Immonen Last Former Billiards Champ Standing

Immonen Last Former Billiards Champ Standing
Mika Immonen is now the only remaining former champion left in the 2007 Philippines World Pool Championship as he edged past Canada’s Dancing Bear, Alain Martel by 11-8 on Table 2.
The 34 year-old Helsinki-born globe-trotter was a champion in Cardiff in 2001 when he beat Ralf Souquet 17-10.
He now faces either Hungary’s Vilmos Foldes for a spot in Saturday night’s semi-finals.
I’ve won this thing before so I know how to do it, said Immonen. I was a bit nervous when it got to 8-8 but I felt pretty comfortable.
I feel I’m peaking as the tournament goes on. I’ve been having quite an off season but I played pretty good at the US Open, practised hard before coming here and I felt this was the right time and right stage for me.
I’m not a big fan of soft break but if it must be done then I will do it.
Immonen moved into a 5-2 lead but Martel, who reached the semi-finals in 2001, ironically losing 11-7 to the Finn, stayed with him.
He reduced the deficit to 6-5 before Immonen got away from him to lead 8-5. However, the 48 year-old from Montreal who was the oldest man remaining in the competition, dug in to level it at 8-8 and with the break in his favour, he had every chance.
He came up dry though and that allowed Immonen to run out the match to seal his position in the last eight.
After another last 16 match, Vilmos Foldes, the 22 year-old former WPA World Junior Champion, is stalking the top half of the draw following another convincing win. Foldes beat Lu Hui-chan of Chinese Taipei 11-5 to book a quarter-final match against Mika Immonen tomorrow (Saturday).
The Hungarian, who reached the last 16 of this event in 2005 and the last 32 last year, certainly has the pedigree and will give Immonen all he can handle.
At 5-1 up, Foldes let his opponent back to the table and the Taiwanese got back into it at 5-6 down. However that was to be Lu’s last meaningful contribution to the game as Foldes took five racks on the spin to seal the win.