New York, August 12th 2019
Merckx saves his best for the final day.
The 2019 Verhoeven Open in New York ended in a day of triumph for Eddy Merckx. The title holder in the event – last year he beat Martin Horn in the final – was unstoppable on the last day. He needed 27 innings to win his quarterfinal against countryman Roland Forthomme, set aside Dani Sánchez in the semifinal in 9 innings (4.444), and ended his final against Torbjörn Blomdahl in 10 innings (4.000), closing the match with a run of 18.
After all the group matches, eight players had qualified for the quarters: Merckx, Nelin, Sánchez, Seo, Forthomme, Blomdahl, Sayginer and Cho. The young Korean had impressed with his high averages and attractive play, but Sayginer beat him twice: once in the group, then again in the last eight. Merckx ended Forthomme’s run, Blomdahl beat Seo, and Sánchez was too strong for his long-time rival Dion Nelin.
In the semifinals, a revitalized Torbjörn Blomdahl showed how dangerous he still is, gaining the momentum over Semih Sayginer with a run of 11 and a 40-28 in 21 win. Merckx had to watch as Dani Sanchez made 11 points in the first two innings, but from then on it was all about Eddy. He had saved his best for the last two matches and played near-perfect 3-cushion: 80 points in 19 innings. Blomdahl could not do much more than Sánchez had done: sit and admire. The Swede joined in the applause from the audience when Merckx made his final point, running 18 and out.
The first prize in New York was 9000 dollars, 7000 for the runner-up. Remarkably, the four pre-tournament seeds ended up on 1st, 2nd, 3d and 4th place.
Final standings:
- Merckx, 1.798 – 18
- Blomdahl, 1.777 – 11
- Sánchez, 1.773 – 15
- Sayginer, 1.767 – 12
- M.W. Cho, 1.975 – 14
- C.H. Seo, 1,545 – 9
- Forthomme, 1.528 – 13
- Nelin, 1.370 – 13