The Dynamic Costa del Sol Open has come to a conclusion. Fourty year old Bruno Muratore is the winner of the final Eurotour of 2007 winning €5000 for first of a total €40.000 in prizemoney. The Eurotour in Malaga had 266 entries from over 30 countries as the tournament was held in the beautiful area at the Costa del Sol in the south of Spain.
The usual suspects were there once more: Souquet, Feijen, Chamat, Peach, Engert, Majid amongst others. But as history has proven, name and standing are worth little in respect to entering the Eurotour winners'circle. The 3-game-break innings with tapped racks and additionally, three balls needing to pass the head string work as an equalizer. So, a lot of nerve and luck is needed to penetrate the Eurotour brackets.
Muratore played against last Eurotour winner Mark Grey in the semi-finals, winning 10-7. Mark Greys achievement needs to be acknowledged here. He comes from 73rd in the rankings to 12th, then into the top 3. He combines professional snooker skills with the possibility to break soft, a lethal combination against any longtime champion, as found out Thomas Engert in a 10-3 trouncing by Grey.
The other semi-final was between Niels Feijen and Radoslaw Babica. Niels Feijen has had a great season, winning the Derby City Classic 9-ball and the Challenge of Champions. But on the Eurotour he has not managed to win one in two years although he undoubtedly is Europe's absolute elite. He was denied a shot for the title at this occasion. Babica won 10-4 in an unexpected lopsided match.
Muratore and Babica the finalists, once more a new member of the Eurotour winners' circle would be. In a very suspenseful match that went all the way, Bruno Muratore sank the last 9-ball to become the 17th different Eurotour winner from 21 events in the last three years. For the first time in his carreer Muratore will enter the top 10 of the rankings. Souquet is the new number one. From this moment on, all European fans as well as Souquet, Peach, Feijen, Stepanov, Drago and coach Ruissink are counting down. Four more days and then the Mosconi Cup starts in the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, is this the time that Europe starts to settle the score?
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