After two days of play the European squad at the Atlantic Challenge Cup are showing no willingness to surrender their ownership of the trophy. The American team has been able to capture only match each day while the Europeans have captured all of the rest and now own a 6-2 lead in this race to eleven games. If the Americans cannot break that trend then the Cup could be over as soon as Sunday evening, making a fourth day of play unnecessary.
Day two began with Scotch Doubles and the pairing of Maxim Dudanets and Andreas Madsen overwhelmed the American duo of Chris Robinson and Ricky Evens. The Euro pair led out to a 3-0 lead and never looked back, winning the match 6-2 and taking their lead out to 3-1 overall.
Next up was the ladies pining of Kristina Tkach and Diana Khodjaeva taking on April Larson and Serena Black. Different pairing but the dame result with the Euros winning 6-2 and gaining a 4-1 overall advantage.
The evening session saw the energy swing over briefly to the American side as Chris Robinson overcame Krystian Cwikla 6-3 to bring a ray of energy to the Americans and narrow the overall score to 4-2. But that was the only win that America would find Saturday as the Euros won the next match when Vitaliy Patsura bested Shane Wolford 6-3 and then Diana Khodjaeva steamrolled April Larson 6-1 to take the win and bring the score line to 6-2 and take the Europeans over halfway home to the eleven game goal line.
Play resumes Sunday at 2 PM CST and you are invited to join us on the free live stream at www.playcsipool.com/live-streaming. The American squad must dig deep today to keep hope alive but this is nine ball pool and we have seen comebacks in the past.
The Atlantic Challenge Cup is a co-presentation of the Billiard Congress of America and the European Pocket Billiard Federation. This event would not be possible without the very generous contributions of the sponsors. When making a buying decision please consider the companies who give back to the game. Our loyal contributors are: Connelly Tables, Aramith Billiard Balls, Atlas Billiard Supply, Matchroom Sport, Simonis Cloth, Master Chalk, Imperial International, Lucasi Cues, Predator Cues, McDermott Cues, Pechauer Cues, Viking Cues, AZBilliards, CueSports International, Brad Scuffer, The APA, and Ultimate Team Gear.
