Source : Match Room PoolENGLAND, USA and Holland were all surprise losers on a sensational second day at the 2011 PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool.
Holland fell to Thailand and USA lost a hill-hill decider against Singapore but the biggest shock was the third-seeded English side who were defeated 8-6 by World Cup newcomers Estonia.
The Estonian pairing of Dennis Grabe and Erki Erm, who had to battle through a qualifying tournament to earn their place in the event, claimed a major upset at the SM City North EDSA mall in Quezon City, Manila.
England's Chris Melling and Darren Appleton looked a little shell-shocked at the end as the Estonians punched the air in delight but the English pair only had themselves to blame as they looked lack-lustre and made critical errors.
"At the beginning it was very hard with the pressure as we'd never played in front of such a big crowd but we didn't have anything to lose," said a jubilant Grabe.
"But we knew if we played well we could beat them. In a race to eight everyone has a chance. We didn't expect to win and it was a surprise but we had been hoping."
England had a great chance to win the match as they scrapped it out to take a 6-5 lead in the race to eight match. Appleton though, scratched and Grabe made a 3/9 combo to level and the Estonians took the lead when Melling sunk the cue ball in the next.
England looked set to level it but Melling left the cue ball short of position to leave his side snookered. They escaped but Grabe and Erm downed the remaining three balls for a famous victory.
"England are a very strong team but it was a very important match for us and this was our first time here," added Erm.
"I think if we play well we can beat anybody as we made some mistakes but still won, but if we play perfectly we have a chance against everyone."
The PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool takes place at the Block Atrium at the SM Mall North in Quezon City, Manila. It features 32 two-player teams representing 31 nations - hosts Philippines have two sides. The total prize-fund is $250,000 with $60,000 going to the winning pair.
In the other match of the afternoon session, Thailand upset the odds as they knocked Holland out of the competition by an 8-4 score line. With World 10 Ball Champion Huidji See at the helm, partnered by rising junior star Marco Teutscher, Holland were expected to make light work of the Thai pair of Nitiwat Kanjanasri & Kobkit Palajin.
At 5-0 down that was never going to happen as the Thai duo quietly went about their business. They had a stutter as the Dutch got the score back to 7-4 but that was to be it as Thailand made their way into the second round where they will meet Estonia.
Elsewhere, the American pairing of Corey Deuel and Mike Dechaine, dressed in American flag trousers with matching shoes, failed to recover from a bad start against Singapore's Chan Keng Kwang and Bernard Tey.
The ruthless German pairing of Ralf Souquet and Thorsten Hohmann fired out a warning shot to their rivals with an 8-0 whitewash - the first of the tournament - over the Australian pair of Greg Jenkins and Dave Rothall.
"Australia had pretty good chances in the first couple of racks and it should've been 2-0 to them but they handed us them and after that we controlled the match," said Souquet.
"We ran three or four from the break and the match was history. It's a really short format and one mistake could cost you three or four games."
Philippines A cruised to an 8-2 success, despite being 2-0 down, as Ronnie Alcano and Dennis Orcollo crushed the Austrian pairing of Mario He and Jasmin Ouschan, the only female in the event.
The other match saw Malaysia earn themselves the dubious honour of a second round match with Germany as they laboured to a win over France. Patrick Ooi and Ibrahim Bin Amir are World Cup veterans and they will be delighted with their 8-6 win over Vincent Facquet and Stephan Cohen.
The PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool takes place at the Block Atrium at the SM Mall North in Quezon City, Manila. It features 32 two-player teams representing 31 nations - hosts Philippines have two sides. The total prize-fund is $250,000 with $60,000 going to the winning pair.
DAY TWO RESULTS: Germany 8-0 Australia, France 6-8 Malaysia, England 6-8 Estonia, Holland 4-8 Thailand, USA 7-8 Singapore, Philippines A 8-2 Austria.
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