Nikos Ekonomopoulos (GRE)
St. Johann, Austria: In a pretty one-sided match, last year's Austrian Open Champion Nikos Ekonomopoulos (GRE) beat Austrian senior player Johann Wallner with 9:3.
The match definitely did not have the expected quality. Probably Wallner was too nervous and Ekonomopoulos was not focussed enough. However, both opponents missed several shots and played second-class safety shots. That kept the match open for quite some time. After eight racks, Ekonomopoulos was expectedly leading 6:2. Everything happened as expected with Ekonomopoulos not finding his break shot so far. Then, suddenly many mistakes occurred during the match. In the 7th and 11th rack alone, Ekonomopoulos missed five shots - an amount that he normally does not miss in an entire tournament. Probably he was really out of focus by then. Sadly enough though, Wallner could not capitalize from it. Instead of punishing the defending Champion's poor performance, Wallner always came up with one more mistake. Either he ran out of position or he failed to pocket the next shot. He always allowed Ekonomopoulos back into the table. Unlike Wallner, the Greek shooter took his chances and finished the match with 9:3 after 75 minutes. In the next winner's round,Ekonomopoulos will face a player from the middle east - either Al-Hosani (UAE) or Bouhaimed (KUW). He definitely needs to improve his performance in order to stay on the winner's side.
Other notable results include Dominic Jentsch (GER) saving his first victory with 9:8 over Sami Ahola (FIN). Dutch junior player Marco Teutscher delivered an upset by sending Nr. 3 ranked player Dimitri Jungo (SUI) to the loser's side with 9:8.
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 or contact our press office.
