souquet outplays Niels Feijen and wins 9-7. He is the first player to reach the final match.

The semifinal started out relatively positive for Souquet. He showed a solid performance and took an early 4-1 lead. Then a few mistakes crept into his game. Feijen, a top player himself, accepted the invitation and tied the match at 4-4. “It was not my best and not my worst match here”, said Souquet modestly. “We have both made mistakes. I think my break was a bit better today than Niels'”.

In fact, Feijen managed to take a 5-4 lead but that was the only lead for him in the entire match. Souquet came back to 5-5 when Feijen committed an unnecessary foul. Souquet penalized him for that and turned the scoreboard to 8-5 in his favor. When Ralf was on the hill, Niels managed to get back and lessened that gap to 7-8. “Niels is like me in that aspect”, Souquet said. “He is a dangerous player and never gives up. You should never feel assure that you have beaten him before you have reached the final line.”

When Feijen broke the rack at 7-8, he did not pocket any ball and left an open table with all balls nicely spread out for Ralf, giving him an easy shot at the 1-ball. Ralf Souquet accepted the invitation and won the match 9-7.

Nick van den Berg sneaks into the final with a 9-8 victory over Kristoffer Mindreboe

In a breathtaking finish Nick van den Berg sneaked into the final match of the Dynamic France Open 2011 by defeating Kristoffer Mindreboe with 9-8

The match was relatively balanced. Both players played well and not so well and the quality went up and down. No wonder the scoreboard could be found at 8-8 in the end!

That one final game could not have been more dramatic. Kristoffer Mindreboe broke the balls and did not pocket any but also did not leave a shot for his opponent. Nick decided to play safe but did not play a good one. Suddenly the balls were all open and the Norwegian came to the table with all balls nicely spread out on the table for him, showing no real problems. Everyone thought he would run out that rack and he looked like the certain winner of that match. Surprisingly, he pocketed the 1-ball but snookered himself behind the 8-ball, forcing him to try and play a kick-shot into the 2-ball. He did that and Nick answered with another safety shot. Mindreboe played a foul and suddenly all odds were in favor of van den Berg. Having ball in hand, the Dutch player had a tough layout on the table in front of him. The 5-ball was the problem. He could not find a solution for it and played another safe on the 5-ball. Mindreboe tried to pocket the 5-ball over the rail but missed. Again, the balls were all open for Nick. Following the drama of that rack, Nick did not make the balls. He missed a relatively easy 6-ball and got lucky with what he left for Kristoffer. Mindreboe aggressively tried to bank again, and again failed. Now Nick van den Berg got all his nerves together and ran the rack to win the second semifinal with 9-8.

When being asked whether he expected the match to be that close, Nick replied “I did not believe I could win since I did not feel well when I was practicing for the match. I'm happy he also made mistakes and that the luckier end was on my side.”

The final match will be played between Ralf Souquet (GER) and Nick van den Berg (NED).

The event is hosted by the European Governing Body for Pool, the European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF) and organized by International Billiard Promotion (IBP). For further information and reference please go to the event website www.eurotouronline.eu or contact our press office.