The winner, Nikos Ekonomopoulos from Greece Foto: EPBF/AMM
Nikos Ekonomopoulos (GRE) has won the final of the Dynamic Austria Open and defeated Wojciech Szewczyk (POL) with 9:4.
The tournament was different to other Euro-Tours. That could especially be witnessed in the latter stages of the event. IN the quarter-finals, eight different nations were represented. In the semi-finals, three out of four players have never gotten so far. The two finalists, Ekonomopoulos and Szewczyk belonged to them.
The match started out quite evenly. After 7 racks, Ekonomopoulos was leading 4:3. Up until then, none of the two players was able to get an advantage over the other one of more than one rack. But suddenly, Ekonomopoulos seemed to get in better shape. He benefitted from some mistakes from Szewczyk and took a three point lead. The scoreboard showed 6:3 for Ekonomopoulos. The 10th rack was determined by safety play. Szewczyk came out on top of the Greek and put another point in his account. But it was still 6:4 in favour of Ekonomopoulos. The next two racks were taken by Ekonomopoulos who went on the hill and took an 8:4 lead over Szewczyk. The pressure was on. In the 13th rack, Ekonomopoulos executed the break shot and came up dry. However, he was a bit lucky since Szewczyk could not see the 1-ball. Wojciech Szewczyk tried a safety shot but left a tough but makeable 1-ball for Ekonomopoulos. That was all that the Greek player needed. He finished the rack and took the Euro-Tour tournament victory for the first time in his life.
Final standings Top 16 Dynamic Austria Open:
1. Nikos Ekonomopoulos GRE 3.400,- €
2. Wojciech Szewczyk POL 2.200,- €
3. Marcus Chamat SWE 1.400,- €
Nicolas Ottermann GER 1.400,- €
5. Niels Feijen NED 1.000,- €
Roman Hybler CZE 1.000,- €
Bruno Muratore ITA 1.000,- €
Artem Koshovyi UKR 1.000,- €
9. Ralf Souquet GER 900,- €
Darren Appleton GBR 900,- €
Nick v.d. Berg NED 900,- €
Oliver Ortmann GER 900,- €
Karlo Dalmatin CRO 900,- €
Kristoffer Mindreboe NOR 900,- €
Cliff Castelein BEL 900,- €
Phil Burford GBR 900,- €
Top Ten Euro-Tour rankings:
1. Dimitri Jungo SUI 2235 pts
2. Nick v.d. Berg NED 2190 pts
Darren Appleton GBR 2190 pts
4. Chris Melling GBR 2160 pts
5. Marcus Chamat SWE 2135 pts
6. Albin Ouschan AUT 2115 pts
7. Mark Gray GBR 2105 pts
8. Ralf Souquet GER 2010 pts
9. Oliver Ortmann GER 1960 pts
Serge Das BEL 1960 pts
That concludes the coverage of the Dynamic Austria Open 2012.
The event was 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.epconline.eu , follow us on twitter @EPBF_News or contact our press office
