Diamond leads the way to Vanderbilt semis

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Source Memphis 2012 Bulletin Nº9 

The team captained by John Diamond breezed into the semifinal round of the Vanderbilt Knockout Teams with a decisive win over the Lou Ann O’Rourke squad, who withdrew after three quarters trailing by 101 IMPs. Diamond will face the mostly Swedish Peter Bertheau team – 109-99 winners over No. 12 Mark Gordon – in the semifinals today. The event concludes on Sunday. The other semifinal match will pit the Allan Falk foursome against the team led by Les Amoils. Falk, the original No. 47 seed, knocked off No. 7 George Jacobs in a seesaw match 159-134. Amoils did not have much trouble with the Polish squad Consus Red. Amoils won 156-94.

Falk was leading 90-65 at the halfway point of the match with Jacobs but was hammered 55-17 in the third quarter to trail 120-107. Falk bounced back with a 52-14 final set to advance. A huge swing for Bertheau against Gordon midway through their match was a deciding factor. Gordon and Pratap Rajadhyaksha reached 7♦ off the trump ace (and the ♣A). They ran to 7NT when 7♦ was doubled. That, too, was doubled and cost minus 1700 – 17 IMPs – for down six.