Chawki wins over Rehepapp with a moderate performance
Saturday, 30 July 2011: In a match that was determined by many mistakes from both actors, Jim Chawki (SWE) defeated Mihkel Rehepapp (EST) with 100:86.
The favourite to win this match was Chawki. But when the match started he looked anything else but a favourite anymore. He started with a poorly executed opening shot, leaving some balls for his opponent. But Rehepapp only pocketed one single ball and missed the very next shot. In the early stage of the match, both players made many mistakes. Balls were missed, positions not achieved and the spectator could get to the opinion that none of them really wanted to win that match. Chawki and Rehepapp played with a negligence that they normally do not have in their performance. Rehepapp was the first of them to get into gear and play some solid shots in order to take a 53:31 lead. Then, some safeties were exchanged and again, both players made mistakes. This was pretty amazing if one has in mind that Chawki defeated his opponent in the round before in two innings, running 32 and 68 balls.
Trying to catch up with the Estonian, Chawki pocketed some balls and almost tied the match, now trailing 52:59. He then got unlucky with the position after a break shot and he had to allow Rehepapp another visit at the table. Rehepapp suddenly played very well and got to an 86:52 lead with a relatively easy break ball on the table. If he made that break ball, he only needed 13 more balls to win the match. But he missed. As if that was a wake-up call for Chawki, the young Swede went to the table and played as if there was another person in the match. He made no more mistakes, running 48 balls in order to win the match 100:86 over an astonished Rehepapp. The second half of the match was high class pool by both players after they had a slow start.
In another interesting match, Mario He (AUT) wrestled Leonid Klishchar (UKR) down with 100:94 after trailing 76:94. All results can be found on the event website.
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