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Double Dutch delight for DEVILS
Eric Verhagen beat Mattersburg's Markus Matzinger to complete a devilishly good double at the Amsterdam Grand Prix.
With Verhagen's DEVILS Austria side defeating SMV Delft in the final of Saturday's team event, it made for a successful return home for the world number 1.
Delft had made a strong showing in the team event. Their B string had held DEVILS to a 2-2 draw in the quarter-finals - Robbert Thoen and Ron Corsten getting the individual wins - only to lose by a narrow 6-5 goal difference.
The A side meanwhile secured a semi-final victory against AS Hennuyer, who themselves had disposed of a strong Mattersburg team in the quarter-finals, thanks to the efforts of Nathan Dupont and Delphine Dieudonne, in beating Erich Hinkelmann and Markus Matzinger respectively.
However, Delft A went down to a 3-1 defeat against the Verhagen-led DEVILS team in the final, a repeat of a group stage match where the teams had tied 2-2.
Significantly, DEVILS' two game defeats from the prior meeting were reversed in the decisive encounter - Robert Lenz beating Martijn Bom 4-1, having earlier lost 2-1, whilst Verhagen defeated Richard Stolwijk 2-0, following a shock 4-1 defeat to the same opponent previously.
And Manfred Pawlica's 4-1 success over Marco de Bruin completed a straightforward DEVILS win, with only Maikel de Haas - 2-0 winner against Thomas Wittmann - offering any resistance against the team of the moment.
Individually on Sunday, Verhagen was in devastating form throughout.
Usually high scoring, but sceptical in defence, the Dutchman scored three unanswered goals against Greek Lazaros Papakonstantinou - winner of an ill-tempered barrage round clash with Martijn Bom - then thrashed compatriot Henk Landzaat 5-1 in the last 16.
But he excelled in the quarter-finals, with a 7-2 hammering of Joël Hanotiaux, before beating his conqueror from last year's Grand Prix, Gil Delogne, in the semis.
And the 3-0 margin of victory over the former world champion could, and should, have been higher.
Verhagen though looked a bit nervous in the final against a similarly on-form Matzinger, but by half-time he had established a 1-0 lead.
And whilst the Austrian levelled early in the second period, Verhagen responded almost immediately to restore his advantage.
Matzinger appeared to have grabbed a second equaliser, however the referee adjudged that his shot had in fact struck the post.
No appeal was made and Verhagen took full advantage of the situation and advanced up field to score a third, before completing a 4-1 victory late on.
Matzinger - one of three Mattersburg players who made the last 8 of the competition - had won through with shoot-out victories over both clubmate Karl Heinz Haider and number 2 seed Massimo Cremona, the latter of who had lacked his usual spark during the day, but still managed to reach the semi-finals.
Cremona's Maltese compatriot Hansel Mallia was the tournament’s surprise early casualty, when he exited at the last 32 against Philip van Kommer, as the Dutchman avenged a narrow defeat in the previous day's USC Utrecht vs Hennuyer team match.
Erich Hinkelman - making a rare appearance outside the open category - had little difficulty in winning a veterans' section lacking several of its more noticeable patrons, who had instead elected to compete in the main competition.
The Mattersburg player scored 38 goals in 6 games, culminating with a 5-2 victory over Belgian Jos Ceulemans.
Ralf Gregoire beat Jerome Herbecq in an all-Belgian U19 final and an all-Danish affair in the U15s saw Kristian Staal Nielsen defeat Lasse Honere 3-0.
Sam Curtis reached the semis of the junior event, but lost on a golden goal to Honere, after coming back from 3-1 down and equalising in the last ten seconds.
However the UK's best performance came from Louise Lawrenson, in the female section, where the Yorkshire lady topped the 4-strong preliminary group, before edging past home player Linda van de Kolk 1-0 in the final.
* Of the 10 UK-based players contesting the Open category, just three progressed into the knock-out stages.
Kasper Bennett came through a tough barrage round game against former Belgian cup winner Bessim Golger on shots, but lost out in the final flick of his last 32 match against Christophe Dheur.
Chris Thomas exited at the same time, losing 3-1 to eventual finalist Markus Matzinger, whilst Bob Varney went one stage further, reaching the last 16, before blowing an early lead and going down 3-1 to Joël Hanotiaux.
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Eric Verhagen (NED) - Joel Hanotiaux (BEL) 7-2
Gil Delogne (BEL) - Wolfgang Leitner (AUT) 2-0
Karl Heinz Haider (AUT) - Markus Matzinger (AUT) 1-1s
Sebastien Scheen (BEL) - Massimo Cremona (MLT) 2-5
Eric Verhagen (NED) - Gil Delogne (BEL) 3-0
Markus Matzinger (AUT) - Massimo Cremona (MLT) s1-1
Eric Verhagen (NED) - Markus Matzinger (AUT) 4-1
Category finals:
Veterans: Erich Hinkelmann (AUT) - Jos Ceulemans (BEL) 5-2
U19: Ralf Gregoire (BEL) - Jerome Herbecq (BEL) s0-0
U15: Kristian Staal Nielsen (DEN) - Lasse Honere (DEN) 3-0
Females: Louise Lawrenson (ENG) - Linda van de Kolk (NED) 1-0
Team event
Semi-finals
AS Hennuyer (BEL) - SMV Delft A (NED) 1-3
SC Charleroi (BEL) - DEVILS Austria (AUT) 1-3
SMV Delft A - DEVILS Austria 1-3
Marco de Bruin - Manfred Pawlica 1-4
Maikel de Haas - Thomas Wittmann 2-0
Martijn Bom - Robert Lenz 1-4
Richard Stolwijk - Eric Verhagen 0-2
Link: Results file (.doc)
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