Ralf Souquet
World no. 3 Ralf Souquet of Germany positioned himself as the man to beat at the 2010 Guinness World Series of Pool – 10Ball Challenge as he successfully completed his sweep of the preliminary rounds – dominating Indonesian representative Jajuli, 6 – 1 in the group opener and edging out long-time Filipino rival Ronato Alcano, 6 – 4, in the winner's bracket to barge into the single elimination round here at the Mal Taman Aggrek in Indonesia, Jakarta.
Raring to redeem himself after finishing a disappointing 17th at last July's 2010 World 9Ball Championships, Souquet quickly dispatched his Indonesian opponent in the morning session to enter the winner's bracket to face Alcano, who had earlier seemed to be in top-form himself when he cruised to an easy 6 – 3 victory over another local bet, William Tanizar.
In the evening session, all eyes were on the highly anticipated rematch between Souquet and Alcano from their epic 2006 WPA 9ball Finals battle in Manila where the Filipino emerged victorious.
Right from the start, the German seemed to be more focused as he managed to capitalize on the Filipino's errors in the first rack to jump to a 2 – 0 lead. But a silly miss by Souquet on a 1ball corner pocket attempt at the 2nd rack saw Alcano run out the table to get back into the action at 1 – 2.
The middle stages of the contest proved to be a treat for the capacity crowd at the competition venue as both contenders engaged in one heated safety battle after the next. However, it was Alcano who cracked first as he uncharacteristically missed a routine shot on the 10ball in the 5th rack. With momentum clearly on Souquet's side, he raced to an overwhelming 5 – 1 advantage in the race to 6 contest.
But the champion within Alcano simply refused to give up. Giving Souquet a taste of his own medicine, he played the safety game beautifully to force the German into a difficult shot on the yellow 1ball at the 7th rack. The resulting foul allowed the lanky Filipino to chain three successive run-outs of his own to catch-up at 4 – 5.
Ultimately, it was a case of too little too late for the Filipino as Souquet, breaking for the match, calmly stepped up to the table to orchestrate a brilliant series of bank shots to shut-out his opponent and emerge on top of the hill.
The action in Day 1 proved to be an exhilarating start to the prestigious tournament organized by ESPN STAR Sports. As expected, the top seeds showcased incredible pocketing skills to rule the double-elimination round. Aside from Souquet, notable players through to the single knockout stage include:
Carlo Biado (PHI) defeating Bambang Peodjiono (INA) 6 – 2 and Jimmy Jusman (INA) 6 – 3
Dennis Orcullo (PHI) defeating Jeffrey Andrianto (INA) 6 – 0 and Irsal Nasutio (INA) 6 – 4
Darren Appleton (GBR) defeating Bambang Susilo (INA) 6 – 1 and Hence (INA) 6 – 1
Naoyuki Oi (JPN) defeating Muhammad Zulfikri (INA) 6 – 4 and Ricky Yang (INA) 6 – 5
Antonio Lining (PHI) defeating Adi Purnomo (INA) 6 – 3 and Raymond Cruz (CAN) 6 – 0
Kuo Po-Cheng (TPE) defeating Deni Saputra (INA) 6 – 3 and Mika Immonen (FIN) 6 – 2
Pool fans can catch the telecast of the 2010 Guinness World Series of Pool – 10Ball challenge, broadcast LIVE on STAR Sports with fifteen hours of exhilarating competition from July 30 to August 01, 2010:
Fri, July 30, 2010 from 17.00-21.30 (HKT) Preliminaries
Sat, July 31, 2010 from 12.00-18.00 (HKT) Quarterfinals
Please visit www.guinnessworldpool.com and www.facebook/guinnessindonesia for more information
