Corteza, Django win; Reyes ousted in Predator 10-Ball
By Marlon Bernardino
Cebu Daily News
First Posted 09:33:00 05/17/2008
While reigning National Open champion Lee Vann “The Slayer” Corteza routed Ulrich Louie of the United States, 10-5, former world No. 1 Francisco “Django” Bustamante struggled against compatriot Jose “Amang” Parica before nailing his fourth straight win with a hard-earned, 10-8 victory in the 2008 Predator International 10-Ball Championships at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, yesterday.
Corteza will next face American darkhorse Shane Van Boening, the very same person he considers his biggest threat to the title.
Van Boening, the tournament’s defending champion, is currently playing in the one-loss side and another setback will send the American home.
After Louie won the first rack, Davao City’s Corteza clustered four straight racks for a 4-1 lead and had never faced any serious trouble the rest of the way.
Bustamante also started strong, taking a 2-0 and 3-1 leads before Parica evened at 3-all, 4-all, 5-all, 6-all, 7-all and 8-all.
Reyes eliminated
Meanwhile, pool maestro Efren “Bata” Reyes failed to flash his old brilliance and lost to Alex Lely of the Netherlands, 10-7. It was Reyes’ second loss which officially ended his campaign. Reyes joins other early Filipino casualties Warren Kiamco and Deomark Alpajora.
Newly crowned Pool Masters winner Alex “The Lion” Pagulayan and Ramil “Bebeng” Gallego also won to remain in contention in the losers’ bracket.
Pagulayan trounced Manuel Gama of Spain, 10-4 while the Japan-based Gallego nipped three-time WPA World Junior champion Vilmos Foldes of Hungrary, 10-6, in the morning session then edged Tony Robles of the United States, 10-9, in the afternoon.
In other matches, 2006 US Open winner John Schmidt downed compatriot Gabe Owen, 10-3; Raj Hundal crushed Darren Appleton, 10-6; Neils Fejien beat Charlie Williams, 10-3; Tony Drago trounced Tyler Edey, 10-6; Karl Boyes defeated Imram Majid, 10-4; Ralf Souquet ousted Hanawa, 10-5, and Johnny Archer beat Mike Davis, 10-6.
|
