The men’s 3-cushion competition on the match tables was the highlight of this day. In the round of the last 32 players the 16 seeded joined the tournament. And some of them soon found themselves back in the spectator role. Torbjörn Blomdahl (Sweden) lost early as well as Eddy Merckx from Belgium and Turkish hopes Tayfun Tasdemir and Adnan Yüksel. Just one round later big names like Martin Horn (Germany), Daniel Sanchez (Spain) and Jérémy Bury of France joined them.
Christian Rudolph from Germany was unexpected in the quarterfinal as well as his opponent Roland Forthomme (Belgium) and Dutch Glenn Hofmann. The next big surprise was the close 40:37-win of Hofmann over title holder Filipos Kasidokostas from Greece.
Sunday’s semifinals are Glenn Hofmann vs. Christian Rudolph and Marco Zanetti (Italy) against World’s number one, Frédéric Caudron from Belgium.
In the women’s 3-cushion event it will be an all Dutch final on Sunday. Therese Klompenhouwer had no problems to reach the final as her opponent Karina Jetten had to survive a tough quarterfinal against Marianne Mortensen from Denmark. Gülsen Degener (Turkey) and Steffi Träm from Germany lost in the semis and will receive the bronze medal on tomorrows awards ceremony.
