Tough battle in the loser's round
Sarajevo, Bosnia & Hercegovina: After a fierce fight in the loser's bracket, Nikos Ekonomopoulos (GRE) overcame Mehmet Bakici (TUR) with 8:7 in a thrilling finish.
Ekonomopoulos already faced some serious problems today. He lost his opener and needed to win this match in order to stay alive in the tournament. His opponent is not among the top players of the Euro-Tour... but sometimes dark horses just come out of nowhere and perform incredibly well. The match started quite leveled with both players playing solid pool. After the first six racks, it was all square at 3:3. Then it seemed as if everything goes back to "business as usual". Ekonomopoulos won three racks in a row and Bakici committed a few mistakes. Leading 6:3, Ekonomopoulos broke the rack and scratched. Bakici took the cue ball and ran out. Suddenly, he seemed to be "on fire". He claimed rack after rack back from the Greek. He even went on the hill, taking a 7:6 advantage. The heat was on for Ekonomopoulos. He managed to get on the hill as well. At 7:7, Ekonomopoulos broke the balls and had a decent layout in front of him. But suddenly he missed the 2-ball and left everything in the open for Bakici. The Turkish came to the table and lined up the 4-ball for a combination shot on the 10-ball. But he missed that shot by a mile. Ekonomopoulos stepped back to the table and ran the balls needed, winning the match by the skin of his teeth with 8:7.
Another unexpected end had the match between Konstantin Stepanov (RUS) and Viziru Augustin (ROM). Stepanov, currently Nr. 8 of the Euro-Tour rankings, was not able to dominate his opponent. Augustin stayed in the match and never allowed his Russian opponent to get away from him. In the end, the decision came in the final rack. Augustin had the better end on his side and was able to send the top-ten-player to the one-loss side.
The tournament is streamed LIVE at all days on up to 19 tables at www.kozoom.com/en/pool-billiard/
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 http://www.eurotouronline.eu or contact our press office.
