The format of this stop on the Predator International 10-Ball Tour features four brackets, A through D. A and B have been played all the way down to the final four players out of each bracket (final two on the winners side and final two on the one-loss side) who will be placed in the field of the final sixteen on Saturday. Brackets C and D will be played out on Friday.
Bracket A contained some very impressive names. Ralf Souquet (Germany), Jasmin Ouschan (Austria), Rodney Morris (USA), Stephan Cohen (France) and Ivica Putnik (Croatia) were all bunched up in that group so some impressive disappointments were bound to occur. As the luck of the draw would have it Ralf Souquet faced Rodney Morris in only the second round, sending Rodney over to the long road home by the sore of 8 games to 6. Souquet then dominated the second half of his match against Antonio Fazanes (Spain) and found his seat in the single-elimination finals 8 games to 4. The bottom section of the bracket saw local hero Manuel Gama also finishing his day without a defeat as he marched past Jasmin Ouschan 8-3, Katrine Jensen (Denmark) 8-6 and Francisco Ruiz (Spain) 8-5.
Ivica Putnik, the first to fall victim to Rodney Morris, got past his next opponent, Carlos Cabello (Spain) 8 games to 6 but then stalled out against FranCisco Diaz (Spain) and was ejected from the tournament by the dominating score of 8-1. Jasmin Ouschan never found her gear in her first match against Manuel Gama (Portugal) and was sent left 8 games to 3. There she bested Sergio Santana (Spain) 8 games to 6 only to face the Predator 14.1 champion Stephan Cohen. She was more than up to the task at hand and sent the French pro out of the tournament 8 games to 4. That, however, would be the end of her road as she could not topple the ever-strong Rodney Morris and fell out of the brackets by the slim margin of 8 games to 7. Morris then finished his journey to the final sixteen by sliding past Francisco Ruiz 8 games to 6 while Francisco Diaz (Spain) wound up in the final rounds by destroying Antonio Fanzanes 8 games to 3.
Bracket B held strong arms as well. Imran Majid (Great Britain) easily got past Albert Casellas (Spain) 8 games to 3 but then could not quite hang in with Dominic Jentsch (Germany) and fell off of the right-hand side by the score line of 8 games to 7. Jentsch was then himself toppled 8 games to 4 by Nuno Rolo (Portugal) who is now through to the sweet sixteen round. The bottom half of the bracket was won by the ever-strong David Alcaide (Spain). Alcaide first cruised past Pedro France of Portugal 8 games to 1 and then upended Thorsten Hohmann (Germany) 8 games to 4. His final match against Miquel Silva (Portugal) was a bit less stressful as he won that one 8 games to 3.
This meant that both Majid and Hohmann had to battle their way through the one-loss side to survive in the tournament. Majid made it all the way left by conquering Frederico Pereira (Portugal) 8 games to 4, Henrique Correia (Portugal) 8 games to 0, and finally by trampling Miquel Silva (Portugal) 8 games to 3. Thorsten Hohmann had things in control as he got by Carlos Bogas (Spain) 8 games to 4 and Albert Caselas (Spain) 8 games to 5. But then he ran headlong into Dominc Jentsch (Germany) and he knew he was in for a battle. The match started out close as the two men wound up tied at three games apiece but the fate and fortune of Jentsch were sealed when Hohmann won the last five games running to progress to the finals 8 games to 3.
Of course we would like to continue to thank all of the sponsors who make this event possible. Predator and Poison Cues, Tiger Products, Bilhares Carrinho, Aramith Billiard Balls, Simonis Cloth, the Municipality of Anadia, The tourist Bureau of Central Portugal, Masterpool, Samsung, Billiard Master, Masterpool and Kozoom all teamed together to make this International Tour stop a reality.
