Sunday, Apr 11, 2010
Gulf News
Fujairah Britain's Karl Boyes will be hoping to make it third time lucky when he faces Niels Feijen, of The Netherlands, in the final of the Etisalat World 8-Ball Pool Championships being held at the Fujairah Tennis and Country Club.
In a rather one-sided semifinal, Boyes bettered Russian Ruslan Chinakhov 10-2, while Feijen battled past a gritty Darren Appleton 10-6 in the second semifinal to set up a summit clash.
This is Boyes' third visit to Fujairah for this tournament and his best showing has been a semifinal appearance in the 9-ball World Pool Championship held here two years ago. "I did not qualify on one occasion and this time I have made it to the final. I hope it will be third time lucky for me," Boyes told Gulf News.
Minor slips
Boyes looked to be in charge throughout despite a couple of minor slips at crucial stages. To his good luck, Chinakhov did not seem to be particularly sharp. Chinakhov had the opportunity to take the second frame and go 2-0 up. "But somehow I blundered at the wrong time. But to his credit, Karl did play solid throughout," Chinakhov said after being a spectator through much of the semifinal.
Very soon Boyes was steaming ahead 6-2 never to look behind as the Briton stood on the cusp of making the final by cleaning the table in the eleventh. However, Boyes missed at a crucial juncture in the final frame and to his good fortune found Chinakhov's bounced shot miss out on a strike, allowing his opponent to clean one last time and move into the final.
Results
Semifinals: Karl Boyes bt Ruslan Chinakhov 10-2; Niels Feijen bt Darren Appleton 10-6.
By Alaric Gomes
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