Semi-finals to be played on Tuesday night
Monday, 03 October 2011: In a breath-taking quarter-final match, Konstantin Stepanov (RUS) defeated Andreas Roschkowsky (GER) with 9:8.
In the beginning, the match looked to be a walk in the park for Roschkowsky. He was already ahead 4:2 when Stepanov had a clear layout on the table. He positioned the cue ball almost straight on the 7-ball and scratched while pocketing the 7-ball. “Maybe I played the shot too fast”, said Stepanov, “I did not have enough concentration for this shot”. However, instead of making the score 4:3, he was allowing Roschkowsky to take a 5:2 lead. The German won another rack, making the score even 6:2. The lights seemed to go out for Stepanov. But in the 9th rack, things seemed to change. Roschkowsky played a safety shot on the 2-ball but left a combination shot for Stepanov. The Russian accepted the gift and made it 6:3. Later on in the match, the score was 6:5 for Roschkowsky, Stepanov broke the balls and had a clear shot at the 2-ball with a dead-in 3-9 combination on the table. But it was a dry break, so Roschkowsky made the point, turning the score 7:5. Lady Luck seemed to jump from one player to another during the match. Roschkowsky got on the hill first, and in the 14th rack he was about to win. Leading 8:6, he fired a 5-9 combination in but scratched. Stepanov ran out. “In that situation, luck was really on my side” stated Stepanov. “I did not have any chance then and I think he makes this combination shot 9 out of 10 times”. The next rack was determined by errors from both players with Stepanov potting the 9-ball, making the score 8:8. The drama unfolded in the final rack. After a few safety shots were exchanged, Stepanov took the risk and pocketed the 5-ball over one rail. But he scratched. Roschkowsky got ball-in-hand and made all balls but missed a tough 9-ball. Stepanov got a bad position for the 9-ball but made it dead center in the pocket, winning the match with 9:8. “Andreas was too nervous in the end of the match”, mentioned Stepanov, “He missed balls that he normally pockets. Good for me!” said the likeable Russian with a smile.
In the other quarter-final matches, Darren Appleton (GBR) crushed Nikos Ekonomopoulos (GRE) with 9:3. Mark Gray (GBR) eliminated Denis Grabe (EST) with 9:4. In another thrilling encounter, Sandor Tot (SRB) overcame Serge Das (BEL) with 9:7.
The semi-final matches between Sandor Tot v Konstantin Stepanov and Darren Appleton v Mark Gray and the final will be played tomorrow night at 16:30 respectively at 18:30 local time. The Beassy™ 8-ball World's Top Gun tournament starts tomorrow at 09:00 local time.
The Beassy™ events are hosted by Beassy™ Ltd. and organized by International Billiard Promotion (IBP). For further information and reference please go to the event website www.beassy.com or contact our press office.
