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Thursday-Saturday 25-27 November 2021
Wiktor Zielinski - 2021 Treviso Open Champion
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Day Three – ZIELINSKI TRIUMPHANT IN TREVISO!
Reporter: Luke Riches on behalf of the EPBF
Photography: ©EPBF
POLAND’S WIKTOR ZIELINSKI took the honours in the final Dynamic Billiard Euro Tour of the year as he defeated Mats Schjetne of Norway 9-4 in the championship match at the BHR Treviso Hotel in the northern Italian city. It was the 20 year-old’s second Euro Tour title, his first coming in the same venue in 2017 when Zielinski became the youngest ever player to win an ET title.
“Treviso is a really nice place for me; I’ve won two Euro Tours here now, I met my girlfriend here, so yes, I really like this place!’ commented a delighted Zielinski.
“My girlfriend really helped me a lot here as I was playing five matches a day for two days in a row and I didn’t have time to eat so she bought me some pizza so I’m really thankful to her.
“I lost my first match of the tournament and was on the losers’ side so I had to win five matches yesterday so I was exhausted but I felt better today though. I felt I could have been out of the event yesterday so this morning I thought, ‘let’s see what happens’”, he added.
Seemingly from a never-ending production line of top-drawer Polish players, Zielinski always had too much for his opponent in the final. Ironically, Zielinski lost his opening match of the tournament to local player Filippo Cataldi, but from there he put his foot down.
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A win 9-5 win over Ralf Souquet put him into the single elimination last 32 where he beat Fedor Gorst 9-8. The winning shot, a 3/9 combination into the centre pocket saw the 9-ball wobble in the jaws before rolling across the table and falling into the bag opposite.
A comfortable win over countryman Daniel Maciol put him into the last eight before successive 9-8 victories against Alexander Kazakis and Francisco Sanchez Ruiz advanced him to the final. In fact, he derailed Sanchez Ruiz’s ambition of winning three consecutive Euro Tour titles, squeaking through by the narrowest of margins.
Schjetne enjoyed some high-quality wins en route to the final defeating the likes of Mariusz Skoneczny before going down to Dennis Grabe in the winners’ qualification round. A do-or-die 9-8 win over the highly commendable teenager Bojana Sarac saw him through to the last 32.
Wins over Nikos Ekonomopoulos, Francesco Candela and Sergey Lutsker put him into the semi-final where he also defeated a Spaniard in the last four; this time David Alcaide by a 9-6 margin.
The final was finely poised at 4-3 to Zielinski with Schjetne breaking, but the Norwegian failed to make contact with the object ball kicking off the side rail and Zielinski ran out to go 5-3. The Pole capitalised on it as he ran the next to put three racks between him and his opponent.
A dry break from Schjetne cost him dearly in the tenth game as Zielinski cleared the table to continue his sprint to the line at 7-3. The next rack was make or break for Schjetne and both players executed some high-quality safeties but it was the Pole who prevailed to reach the hill.
Schjetne showed some great heart to run out the next but it was too big a gap to bridge as the young Polish star composed himself after a solid break shot to take his second Euro Tour title.
For Mats Schjetne, it was his best ever finish in a Euro Tour event following three previous semi-final appearances; “Right now it feels a little bad but tomorrow it will feel awesome I hope so! Wiktor played almost perfect in the final and there wasn’t much I could do. I’ve had a lot of support though, and it’s been an amazing ride this week.”
Play continues tomorrow, Sunday, in the third and final event of the Predator Ladies Euro Tour. Play will commence at 9.00 local time with the losers’ qualification round, followed by the last 16 and plays to a conclusion on Sunday evening.
The matches can be viewed live at www.kozoom.com
Results, live scoring and draw are available at www.epbf.com
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Francisco Sanchez Ruiz - Spain
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Day Two – DOWN TO THE FINAL 16
Reporter: Luke Riches on behalf of the EPBF
Photography: ©EPBF
PLAY CONTINUED TODAY in Treviso as 181 starters were reduced down to 16 players in the final Euro Tour event on the 2021 schedule. With a very strong field in attendance, there were some big names who left the event prematurely.
Joshua Filler was beaten in the losers’ qualification round, a victim of Spain’s Jose Luis Delgado. Likewise, veteran Niels Feijen fell by the wayside in the last 32 at the hands of Germany’s up-and-coming Tobias Bongers. Other stars on their way home include 2019 WPA World Champion Fedor Gorst, Dennis Grabe and two-time WPA World Champion Thorsten Hohmann.
Euro Tour No.1 ranked player, Francisco Sanchez Ruiz (Spain) is enjoying another terrific run here in Italy as he goes for his third consecutive ET championship, a feat not achieved since Oliver Ortmann took down four consecutive titles 27 years ago. The Spaniard has breezed through the winners’ side and now faces a very strong Max Lechner in the last 16.
There are three Poles in the top half of the draw; Mieszko Fortunski faces the ever-dangerous Swiss/Filipino Ronnie Regli while the fast-improving Daniel Maciol faces compatriot Wiktor Zielinski. It’s been well over two years since a Polish player won a Euro Tour championship - Konrad Juszczyszyn at this same venue – which could be some sort of omen.
Two stand-out matches in the bottom half of the drawer are David Alcaide, preparing for the Mosconi Cup in a couple of weeks, against Austria’s Mario He and two of the brightest young talents on the tour.
Hungary’s Oliver Szolnoki has had a real break-out year and he faces young Serbian Aleksa Pecelj who is coming off a terrific run of form, having finished runner-up to Sanchez Ruiz last time out in Turkey and then winning the gold in the Men’s Under 23 division at the recent European Championships.
Play resumes on Saturday 26th November at 12 midday local time with the final getting underway at 17.30.
Starting tomorrow is the third and final event of the Predator Ladies Euro Tour. An outstanding field of 50 players has assembled including the likes of Kristina Tkach, Margareta Fefilova, Bojana Sarac, who made it through to the 33-48 round in the men’s event this week, as well as No.1 ranked player Olivia Zalewska of Poland. The ladies’ event concludes on Sunday.
The matches can be viewed live at www.kozoom.com
Results, live scoring and draw are available at www.epbf.com
David Alcaide - Spain
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Mario He - Austria
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Day One – ACTION COMPLETE IN FINAL 2021 TOUR STOP
Reporter: Luke Riches on behalf of the EPBF
Photography: ©EPBF
WITH 181 PLAYERS gathered at the BHR Treviso Hotel in Northern Italy, the final stop on the 2021 Euro Tour schedule got underway today (Thursday). Due to the disastrous effects of Covid, this is the fourth tournament on the tour since this same event in February 2020. That said, a full calendar is in place of 2022.
All eyes this week have been on the current Euro Tour No.1, Spain’s Francisco Sanchez Ruiz who is going for his third consecutive ET title, and, should he be successful, he would be the first man to achieve that feat since Oliver Ortmann won four back-to-back championships way back in 1994.
The Spaniard completed just one match today; a comfortable 9-3 win over Christos Papageorgiou of Greece to set up a round two match against Italy’s Alessandro Giordani tomorrow. All the big guns are intact in what is a stellar field when play recommences at 9.00 on Friday morning.
Meanwhile, the third and final event of 2021 gets underway on Saturday on the Predator Ladies Euro Tour and some of the competitors have been readying themselves by playing in the men’s event.
There are seven rounds of matches here on Friday as the field play down to the last 16 which plays to a conclusion on Saturday 27th November.
All the matches can be viewed live at www.kozoom.com
Results, live scoring and draw are available at www.epbf.com
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