Alcano, Luat coast to third round

Ronnie Alcano and Rodolfo Luat breezed through the third round of the US Open 9-ball Championship as they whipped their respective rivals in emphatic fashions at the Chesapeake Convention Center in Chesapeake, Virginia Monday.

After struggling in his opening round triumph, Alcano rediscovered his form and essayed an 11-4 rout of American Matt Clatterbuck in the featured second round match.

Luat, on the other hand, sustained his fine performance as he demolished Don Polo, 11-2, for his second straight win in the tournament that attracted 238 of the world’s top pool players vying for the top $40,000 purse.

Joining Alcano and Luat, members of the Billiards Managers and Players Association of the Philippines (BMPAP), in the next round were Lee Van Corteza and Ramil Gallego and US-based veteran Jose “Amang” Parica.

Corteza, who drew a first round bye, blasted Abdullah El-Yousef, 11-5, while Gallego followed up his 11-3 win over Sam Monday with an 11-9 victory over former champion Gabe Owen. Parica, who also drew a bye in the opener, thwarted Aki Heiskanen, 11-9.

Former world No.1 Francisco “Django” Bustamante and four-time Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Warren Kiamco were still playing their second round matches against Keith Brinton and Jason Klatt, respectively, at presstime.

Joven Alba, however, dropped his opening round match to Englishman Chris Melling, 11-9, and was relegated to the losers’ bracket, where he will first take on Willie Simpson.

Others who cruised to the third round were reigning world 9-ball champion Darryl Peach, who downed Nasser Al-musaible, 11-7; former world titlist Mika Immonen, who blanked Greg McAndrew, 11-0; four-time US Open winner Earl Strickland, who subdued Tariq Al-mulla, 11-5; world No. 2 Niels Feijen, who overwhelmed Josh Ulrich, 11-4; and Charlie Williams, who trounced Elias Patrikas, 11-1.

Immonen and Williams, meanwhile, are members of the international selection seeing action in the QC Invasion: Quezon City-Philippines vs the World Grand Billiards Showdown on Dec. 2-4 at the Trinoma Mall.

Alcano, Bustamante, Corteza and Kiamco will also play in the eight-man Team QC-Philippines vying in the event organized by the Quezon City government headed by Mayor Sonny Belmonte and the Quezon City Council led by majority floor leader Ariel Inton.