Django off to fiery start in Singapore 9-ball

SINGAPORE – Francisco Bustamante found his touch from the ninth rack onward to defeat Indonesia’s Mohammad Junarto, 9-4, yesterday to kick off his campaign in the opening leg of the San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Tour at The Pool Haven in Clark Quay here.

Defending Tour champion Efren "Bata" Reyes and Warren Kiamco also posted convincing wins to advance to the second round of the event organized and promoted by ESPN Star Sports.

However, the Philippines saw its six-man team halved after Lee Van Corteza, Antonio Gabica and Reyes’ son Frennie fell to their respective foes in round one of the $50,000 tournament.

Like the top-seeded Bustamante, Reyes only got his game going by the ninth frame, taking three straight racks to build a 7-4 lead he would not relinquish.

Kiamco, runner-up in both the Singapore and Manila legs of the San Miguel Tour last year, joined Bustamante and Reyes in the next round by thumping the hosts’ Ricky Chew, 9-3, after racing to a 4-0 lead.

Corteza became the Pinoys’ first casualty when he bowed to 2000 World Pool champion and eighth seed Chao Fong Pang of Chinese Taipei, 9-3, in the first set of morning matches.

Gabica’s 8-9 defeat to No. 3 seed and defending leg titlist Yang Ching-Shun was even more heartbreaking, considering he wasted an 8-6 lead – on the main TV table at that – in the race-to-9, alternate-break match.

Frennie Reyes, meanwhile, closed out his first overseas stint by bowing to Indon national champion Siauw "Eagle" Wieto, 9-2.

His father "Bata," however, advanced to a second round match against Singapore’s Bernard Tey, who upended Chinese-Taipei’s Chang Pei Wei, 9-7.

India’s Alok Kumar booked a second-round match with Bustamante after toppling Malaysian Ibrahim Bin Amir, 9-6, while Kiamco will take on Japan’s Hisashi Yamamoto, who beat another Taiwanese bet in Yueh Ying Hsiang by the same score.

All first-round losers went home with US$ 750 (P42,000) and 10 ranking points for the San Miguel Tour’s Order of Merit, which determines the top 10 players that will go to the World Pool Championship.

Bustamante, Reyes and Kiamco already assured themselves of $1,250 (P70,000) and 20 Order of Merit points, as they hoped to reach the quarterfinals later in the day.

Facing the Indon for the first time ever on the main table, Bustamante scratched on the 2-ball to give Junarto an opening to tie the match 4-4. But the world No. 1, taking advantage of the alternate-break format, ran out the ninth frame to move ahead.

Both players fought for position on the 1-ball in the next rack, but "Django" pocketed it to clean the table and surge ahead, 6-4. He also took the next frame with a 2-9 combo to the side pocket after Junarto scratched, and coasted to victory over the Vietnam Southeast Asian Games individual 9-ball champion from there.

Corteza, for his part, couldn’t get any headway even with the alternate-break format. The Vietnam SEAG doubles gold medallist scratched twice on the break in what he called "accidents" as Chao zoomed to a 5-1 lead.

The Taiwanese star slowed down a bit as Corteza moved to within 6-2 after pocketing the 9 off the break in the eighth frame. Chao won the next two racks - the 10th with a 2-9 combo to the corner - but gave the Filipino a respite by scratching on the 2 in the next frame.

Still, Corteza hastened his defeat when he broke badly in the final frame, allowing "The Cold-Faced Killer" to run out the table and advance to the second round and a possible third-round duel with Bustamante.