Alcano Defeats Corteza in Filipino Billiards Battle

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

In the featured match of the 9 p.m. rounds, two Filipinos matched up when former world champion Ronnie Alcano and Lee Van Corteza met on the Accu-Stats table. Their match started off shaky at first, but the score remained even throughout until it reached 7-all. Corteza scratched on the 5 ball, and Alcano made a 5-9 combo and then broke and ran the next rack to go up 9-7. To make matters tougher on Corteza, Alcano then snapped in the 9 ball on his next break to reach the hill. Corteza scored a 4-9 combo in the following game and then took the next rack to make it 10-9. Corteza had another chance in the last rack, as Alcano scratched while attempting a two-rail kick, but Corteza missed the 7 in the side, leaving three balls for Alcano to win 11-9.

“Rocket” Rodney Morris took charge of his winners’-bracket match against Adam “GQ” Smith out of Detroit. Though Morris showed troubles getting a clean break and run-out, he used excellent defensive play to stay ahead early and reached a 6-0 lead before Smith got on the board. They exchanged racks for the remainder of the set, but a missed 2 ball in the final rack by Smith cost him the set 11-4.

In a winners’-bracket match utterly dominated by Francisco Bustamante, he reached a 6-0 lead over young Oscar Dominguez before Dominguez got on the board after a dry break by Bustamante. Through a combination of missed shape by Dominguez and strong play by Bustamante, it wasn’t long before “Django” took the match 11-1.

In another lopsided match on the winners’ side, former world 9-ball champ Thorsten Hohmann and Petri Markonen played. Markonen took the first rack, but Hohmann countered by winning the next eight in a row with several break and run-outs. Several exchanges over the next 9 ball led to Markonen getting another game on the wire, but it was not enough, for Hohmann finished out the 11-2 victor.

There was another near wipeout in the elimination rounds when Ralf Souquet and Toru Kuribayashi. Souquet exhibited some problems with getting a shot after his break and didn’t break and run until the sixth game to make it 6-0. Kuribayashi had opportunities throughout the match but did not manage to capitalize on them. In the final game with the score 10-1, Kuribayashi came up empty on his break, and Souquet closed out the set 11-1.

There was a close match in the elimination rounds between Warren Kiamco of the Philippines and the UK’s Imran Majid. Though Majid began by taking the first game and then breaking and running two more racks, Kiamco got on the board after Majid scratched on the 7 ball, making it 3-1 Majid. The score went all the way to 8-all when Kiamco surged ahead to reach the hill. Majid had another shot to bring it back, but he scratched on the 9 ball in the final rack, making Kiamco the 11-8 winner.

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