Friday, February 11, 2011:Niels Feijen from the Netherlands, also known as "The Terminator", advances in to the next round on the winner's bracket with a clear victory over Germany's Jakob Belka with 9-4.
Both players had an equally good start in the match and didn't miss a ball each until the score was tied at 2-2. "he match then changed from offensive to defensive play" said Feijen. Belka made two mistakes in two consecutive racks which put him on the road into the loser's bracket. However, trailing 2-6 to Feijen, he somehow gained momentum again and got closer to the Dutchman to a 4-6 score. Feijen, who had played without any errors so far in that match, suddenly started making some unexpected mistakes. But somehow Belka could not benefit from his opponent's mistakes. "After the terrible mistakes I have made earlier in the match, I was completely lacking my self-confidence. I did not believe in myself at the time which made me commit these additional errors" said the young German. At 4-6, Belka had the chance to close in on Feijen but a bad mistake on the 5-ball was the beginning of the end for him. Feijen cleared up the table and finally managed to win over Belka. "I think Jakob's mistake at 4-6 was the turning point for him", Feijen agreed after the match in an interview. The final score was 9-4 in favor of "The Terminator".
One of the best woman players in the event was local Laetizia Dos Santos. She gave her opponent Florian Stier from Germany a hard time, but in the end ran out of luck. After being 6-8 down, Laetizia ran some very difficult balls in order to tighten the score at 7-8. Unfortunately for her, Florian then took the cue ball and broke the 9 in order to win the match 9-7 and eliminate Laetizia from the tournament.
Former World-and multiple European Champion gets eliminated by 13-year old young gun: Day two of the Dynamic France Open 2011, presented by Leader Club Billard, started with a big surprise. Germany's Oliver Ortmann, one of the long time European superstars in the pool scene and winner of large international tournaments, was sent home today by a 13-year old talent who has his first Euro-Tour appearance.
Joshua Filler (seen in photo) is also from Germany. Watching him play the match against one of the toughest draws he could face in the whole tournament, was purely amazing. He seemed to be bursting with self-confidence. No proof of nervousness or fear for his opponent. "I was a bit scared in the beginning. Once I took the lead in the match, that was gone and I purely concentrated on what I was doing on the table" says Filler. And that was definitely nothing to sneeze at! He played rock solid, hardly missing any shots. When he missed though, he was lucky and left no position to Ortmann who himself also showed a good performance. "This match can be viewed from several sides. On one hand it is obvious that Joshua is a big talent and he played a great match against me. From my point of view though, I only missed two shots in the whole match. I was very unlucky in the positions I received on the table from Joshua." "When this happens to you, it does not matter if you play a man, woman or a young boy. It just annoys you!" Ortmann states.
Filler admits that luck was a major factor for his success in this match. When the score was 7-4 in his favor, he seemed to play a bit negligent. "That always happens to me. Once I am in the lead I start to play a bit too careless" Filler agrees. But with a bit of luck he did not often leave a shot for Ortmann. When he did leave position, Ortmann showed his class and ran the table. But at 6-7 for Filler, Joshua played two lucky shots in a row which forced Ortmann to commit a foul. Filler ran out and in the final rack - again - was lucky in his position, forcing Ortmann to kick the 1-ball in over the rail. He succeeded in potting the 1-ball but the cue ball scratched. Filler did not show any sign of fear or nervousness and cleared the table, sending Ortmann home. "I think he can become a great player one day", Ortmann says about his opponent in a very sportsmanlike manner.
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 event website www.eurotouronline.eu or contact our press office.
