2001 Admiral World Pool Championship - Last 16 - Race to 11

• 14.00 hrs
  Mika Immonen (Fin)    bt  Anthony Ginn (Eng)    11 - 2
  Ralf Souquet (Ger)      bt  Chin-shun Yang (Tai)  11 - 3
  Niels Feijen (Hol)        bt  Ralph Eckert (Ger)      11 - 6
  Chia-hsiung Lai (Tai)   bt  Antonio Lining (Phi)   11 - 7
  
• 19.00 hrs
  Marcus Chamat (Swe)  bt  Andreas Roschkowsky (Ger) 11 - 9
  Jeremy Jones (USA)     bt  David Alcaide (Spa)       11 - 9
  Alain Martel (Can)        bt  Chris Melling (Eng)         11 - 9
  Leonardo Andam (Phi) bt  Charlie Williams (USA)   11 - 9

Immonen Through To Quarters

London-born Finn Mika Immonen cruised into the quarter-finals of the 2001 Admiral World Pool Championship with a comprehensive 11 - 2 victory over South London qualifier Anthony Ginn.
Immonen, who was born in Paddington but now lives in New York is looking more and more like the man who will be lifting the trophy on Sunday evening.
The name of the game in 9-ball is to keep your opponent in their chair and Immonen certainly succeeded in that as he raced into an early 5 - 0 lead.
Ginn's rare visits to the table resulted in missed pots and despite taking the sixth rack to go 5 - 1, he couldn't string anything together and Mika continued his winning run to victory.

Immonen, who roller-blades his way down Broadway en route to his pool club in Manhatten, will surely see his odds slashed from the 5 - 1 he was on Friday morning.
Commented Immonen, " I was less nervous today than yesterday and as he made mistakes I really started to relax. I played very carefully out there and I've really got the hang of the soft break.
" A lot of big names are out of the event which makes it very interesting now. I'm not thinking about the money or the title. It's just one match at a time and I'll be preparing well for my quarter-final match."

Immonen will be playing either Niels Feijen (Holland) who won through against Germany's Ralph Eckert for a place in Saturday night's final.

Feijen Terminates Eckert

Dutch Terminator Niels Feijen continued his march at the 2001 Admiral World Pool Championship as he disposed of German hope Ralf Eckert 11 - 6 on Table 2.
Feijen, a 24 year-old club deejay from the Hague, looked all business as he moved stealthily into a 5 - 0 lead. The game then moved into a tactical battle which saw fortunes swing. Niels went to 7 - 1 but a concerted effort by the man from South West Germany saw him get it back to 8 - 6.
That was his swansong as Feijen took the next three racks to set up a quarter-final clash against Mika Immonen. The Terminator put paid to 1999 champ Efren Reyes yesterday evening and as the event moves into the closing stages he is looking stronger and stronger.

Commented Feijen, " I did exactly what I did yesterday which was to run out of the gates and get into a quick 5 - 0 lead. I played some real good safeties and had him kicking out four or five times.
" I was soft breaking again and there was always a cluster of balls around the nine which made it a long tactical game. I think I only broke and ran out one or two times. It was a pattern of run a few balls and play safe.
" At 8 - 6 I got really worried. The atmosphere wasn't there because my fans seemed miles away. Finally though he missed a seven ball and I banked it and ran out to take the match.
" I'm not thinking about Sunday night. It's all about taking one match at a time and staying in the present."

Eckert takes home $4.000 whilst Feijen is guaranteed at least $8.000.

Back on the main TV table 1996 Champion and European Mosconi Cup captain Ralf 'the Kaiser' Souquet moved into the last eight with an 11 - 3 demolition of Taiwanese dangerman Ching Shun Yang.
He now faces Marcus Chamat or Andreas Roschkowsky for a place in the semis.

Marcus and Double J Through

Mosconi Cup star Marcus Chamat (Sweden) cracked the last eight of the 2001 Admiral World Pool Championship after a tortuous near-three hour war of attrition against Germany's Andreas Roschkowsky at the Cardiff International Arena tonight.
Both players made countless errors but neither had the necessary mettle to capitalise on the myriad of opportunities available. Until the winning rack no player held a two game advantage over the other as the lead changed hands several times.

Roschkowsky, who rocked the event yesterday when he put out betting favourite Earl Strickland was as guilty as Chamat and he will be cursing himself at the opportunities he wasted.
Chamat, the 26 year-old former European Champion from Borlange, Sweden started today as 9 - 1 shot for the title. The feeling is that he will have to show a lot more than this if he is to be in with a shout on Sunday

Jeremy 'Double J' Jones won through to the quarters here at the Cardiff International Arena after a hard-fought battle with leading Spanish player David Alcaide.
Jones, who came back from 9 - 7 down, was suffering from the effects of a cold and did well to stay with the classy 22 year-old from Malaga. Along with Charlie Williams, Jones is the last of the Americans here in Cardiff and he can look forward to a last eight clash with Chia-hsiung Lai of Chinese Taipei.

Dancing Bear and Rattlesnake Join Final Eight

Quality Canadian cueman Alain 'the Dancing Bear' Martel extinguished British hopes here at the 2001 Admiral World Pool Championship with tremendous 11 - 9 win over young Yorkshireman Chris Melling in a match that had it all.
With the soft break doing the business on the main TV table, Melling continued where he left off against Steve Davis on Thursday using the finesse break to slot the 1-ball into the middle bag and roll the 2 and 3 into the corner pocket.
Martel, on the other hand stuck with the big gun and it worked a treat for him tonight as he moved into an 7 - 3 lead, demonstrating the repertoire of shots that have cemented his reputation as a world class player.
Melling, the 22 year-old wunderkind from Keighley, gamely fought back though and levelled the match at 7 racks apiece. Martel won the 15th rack and then broke and ran the next two to give himself a two rack cushion at 10 - 7.
Chris then speared in a 3 - 9 combo to pull one back and then played two consecutive combination shots, the first a 3-5-6 and the second the 3-9 to go 10 - 9. A dry break though, let Martel in and after a safety exchange, Alain played a brilliant bank on the blue followed by a 6 - 9 combo for the match.


The 41 year-old father of two from Montreal can look forward to a race to 11 quarter final match up against Leonardo Andam, the only survivor of a seven-strong Filipino contingent who won through tonight against Charlie Williams in another titanic tussle on table two.
Andam, the poker-faced pool maestro from Iligan City always lead the match but with so much at stake things were always going to be tough. Andam, 41, was carrying the hopes of a pool-crazy nation on his back and he didn't let them down. At 10 - 9 the match was anyone's but presented with a match winning opportunity 'Dodong' cracked home the 9-ball for victory.

• 14.00 hrs
  Chia-hsiung Lai (Tai) bt Jeremy Jones (USA) 11 - 3
  Ralf Souquet (Ger) bt Marcus Chamat (Swe)  11 - 1
  Mika Immonen (Fin) bt Niels Feijen (Hol)       11 - 7
  Alain Martel (Can) bt Leonardo Andam (Phi)  11 - 9

Kaiser Guns Down Napoleon, US Hopes Extinguished

1996 World Champion Ralf 'the Kaiser' Souquet advanced to tonight's semi-finals of the 2001 Admiral World Pool Championship after a comfortable 11 - 1 win over Sweden's Marcus Chamat at the Cardiff International Arena. He now faces Chia-hsiung Lai of Chinese Taipei for a place in Sunday evening's championship match.
It's four years since the 32  year-old from Manching, Germany last appeared in a World Semi-Final when he went down 9 - 8 to Kung Fang Lee (Tpe) in Chicago.
Souquet played ideal lead-from-the front  pool and kept Chamat in his chair for long periods as  he built up a 9 - 0 lead. Marcus nicked the eleventh rack but that was his only success as Souquet took the next two to book his last four berth.

Commented Ralf, " I kept making a ball off the break and had nice layouts every time. I missed an easy 3-ball when I was 3-0 up, he played safe and I was lucky get out and carry on with my run.
" He didn't get too many chances and the rare few that he did he missed. I think in the end Marcus was happy to win a rack. I've played him six times now and he won the first three and now I've won the last three.
" I don't really care who I play in the semi. Obviously I know a lot more about Jones than Lai but I feel relaxed. Mika Immonen is playing phenomenal at the moment but I'll just look forward to tonight's match."
Souquet can look forward to a minimum $17,500 whilst Chamat's consolation prize is a cheque for $8,500.

In the quarter final match-up on the TV table, US hopes bit the dust as remaining player Jeremy Jones of Texas fell by the wayside at the hands of Chia-hsiung Lai of Chinese Taipei.
The 32 year-old from Chang Hua County got his break going early on as he rolled the 1-ball into the middle pocket with the regularity of a clock and shot into a 7 - 0 lead.
For Jones the gulf was too much and although pulled a couple of racks back, Lai's deadly break did more damage down the home straight as he ran out an 11 - 3 winner.

Dancing Bear Waltzes Through, Mika Joins Him

Alain Martel is shaping up to lose his tag as pool's most underated player as he advanced through to the semi-finals of the 2001 Admiral World Pool Champion- ship in controversial style against remaining Filipion hope Leonardo Andam.
Martel carried on where he left off against Chris Melling last night as he raced into a  7 - 2 lead. With a big pro-Filipino crowd rooting for their man, Andam staged a comeback, winning the next six racks to edge into the lead. However, when the score reached 9 - 9 match referee Chris Atkin called a foul on Andam when his cue touched the green 6-ball when executing a shot.
That gave Martel ball-in-hand and an easy out to 10-9. He then ran out the 20th rack for the match and a place in tonight's quarter finals.
Andam, clearly not happy with the referee's call, refused to shake hands with either the referee or Alain Martel.

Commented Martel, "It was really difficult out there with too many Filipinos clapping when I scratched and things like that. I didn't see the foul; I was on the wrong side and it was at the wrong angle. " I went to shake his hand at the end at the end but he just turned around. I played really well at the beginning of the match but played bad for a few days to let him back in.
" I've been playing better here in practice than I have in the matches. That's because I get nervous -  I need to be more relaxed."

Martel's semi-final opponent tonight is higly-fancied Finn Mika Immonen, who
overcame an awful start to over-turn Dutch terminator Niels Feijen by a score of 11 - 7.