Austria Billiards Team Stuns Australia

Austria Billiards Team Stuns Australia
The Austrian billiard team, made up of the European No.18 Martin Kempter and 17 year-old Albin Ouschan, edged their way into the second round of the PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool with a come-from-behind win over Australia.
The Australian pairing of Shaun Budd and Stuart Lawler only had themselves to blame as they enjoyed a 4-0 lead and then a 6-4 lead in the race to 8 game, taking place at the Outland Nightclub in Rotterdam.
Too many errors though let their opponents back in and the Austrians steadied themselves in the closing stages to record a fine win.
The Australians won a scrappy opener and increased their lead to 2-0 as they comfortably ran through the rack. Kempter failed to get out of a snooker in the third game and with ball in hand, the Australians made it 3-0.
A great break by Lawler in the next saw three balls drop and the team from down under completed an elementary run out to increase their lead.
They looked set for 5-0 before Lawler scratched into the middle pocket going from the 8 ball to the 9 and the Austrians recorded their first rack of the match.
They then took the next and completed a run out in the eighth game to reduce the deficit to 4-3.
The Australians were certainly enjoying some good fortune and that helped them take the next to increase their lead to two racks.
Another fluke from the Australians gave them a chance in the next but a miss let the Austrians back in and they cleared to get to 5-4 down.
The Australians stopped the rot in the next as they got back to the table and ran out to increase their lead to 6-4. With the winner breaks format, Team Australia had everything in their favour to seal the win but Lawler once again scratched into the middle pocket to hand the rack to their opponents.
Austria ran out from the break in the next to level the score and reached the hill in the 13th game, which was touched by a little controversy. The Australians felt that Ouschan feathered the cue ball when pocketing the green 6 ball but the referee saw nothing and the TV replays showed that the shot was true. The final two balls were downed to get to 7-6 and into the lead for the first time in the match.
T hey sealed the win as they took the final game of the match for an excellent victory.