In a final clash Stephan Cohen managed at last to score a victory against Niels Feijen, after he was 9-4 up. Missing a thin 7 brought Niels back into the race and it become a thriller. The Dutch audience was happy seeing Niels taking one game after another. A bad safety brought Stephan to the table in the last game, and he took his first title out of France: "I'm very pleased that I won the tournament, it was my first success in a foreign country and I almost gave it away to a strong opponent!"
The semifinal agaist Nick van den Berg was an up and down for the Frenchman: He was 6-0 up, 6-7 down, and won the match with a score of 10-7. Ralf Souquet was beaten by Niels 10-6 and was down all the time. "I've had to control him all the time, I'd managed that one but it took much of my resources and maybe it cost me the final" analyzed Niels after the last stage of the tournament.
Dutch player Huidji See became a nightmare for Oliver Ortmann in the last 32. Huidji was 7-0 up before he was missed a ball and he was pretty surprised with his own performance. Unlucky was Andreas Roschkowski when he saw the 9 ball disappear after a good safety at 9-9 against Nick van den Berg. A jumpshot kick a ball in the direction of the 9 and kicked it in. "I'll never know if he did that on purpose" was the comment of the German player who has been selected to play for Germany in the European Championship later this year.
The Dutch clash took place in the quarter final when Alex Lely was beaten 10-6 by Niels. "Simple, I was playing well but Niels was playing better" was the short comment of a disappointed Alex.
The Dutch delegation was playing well at the Dutch open with 230 players, the last test is coming up at the Euro-Tour in Antwerpen. Let's hope for an orange festival during the European Championship in Polen late march.....
