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Souquet Into Third WPC Final
IN AN incredible final rack, Ralf Souquet of
Germany
won a tense safety battle with
Taiwan
’s Fu Che-wei and with it their 2006 World Pool Championship semi-final 11-10 and a spot in tomorrow afternoon’s race-to-17 final.
It will be Souquet’s third appearance in the final – he won in 1996 in
Borlange
,
Sweden
against Tom Storm and lost to Mika Immonen in
Cardiff
five years later.
The match was nip and tuck throughout and it was no surprise that it went to the final game as Souquet and Fu matched each other rack for rack through the first half of the match.
Souquet pulled away to lead 9-6 but Fu pulled three games back to square the match at 9-9. There was plenty of tension in the air over Table 2 and they shared the next two to force a sudden death decider.
The German player broke and ran the first few balls but the problem was the 5 and 6 which were tied up on the side rail. Souquet tried to split them as he pocketed the 4 ball but was only partially successful.
He moved the 5 ball but the pot into the corner pocket was not on. Fu came to the table and began a succession of visits by both players as they left the orange 5 tucked up by the 6 and moved the cue ball around the table.
In the end it was Fu who cracked as he came up a little heavy trying to glance the 5 and he only succeeded in moving it to the centre of the table, leaving a tough long pot on for Souquet.
The 37 year-old from Manching said, “I thought for one second about playing a safety and then another for a semi-safe but I knew he would have a shot.
“I decided to go for it and although it was no certainty, I was comfortable with the decision.”
Souquet composed himself, made the shot and gained perfect position on the 6 ball. From there he cleared the remainder of the table to take a marvelous match.
It was tough on the 33 year-old Fu who had played well throughout the match but in the end, the relentless German had too much.
Souquet can now look forward to tomorrow’s final where he will face the
Philippines
’ Ronnie ‘Calamba’ Alcano for the title and the $100,000 top prize.
“I’ve played Ronnie a few times and he’s a great player – if you get to the final of the World Pool Championship you must be.
“I’ve seen him win many tournaments but I won’t be thinking about my opponent. I’ll just play my game and do my best, he said.
“I’ve had a good year and that has built up my confidence but I didn’t have the best start here. I was only sleeping three or four hours per night and then just waiting for breakfast! Finally the last couple of days I’ve got more sleep.
“I’ll go into the final like any other match. I want to have fun and enjoy it and play good. The crowd will be against me but that’s OK,” he added.
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