More Favorites Fall Away in Paris

The next victim of an unseeded player is #17 ranked Bruno Muratore

Thursday, February 10, 2011: He did not really get going at all. Bruno Muratore from Italy lost with a 9-8 margin to England's Jayson Shaw. Muratore, a well-known face at plenty of international events for many years now, faced England's Jayson Shaw in his first match. The Italian is currently ranked #17 on the Euro-Tour rankings and is on paper definitely the favorite for this match. But, as often in sports, reality not always follows the statistics.

The match started being tight between the two players, before Shaw managed to get an 8-4 lead on Muratore. Having this comfortable lead, the young British player started to become a bit careless by missing relatively easy shots. The commentator on the EPBF livestream table, Marco Takis: "I expected Shaw to play fast as he always does. By keeping the pace that high, he committed unnecessary errors. Amazingly, Bruno was not able to benefit from that." Even Muratore views his performance today in a very critical light. "I am not in a good condition at this point in time. I am performing maybe 30% of my abilities. Today I was down 4-8 and only got back to 8-8 because I managed to pocket two nine-balls on the break. My performance is not good right now and today, Jayson was the better player. I will be coming back during this event I hope since some of my internal problems have resolved and I can concentrate and focus on my game from now on a lot better." Jayson Shaw is currently only ranked #120 on the Euro-Tour rankings but he also only has two events in the count. Being part of that dominant "British Force" that holds five spots out of the Top Ten ranked players, we can be sure to hear in the future from Shaw. "It would be interesting to see how the match would have evolved if Bruno would have played his regular level", Marco Takis stated after the match. Maybe we will get the chance to see that matchup again soon.

The other matches brought no real surprises. Most of the seeded players made their way through to the next round.

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.