After Alex screwed up the out, I think the safety was his best option.
Me, too. The safe was the right play, and I made a point of telling Alex this when I chatted with him at the International last October.
The long bank shot Alcaide made after Alex's excellent safety was voted the shot of the year on Matchroom's poll --- that's because it was a very difficult shot and to come with it at double hill in a final was simply sensational.
Few have ever made the shot Alciade made with a title hanging in the balance.
Alex played the percentages here, but in the immortal words of Irving Crane "the percentages don't always work."