2003 Pokerempire.com World Pool Masters

First Round ResultsMika Immonen (Fin) 8 - 5 Ralf Souquet (Ger)Alex Lely (Hol) 8 - 3 Steve Davis (Eng)Hui-kai Hsia (Tpe) 8 - 1 Niclas Bergendorff (Swe) Practice Makes Perfect For Immonen MIKA IMMONEN admitted that it was his last minute preparations that made the difference against Ralf Souquet after his 8-5 win in the opening match of the 2003 empirepoker.com World Pool Masters.Immonen sent the defending champion crashing out in a tight match at the Hotel Zuiderduin in Egmond aan Zee and now faces a quarter-final against either Alex Lely or Steve Davis.“I’m glad I practised before the match, I was missing some shots and I had to check my aim and alignment and then it started to feel more comfortable, he said.
“It was a very tough match. Ralf is such a meticulous guy and he had a good start going 3-0 up and all I had was safety shots.“But then I won a few on the row and although I didn’t make a ball on one of the breaks, I hung in there.“My break was mostly going well and I always feel that I can run-out when I make a ball on the break but I wasn’t feeling comfortable with making safety shots, especially against a champion like Ralf.“I think I can win this tournament - I feel good and winning this match has given me a confidence boost.” Home Hope Alex Is First Dutch Contender ALEX LELY will fly the flag for the Netherlands as the first of the four Dutch hopes in the 2003 empirepoker.com World Pool Masters to take to the table.Lely takes on six-time snooker World Champion Steve Davis with the winner facing flying Finn Mika Immonen in the last eight.Lely shot in to an early 3-0 lead before Davis pulled one back, only for the Dutchman to stretch his advantage again to 4-1 after Davis missed an easy 2-ball.But the Londoner fought back to win the next rack and then also took the seventh to cut the deficit to one before missing the 8-ball in the eighth, leaving Lely two balls to clear.In the next, Davis ran out of position on the pink 4, snookering himself behind the 9. He scratched trying to escape and with ball in hand Lely cleared to go 5-3.After taking the next, Lely cleared from the next to move to the hill at 7-3.And the Dutchman took a stroke of fortune to seal the game as a kick off the 3 ball knocked in the 9 and Davis's dream was over. 8-3. Hsia Eases Through Hui-kai Hsia, the 28 year-old World Championship quarter-finalist from Taiwan, made light work of Swede Niclas Bergendorff in his first round match at the 2003 pokerempire.com World Pool Masters.Hsia was a late call up after compatriot Ching-shun Yang turned down the offer of a trip to Holland and he grabbed the opportunity with both hands.The Taiwanese star had travelled over with his wife and he certainly looked very relaxed as he took the initiative from the off.He ran out rack after rack and Bergendorff’s misery was compounded when he missed a straight 9-ball at 7 - 2 down and that gifted the match to the talented Hsia.That victory earned him a last eight match up against either World Champ Thorsten Hohmann or Holland’s Rico Diks. Visit InsidePOOL for the latest updates from the sport of billiards and pool.

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