Alcaide Secures Semi-final Spot

DAVID Alcaide produced another fine victory by defeating 1995 World Champion Oliver Ortmann in the 2007 PartyPoker.net World Pool Masters.

On Friday, Alcaide beat five-time Masters winner Ralf Souquet and earlier tonight he secured another big scalp to advance into the semi-finals.

He will now meet either Pat Holtz of Scotland or local favourite Niels Feijen on Sunday evening.

Ortmann, who defeated Japan's Naoyuki Oi in the first round, won the lag but was back in his seat thanks to a poor shot on the 2-ball.

But Alcaide missed the 6-ball when he overcut an attempt when trying to play the ball down the right rail as Ortmann went 1-0 in front.

A thin cut from the German left the red 3 on the verge of the pocket but it did not drop to bring Alcaide to the table. A banked eight into the left centre pocket helped him ensure he recorded his first rack of the match.

Right-handed Ortmann produced a 7-8 combination then pocketed the 7-ball using his left hand on his way to a 2-1 lead.

However, Alcaide took each of the next three racks after downing four balls on the break in the fourth and despite shooting the cue ball off the table in a failed jump-shot attempt in the sixth.

It was then Ortmann's turn to find the carpet after a poor positional shot forced him into a jump shot of his own. With ball-in-hand, Alcaide moved three ahead and edged closer to the semi-finals.

A successful bank shot helped the impressive Spaniard take another and the match looked as good as over with the scoreboard showing 6-2 in Alcaide's favour, before Ortmann ran out the next.

Alcaide then moved to the hill and with the alternate break format was now the clear favourite.

The critical moment came when Ortmann hooked himself going from the 6-ball to the 7-ball and a failed jump shot was his last action in the 2007 Masters.

Player profiles
Oliver Ortmann   David Alcaide