Ralf Souquet: Paris Open 9-Ball – Title defended

For the sixth time, the Paris Open 9-Ball were organized and as the defending champion, I was seeded fort he final round of 16 players. The two Dutchmen Nick van den Berg and Niels Feijen as well as the English player Imran Majid were also directly invited to the final round.

On day one, the qualification rounds were played with 64 participants and some European top players qualified for the final round. In the previous years, this was not possible, because only French players could play the qualification stages.
The format was a KO bracket with matches in races to 10 with winner break and the venue was the private club „Clichy Montmartre“.

My first opponent was Frenchman Emmanuel Lemaire, against whom I had recently played at a EuroTour event. As before in the Netherlands, Lemaire seemed to have too much respect and made a few easy mistakes. The result was an undisputed 10-2.

In the quarter-finals, I was opposed to the next Frenchman, Stephane Cohen. This was a much tougher task and I managed to improve my game. Even if my game was all but perfect, I was in full control of the match, Cohen made a few mistakes and I won 10-5.
In the semi-final, I had to play against Niels Feijen (NED), against whom I had not always convinced in the past. I tried once more to play better and partly succeeded. I finally deserved to win 10-5 and had entered once more after 2007 the final of the Paris Open.

My opponent in the final was an old acquaintance, since I had played Yannick Beaufils (FRA) already at the IPT tour and last year at the Paris Open. Beaufils had eliminated in the first round of the final bracket Imran Majid, than last year’s runner-up Vincent Facquet (FRA) and in the semi-final Jonni Fulcher who plays for Switzerland.

As expected, the final was a thriller, even if both players did not enjoy lucky break shots. So, the match went on a quiet pace and we had a few safety battles. I had gained a small advantage right from the beginning of the match and was leading by two and three racks, but then Beaufils came back into the match and even equalled the score at 8-8. I was about to trail for the first time, when the French player made an incredible mistake by missing an easy 7 ball. I could run out the rack and re-gain the lead at 9-8 and the trophy was in reach. I ran out the last rack and had won the title at the Paris Open for the second consecutive time.