Mark Gray (Foto: EPBF/AMM)
Mark Gray (GBR) has just eliminated Nick van den Berg (NED) from the final Euro-Tour of this year, winning the match 9:6.
The balls did not like van den Berg today. He got unlucky in many situations and most of all, he struggled with his break shot. Gray also did not have the perfect break shot but he was much more successful in pocketing balls on the break than his opponent. “Nick couldn't really get his break working”, said Gray after the semi-final, “I sort of picked up his dry breaks and capitalized from that”. In the 10th rack, Gray had the chance to get on the hill, making the score 8:2 in his favor but he failed. Instead, van den Berg seemed to get a second life and won several racks in a row. After the 11th rack the score was 7:4 in favor of Gray. Van den Berg had landed behind another object ball with the cue ball and was not able to see the 2-ball which was on. He pulled out his jump cue and pocketed the 2-ball in the side pocket. He found himself with another very tough shot, a thin cut on the 4-ball. He also pocketed that ball and it looked like he could really tighten up the score. Van den Berg wanted to thin cut the 5-ball in but missed it completely. Gray got ball in hand and ran the rack to make the score 8:4. “That was the key thing for me to win the match”, stated a happy Mark Gray. After that incident, van den Berg was able to win one more rack since Gray scratched on his next break shot. But that was it for the Dutchman. Van den Berg broke in the 14th rack and got no ball down. Gray ran all the balls and won the match 9:5. “Nick probably missed a couple of more balls than me”, said Gray, “that's what made the difference in that match”.
In the other semi-final match, David Alcaide (ESP) creamed Darren Appleton (GBR) 9:6 and secured his spot in the final match. Both players played at almost equal strength but Alcaide turned out to be a bit more lucky in the end.
Semi-Finals:
Darren Appleton vs David Alcaide 6-9
Nick van den Berg vs Mark Gray 5-9
The upcoming final match between David Alcaide and Mark Gray will begin at 18:00 local time.
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.
