Alcaide throws Filler to loser's side

Mar 1, 2013

Experience was the main factor in the match
Treviso, Italy: In the second round on the winner's side, David Alcaide (ESP) creamed Joshua Filler (GER) with 9:4 and put him to the loser's side.
What sounds like a clear affair for Alcaide has in reality been a tough struggle for him. Two different player mentalities have come to the final arena. On one side Filler, being the young gun who is looking for glory, ready to take big risks in order to get a chance for victory. Alcaide on the other side, a complete player who has already earned his merits but still wants to increase his wins. The match started out pretty even. Amazingly, Filler had the better break than Alcaide who David Alcaide playing with Joshua Filler sitting in the background seemed to struggle with his opening shot. The reason why Filler kept Alcaide in the match is simply because he made too many mistakes. After eight racks, the score was tied at 4:4. Filler has had the chance to get an advantage over Alcaide but since he made mistakes like leaving the 9-ball over the pocket, Alcaide could still keep a foot in the door. It was not that Alcaide was the weaker player; he just had no luck after his break shot. If his break was ok, he usually ran the table and cleared all balls.
David Alcaide playing with Joshua Filler sitting in the background
After the 9th rack, Alcaide was leading 5:4 and took a time-out. Filler had just committed two serious mistakes that could have given him a comfortable lead. When Alcaide returned from his time-out, Filler broke the next rack, had a ball down but no shot on the 1-ball. He decided to play a push-out which was passed back by Alcaide. Filler then played a safe that appeared to be very bad. He was either nervous or he played it really negligent. However, Alcaide ran the rack and got a two-point lead over Filler for the first time in the match. That was the turning point. Alcaide seemed to get momentum while Filler struggled more and more with his game. He ran his next rack and took a 7:4 lead. Then Filler got a dry break for the first time in the match. As mentioned in the beginning, Filler actually had the better break shot. he got balls down at five out of six break shots while Alcaide had 3 good breaks with 4 bad breaks.
Whenever safety battles were exchanged, Alcaide turned out on top of Filler. It seemed as if Filler had lost his game. Alcaide took his chance and did not allow Filler to take another rack into his account. 9:4 was the clear final result for Alcaide who will now proceed to the winner's qualification round while Filler has to try and find his game back on the loser's side. "I think that I won this match because of my experience", stated Alcaide after the match. "My break was not good and I struggled in the beginning but once I was able to put pressure on him, he got nervous. When I saw that, I knew he had no chance against me today. He is a good player but I played stronger".
Other notable results from the second winner's round include Tomasz Kaplan (POL) defeating Phil Burford (GBR) with 9:4. Ralf Souquet (GER) handed a 9:0 doughnut to Kostas Paspatis (GRE). Local hero Fabio Petroni (ITA) overcame Michal Turkowski (POL) by a whisker with 9:8. The same result was good for Ruslan Chinakhov (RUS) in his victory over Jasmin Ouschan (AUT). In the Dutch-French encounter between Niels Feijen and Stephane Cohen, Feijen remained victorious with 9:7.
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.eurotouronline.eu , follow us on twitter @EPBF_News or contact our press office.