Radoslaw Babica (Foto: EPBF/AMM)
After a tough match against Nikos Ekonomopoulos (GRE), Radoslaw Babica (POL) secured a seat for himself in the quarter-finals of the Eurotour's Treviso Open by winning the match 9-6.
It was a wire to wire victory for Babica. He took control of the match from the very beginning and Ekonomopoulos was always trailing behind. It seemed that Babica found the better safety shots and tactics that made the difference in that match. After the 12th rack, Ekonomopoulos was able to tie the match at 6-6. Then Babica went for his time out and obviously gained new strength. When he came back, Ekonomopoulos broke the rack but no ball went down. Babica played as cold as ice and ran the rack, taking a 7-6 lead. The next rack, Babica failed to pocket a ball on his break shot. Ekonomopoulos had a shot at the 1-ball and started pocketing balls but ran out of position for the 4-ball so he had to play a safety shot. Babica found the right answer for that and also won that rack, leading 8-6. The 15th and final rack turned out to be a bit unlucky for the Greek. He broke the rack, a ball went down but he had no shot on the 1-ball. He played a safety shot which Babica answered by playing a great safety shot himself. After thinking a while about the upcoming situation, Ekonomopoulos played an excellent safety shot and it looked very promising for him in that rack. Babica tried to fire the 1-ball in into the side pocket, missed it but got lucky since he fluked it in the side pocket on the opposite side of the table. He ran the rack from there, taking the match with 9-6. “It must be about two years ago that I have made it to this final stage of an event”, said Babica when asked after the tournament about his performance, “I practiced hard before this event since I will have to play two more events within the next two weeks. I also took a week off and spent it with my family. Sometimes that helps you generate new energy.”
Other notable results include Chris Melling (GBR) just making it to the quarter-finals 9-8 over Andreas Gerwen (SWE). Mario He (AUT) eliminated “Napoleon” Marcus Chamat (SWE) 9-4. Below are all results and matchups for the quarter-finals:
Final SIxteen Player Results:
Marcus Chamat vs Mario He 4-9
Dimitri Jungo vs Darren Appleton 5-9
David Alcaide vs Thomas Engert 9-4
Nick van den Berg vs Karl Boyes 9-8
Radoslaw Babica vs Nikos Ekonomopoulos 9-6
Mark Gray vs Karol Skowerski 9-5
Andreas Gerwen vs Chris Melling 8-9
Quarter Finals:
Mario He vs Darren Appleton
David Alcaide vs Noel Bruynooghe
Nick van den Berg vs Radoslaw Babica
Mark Gray vs Chris Melling
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 federation website www.eurotouronline.eu , follow us on twitter @EPBF_News or contact our press office.
