Former World Champion Ortmann also out Portoroz, Slovenia:
In the early stage, the match was determined by strategic safety play. Both players showed respect for each other. Bijsterbosch ran the first rack and got a 14:2 lead over Ekonomopoulos. However, after he did not have a proper break shot, he entered into safety exchange with the Greek.
Ekonomopoulos left a tough shot for Bijsterbosch. The young Dutch went for it and missed. Then Ekonomopoulos had an open table and only made two balls before he allowed Bijsterbosch back to the table. But Bijsterbosch had no lucky rolls after his break shot so he could only turn the score to 25:4 before Ekonomopoulos was back at the table. Both players are capable of running high innings. The question was who will get started first.
The penny seemed to have dropped with Ekonomopoulos first. He made a good inning and just left the table because he was unlucky after a break shot. 60:25 was the score when Bijsterbosch found himself at the table with the cue ball frozen to the full rack and some balls free on the opposite side. After a few safeties, Ekonomopoulos came out on top of Bijsterbosch and continued to fill his account with points. He increased his advantage to 91:27 when he missed a thin cut in the corner pocket. Would Bijsterbosch be able to even the score again? He came back to 49:91 when another safety battle happened.
Ekonomopoulos played a horrible mistake when he tried to play a safety and pocketed the cue ball. That meant ball in hand for Bijsterbosch and an open table. But Bijsterbosch returned the "favor" to Ekonomopoulos by missing a relatively easy shot at 90:78 for the Greek. That was the final turning point in the match. Ekonomopoulos did not need more chances and finished the match 125:78.
In another exciting match, Ivica Putnik (CRO) delivered a huge surprise to the event by ousting Oliver Ortmann (GER) with 125:37. The EC will continue with the straight pool competition Thursday morning at 09:00 CET. The finals of the straight pool competition will be played Thursday night at 20:00 CET.
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 www.epconline.eu , follow us on twitter @EPBF_News or contact our press office.
