Van den Berg Cruises Past Ouschan

Van den Berg Cruises Past Ouschan
Nick van den Berg started the match by winning the lag at the Hotel Zuiderduin, Egmond aan Zee in Holland. He never looked back from there. It was the opening match of the third session of the 2007 PartyPoker.net World Pool Masters as Ouschan became only the second female player to play in the tournament.
Van den Berg, who was playing in front of home supporters, sunk both the 1 and 3 balls off the break, banked the 2-ball and then sealed a 4-9 combination to go 1-0 ahead. Ouschan registered a dry break and van den Berg eventually had a similar shot to the first rack, again completing a 4-9 combination as he doubled his lead.
The Dutchman then came up with a dry break of his own but laid a difficult safety, which led to a foul from Ouschan. That gave van den Berg ball in hand and he made no mistakes for a quick scoreline of 3-0. It was proving to be a tough introduction to the Masters for Ouschan and things did not improve in the next as a loose safety shot brought van den Berg back to the table.
He had admitted he was under pressure to win this match but was going about his performance in a fine manner as he again took full advantage of his opportunity for 4-0. Van den Berg had the break in the fifth and once again ran through the balls as he moved 5-0 ahead, in what had been a flawless performance so far.
But he had to sit in his seat for a few minutes as Ouschan got off the mark by running through the sixth after downing the 2-ball on the break. In the seventh, van den Berg downed the 1-ball but made his first mistake of the match when missed an attempt at the 7-ball into the bottom right pocket. However, Ouschan left the 9-ball hanging over the pocket for a straight-forward 7-9 combination, which the Dutchman gratefully accepted.
Ouschan, one of the finest female players in the world, looked short of confidence and gave her opponent more chances in the next as she missed a shot at the 2-ball before scratching on the red three. That proved to be her last shot of this year’s tournament as van den Berg made a 7-9 combination and then broke and ran through the last rack for an 8-1 win.