There were three further matches Friday evening at the NOT Building in Central Warsaw in the 2006 PartyCasino.com World Pool League and none of the players could manage a two wins from two record to assert themselves.
Local hope Radoslaw Babica and Pinoy man-of-the-moment Dennis Orcollo top the table but there will be everything to play for as matches continue through Saturday.
Babica, buoyed on by some strong home support, recorded his first win against an out-of-sorts Niels Feijen to the delight of a partisan home crowd.
The youthful looking Pole took the opener against Feijen's break after the Dutchman made an uncharacteristic miss on a simple 3 ball.
Babica though slipped up himself in the next as he scratched going from the 2 to the 3 ball. Feijen cashed in to level at a rack apiece.
'The Choirboy' was running the third rack but was forced to play safe and left a tempting proposition for Feijen. Snookered, the cross table kick on the 7 ball was on but he left it hanging in the corner pocket.
Babica nudged it in but gained no position on the 8 ball and tried to play safe. It wasn't good enough and Feijen pocketed it but missed the 9 ball, leaving a chance for Babica. He missed though, to leave Feijen a cross table bank which he made to take the lead.
Babica won the next with a neat combo and increased his lead as he took the fifth rack to lead 3-2.
Feijen kept himself in it with a tidy clearance to square the match at 3 all and a solid break and run in the seventh put the Dutchman into the lead. The young Polish player ran a superb rack in the next to keep things on level terms.
Feijen got the better of the next rack but was forced to play safe on the 5 ball. Babica jumped out of trouble and Feijen left him a narrow cut which he took to set up a run out to take the lead at 5-4.
Babica held his nerve to run out the final rack much to the delight of the home crowd to take both points and massively increase his chances of making the play-offs
In the second match of the of the evening session afternoon loser Thorsten Hohmann took on Filipino hotshot Dennis Orcollo and they ended up sharing a point in an entertaining encounter.
Hohmann took the opener with a tidy break and run and stole the second after a succession of misses from both players. Orcollo made the final error as he missed the green 6 to leave it on for his opponent.
Orcollo missed another ball in the opening stages of the third rack as he made a mess of the 2 ball down the rail. Hohmann made a similar shot and then nudged in a nice 3/9 combo to get to 3-0.
The diminutive Filipino made his way onto the scoreboard in the fourth as he ran out from the break.
Hohmann took the next to put himself in the driving seat at 4-1 before Orcollo took the sixth game to get to 4-2 and added the seventh to put himself right back in it.
Breaking in the next, Orcollo played safe on the 1 ball and Hohmann, extracting himself from the snooker, left it on for him. With the balls spread out Orcollo calmly cleared the table, taking a time extension on the 8 ball, to get to 4-4.
Orcollo pulled a tremendous 2 ball out of the bag and set up what looked like a point winning run out but he missed a simpler 7 ball with two balls left on the table.
Hohmann attepted the bank into the corner pocket but missed, and more crucially scratched, to gift the rack and at least a point to Orcollo.
Hohmann was not done though as he dug deep to run the last rack to take a share of the points.
The final match of the evening was between Ralf Souquet and Change Pei-wei of Tawian and the outcome a point for both players, and Souquet's second successive draw.
It was 'the Kasier' who took the opener as he ran out from the break before Chang responded with the same to level things.
With no shot on the 3 ball in the next, Ralf played it safe, requiring Chang to make a bank to gain the initiative. He missed, leaving it hanging and from there Souquet cleared to regain the lead at 2-1.
They shared the next two racks before a mistake from Souquet gave his opponent the golden chance to square the match which he took.
Ralf lost the table after the break in the next as he failed on a tight 2/5 combo. Chang then laid a tight safety which was too much for Souquet as he left the 2 ball on. From there Chang carefully cleared the table to move into the lead at 4-3.
A bad miss on the 1 ball from Souquet left it on for Chang and the Taiwanese sharp-shooter ran out the table to take his first point of the tournament.
Souquet gained the initiative in the next as he wrapped Chang up in a tight snooker from which he could not escape. With ball in hand Souquet reduced the deficit and he took the final game of the evening to share the points with Chang Pei-wei.
Play continues Saturday afternoon with three more matches.
Thorsten Hohmann v Chang Pei-wei
Dennis Orcollo v Radoslaw Babica
Niels Fiejen v Ralf Souquet
Table After 6 Matches
| Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Away | Pts | +/- | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | D. Orcollo | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 9 | 3 | +2 |
| 2 | R. Babica | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 9 | 3 | +2 |
| 3 | N. Feijen | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 10 | 2 | 0 |
| 4 | R. Souquet | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 2 | 0 |
| 5 | T. Hohmann | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 11 | 1 | -2 |
| 6 | P.W. Chang | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 11 | 1 | -2 |
Ralf Souquet 5 – 5 Radoslaw Babica
Niels Feijen 6 – 4 Thorsten Hohmann
Dennis Orcollo 6 – 4 Chang Pei-wei
Radoslaw Babica 6-4 Niels Fiejen
Thorsten Hohmann 5 – 5 Dennis Orcollo
Ralf Souquet 5 - 5 Chang Pei-wei
