 David Alcaide |
Spain's David Alcaide showed some more ‘dark horse' form at the PICC as he took down local hope Lee Van Corteza in an exciting match-up on TV Table Two.
The match was a thriller but the Spaniard was cool under pressure in the final racks to hold his nerve and record a 10-8 victory. That puts Alcaide through to the last 16 of the event for the second time in his career where he will meet Rodolfo Luat (Philippines)or Roy Apancho of Indonesia.
It was played in a great sporting spirit with the two players even high-fiving each other following a succession of high precision safety shots. The Malaga-based Alcaide, 27, is one of Europe's fast-improving players and plays with a great deal of confidence around the table.
The match itself was close run and with the score at 9-8 to the Spaniard, Corteza broke to keep himself in it. The nerves came with just three balls remaining as the Filipino missed a brown 7 by a long way to hand Alcaide a gilt-edged opportunity and he composed himself to run out and take a spot in the last 16.
“Filipino players have got a lot of respect around the world and he (Van Corteza) broke well throughout," said Alcaide (pictured right). "He made a mistake at the end and got punished though.
“I took lots of deep breaths at the end there and tried to get my head right. Winning the World Championship is a difficult thing to do but I've got to feel confident now.” composed himself to run out and take a spot in the last 16.
“Filipino players have got a lot of respect around the world and he (Van Corteza) broke well throughout," said Alcaide (pictured right). "He made a mistake at the end and got punished though.
“I took lots of deep breaths at the end there and tried to get my head right. Winning the World Championship is a difficult thing to do but I've got to feel confident now.”
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