Hackl hacks them all but Jack finally hacks back

His name was new to the ASL Grand Prix circuit this season, but his name was not new to snooker. Christian Hackl, whose career best result was third at the 1990 Austrian national championships, made his first appearance of the current season on the biggest stage in Austrian snooker last weekend at the SEBC club in KÖÖ5 in Vienna. The player from Top Snooker Graz opened his campaign in Group A against youngster Manuel Urban from the Snooker Cracks Linz, a match which he lost 2-3 despite a 2-0 lead. An early exit seemed inevitable as he had to beat Austria's No. 1 Hans Nirnberger, who played in his home club SEBC and was the other competitor in this round-robin group. Hackl went 2-0 up again, but after Jack pulled one back, he closed out the match this time, 3-1.

...Finalist Christian Hackl concentrating on a red-ball shot along the top cushion...

So Hackl, as a group winner, qualified for the last 16, where he met another SEBC member of the Künstlerbüro Snooker-Team, Robert Burda. They shared the first two frames, before Hackl clinched the next two for a 3-1 victory. In the quarterfinal, Hackl was at the table with a third member of the elite team, Bernhard Müllner. And again was Hackl the dominating player, upsetting 15Reds player Bernie with a 3-0 win. The semifinal was a clash between two oldies of the Austrian snooker scene, Hackl vs. Clausdieter Franschitz from Vienna's ISC club, with the better ending for Hackl again. The 4-0 score, however, did not properly reflect the balance of the match as all frames had a pretty close outcome. And so there he was in the final: Hackl. His opponent? Right, Nirnberger again!

Jack also qualified for the last 16 despite losing to Hackl in the group stage. Nirnberger first beat 15Reds player Chau Zi Kim, twice his final opponent earlier this season. In a high-class match with several 30 and 40 breaks, both players were leveled at 2-2. Kim went 21 up in the decider before Nirnberger hit a 74 - his best break of the tournament - to snatch a 3-2 victory. Nirnberger went on to defeat teammate Robert Bütof [15Reds] 3-1 after dropping the opening frame. The semifinals saw a rerun of an all-time classic match in Austrian snooker: Nirnberger vs. Garry Balter. The first frame went to Balter, who had the tournament's highest break earlier on with a great 79, but Nirnberger won four straight frames to secure his place in the final again. Nirnberger reached the final of all four ASL Grand Prix events so far, and only lost once to Kim. Nirnberger was not in for another surprise result against Hackl and raced into a 4-0 lead, before his challenger of Graz could pull one back. However, Nirnberger took the sixth frame as well to claim his third title of the season and to further extend his lead on top of the ASL rankings. Who is going to stop Nirnberger from winning the upcoming ASL Grand Prix at the 1.UWBC club in Wels on Feb. 9-10? Hackl has proven that nothing is impossible.

4. ASL GRAND PRIX 2007/08
[Vienna, 12/01 - 13/01]

Results:

quarterfinals:
Hans Nirnberger - Robert Bütof 3-1
Garry Balter - Sebastian Hainzl 3-1
Christian Hackl - Bernhard Müllner 3-0
Clausdieter Franschitz - Paul Schopf 3-1

semifinals:
Nirnberger - Balter 4-1
Hackl - Franschitz 4-0

final:
Nirnberger - Hackl 5-1

Break list:

- 79 Garry Balter
- 74 Hans Nirnberger
- 63 Robert Burda
- 62 Balter
- 60 Chau Zi Kim
- 49 Kim, Paul Schopf
- 45 Balter
- 44 Schopf
- 43 Nirnberger
- 42 Burda

Click here for full tournament results.

© text: Eric Willemsen [Vienna] / picture: Peter Mann