Van den Berg Delights Home Crowd

NICK van den Berg scraped into the semi-finals of the PartyPoker.net World Pool Masters in a dramatic but exciting fashion.

Van den Berg, who once again was backed by a large home crowd at the Hotel Zuiderduin in Egmond aan Zee, Holland, trailed 7-4 against Italian Fabio Petroni.

However, van den Berg took the next three racks to take the match into hill-hill with the break in the 15th and final rack.

The Dutch star scratched off the break but a mistake from Petroni enabled van den Berg to seal an 8-7 victory and set up a semi-final clash with Thomas Engert.

"In the beginning I didn’t play well and I felt the supporters were disappointed," said van den Berg. "But I made it 4-4 and had a big chance to go 5-4, but I felt the table was rolling off a bit so I hit it hard. He then went 5-4 and then 6-4.

"I’ve been seeing sports psychologists and they told me that if you don’t feel you’re playing that well, then go for it and give it 100 per cent.

" When I scratched I heard someone in the audience shout ‘9 ball break’ and concentration over the break shot is one of the weak parts of my game, so I hit the break much harder and scratched.

"I’m full of adrenalin right now. I need to go and eat, get away from the fans and then try and relax in my room before the semi final."

Van den Berg won the lag and took the opening rack, but Petroni, who defeated the reigining World Champion Ronnie Alcano in the first round, claimed the second.

A miscue on the blue 2 by van den Berg in the next gave Petroni a gift, which he accepted to take the lead with the break in the fourth. When van den Berg failed with an attempt at the 4-ball, Petroni gained a 3-1 advantage, in this race to eight match.

Petroni made it 4-1, but then scratched off his own break to give van den Berg, to the delight of the home crowd, the opportunity to peg a rack back. He ran through the remainder of the balls to pull it to 4-2 to Petroni.

The seventh rack was a scrappy one as both players missed the 1-ball, before Petroni could not secure the 7-ball and left it hanging over the bottom left pocket.

It appeared that Petroni would get fortunate in the next when he missed a jumpshot and the cue ball was left behind the 8-ball but a fine bank shot from van den Berg on the 2-ball helped make it 4-4.

Once more, Petroni then established a lead, which he extended, largely thanks to an excellent bank shot on the 1-ball that set up a run-out opportunity for 6-4.

Van den Berg fouled in the 11th and, with ball-in hand, Petroni sunk the 1-ball but the cue-ball then successfully cannoned into the 7-ball and then the 9-ball to move to the hill as he was 7-4 in front.

When van den Berg missed a shot at the 1-ball that looked like it could be his last in the tournament. However, an error from Petroni ensured that was not the case and the Dutchman won another rack, this time against the Italian's break.

A 6-9 combination from van den Berg made sure there would be another rack but would have to sit, watch and hope that Petroni came up with a dry break.

But that was not the case and Petroni had a shot at the 1-ball, on the verge of winning the tie. However, there was some drama as Petroni, hampered by the 9-ball, missed the 1-ball that rattled around the jaws of the pocket but did not drop.

Van den Berg held his nerve to make it the second hill-hill affair and, as he had the break, was potentially one shot away from the semi-final.

However, he produced a disastrous break, his worst of the tournament, as the cue ball sped towards the middle pocket. With ball-in-hand, the ad