Hurting Django turns back Orcullo for crown

Francisco "Django" Bustamante survived a four-hour marathon duel with Dennis Orcullo late Sunday, fighting back from a three-rack deficit and pulling off a thrilling 15-13 victory to win his first national open crown in the Philippine 9-Ball Open at the Robinson’s Galleria Trade Hall.

The 42-year-old Bustamante actually bucked a nagging elbow injury and a spirited challenge from Orcullo but the former world No. 1 cue master overcame the odds and, with a little luck, completed his remarkable fightback to snatch the crown worth P500,000.

"Mabuti naman at natapos na. Hirap na talaga ako," said Bustamante, who earlier had to dispose of giant-killer Mario Tolentino, 11-8, to reach the finals.

Orcullo, who downed Ronnie Alcano, 11-8, in the other semifinal pair, settled for P250,000.

For a while, Bustamante looked headed for a defeat as the Tarlac native, noted for his strong breaking game, failed to hold his breaks thrice on seven tries as Orcullo took an 8-6 lead.

Bustamante earlier came through with a brilliant carom shot on the red 3 that pocketed the 9-ball on the sixth rack, thus snapping a four-rack run by Orcullo.

"May halong s’werte na ‘yun dahil dikit ‘yung 7 at 9 tapos walang pasok ‘yung 3 dahil dikit sa pato," said Bustamante.

Orcullo also came up with spectacular shots, including a four-cushion kiss shot on the blue 2 that set up an easy clean-up and gave him his biggest lead at 4-1.

Orcullo’s dry break on the 15th frame proved to be the turning point of the match as Bustamante clustered two racks to level at 8-all.

A pocketing error by Orcullo on the 25th led to another two-rack cluster by Bustamante, who reached the hill at 14-12 before both players held their breaks from there to settle the final scor