Lauric Jean prevailed in the francophone duel against Romain Lorentz. The Belgian outplayed the Frenchman in the first minutes and had a quick 2-0 lead. Eventually it became a thrilling match of two different characters.
Jean's semi-final opponent in the evening will be Jin Ueda. The Japanese dominated European champion Quentin Robinot and won the match in five games.
The other semi-finalists are Omar Assar and Kohei Morimoto. Noshad Alamiyan and Marcelo Aguirre never came close to bother their respective opponents.
Excellent Performance
Lauric Jean played surprisingly strongly against Lorentz. “I wanted to qualify for the European Top 10”, the Belgium said, “this was an extra motivation.” He also found an explanation for his dream start: “In the first games I followed exactly the advice of my coach. Tactically and technically I played above my normal level I think.”
While Lauric Jean was more and more upset with his game after the dream start, the Frenchman saw his chance coming. Lorentz tried to be positive all the time, while Jean vented his anger. In the fifth game, which was won 16-14 by Jean, he was an up and down in emotions.