More stunners in the quarter final matches
Saturday, July 09, 2011: The quarterfinals turned out to be very tough matches for all players even though the results were not that close.
The TV table #24 featured the match between Hubert Lopotko (POL) and Mark Gray (GBR). In the beginning, things really went against Lopotko. After 40 minutes of play, Gray was leading 7:0 and nobody in the audience believed in a comeback of Lopotko. But he himself obviously did. Gray made some mistakes and missed some shots, played some negligent safeties and suddenly the scoreboard showed 7:5 for Gray only. At that time, Gray probably heard the wakeup call and got back to his earlier shape. He made no more errors and won the next two racks which meant the victory in that match for him with 9:5. A clear result for a dramatic match.
Serge Das (BEL) had to deal with Konstantin Stepanov (RUS) and won the match with 9:5. Das, probably the best Belgian player nowadays, took a quick lead in the early stage of the match. Stepanov could not get into his A-game performance while Das managed to make things happening. After Das was leading 5:2, Stepanov was able to pick up two racks in a row which almost brought him to the same result as Das had. But then Das shifted into overdrive and won four out of the next five racks, winning the match with 9:5.
Christian Reimering (GER) had to deal with Mateusz Sniegocki (POL) who won the match in the end with 9:4. In the beginning both players played at equal strength. Both have performed very strong during the week and have eliminated some heavyweights on their way into this match. In a matchup that was characterized by tactical play in the beginning, Sniegocki seemed to be the better player when it came to safety play. Consequently, he took a two rack lead and continued to secure that through the match for a while. He was up 3:1, 4:2, 5:3 and 6:4 when suddenly Reimering was not able to win another rack. 9:4 was the final result for Sniegocki who will now face Serge Das (BEL) in the second semi-final match.
In an all English clash on table #7, Richard Jones defeated former World Champion Darren Appleton with 9:7 The match was open at all times and both players presented no gifts to the other one. In the end, Jones turned out to have the better day, winning with 9 racks to 7 over a very frustrated Appleton.
Quarter finals results:
Hubert Lopotko POL v Mark Gray GBR 5 : 9
Darren Appleton GBR v Richard Jones GBR 7 : 9
Serge Das BEL v Konstantin Stepanov RUS 9 : 5
Christian Reimering GER v Mateusz Sniegocki POL 4 : 9
The losers of this round will each receive a prize of 1380,- € and 370 points for the Euro-Tour rankings.
Semi-finals:
Mark Gray GBR v Richard Jones GBR
Serge Das BEL v Mateusz Sniegocki POL
The first semi-final will be played at 14:30 local time followed by the second semi-final at 16:00.
The Euro-Tour 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 event website www.eurotouronline.eu , follow us on twitter @EPBF_News or contact our press office.
