REIGNING national open champion Lee Vann "The Slayer" Corteza hit a 3-9 combination in the last rack to beat 2007 Oslo, Norway Battle of Scandinavia 9-ball champion Roberto "Pinoy Superman" Gomez, 9-5, in the first TV match yesterday at the start of the 4th annual San Miguel Beer (SMB) Philippine Open 9-ball Championship at the Decagon Hall in Silvercity Mall, Julia Vargas Ave. Ortigas Center beside Alchemy and behind SM Shoemart and Tiendesitas near C5.
The 28-year-old Corteza, of Negros Billiard Stable (NBS) lead early in the match before the 28-year-old Gomez tied the match at 5 all in the 10th frame. Infact, Gomez, who hails from Divisoria, Zamboanga City had a chance to take a 6-5 lead but suffered a scratch in the orange No.5 ball allowing the Mintal, Davao City native Corteza to move ahead by one rack after winning the 11th frame in the Php1.3-million tournament organized by Solar Sports in close cooperation with Puyat Sports.
Gomez again had a chance to trim down the match at 7-6 after securing a golden break in the 13th racks but suffered another scratch that placed Corteza on the hill before securing a 9-5 victory.
Corteza, fresh from a runner-up place finish in the 2007 Guinness 9-ball tour Grand Finale last September 2 in Bali, Indonesia will meet 2006 Kuwait 9-ball tour winner Jundel "Jano" Mazon in the next round, who relegated Filipino legendary Jose "Amang" Parica in the loser's bracket with a 9-2 triumph.
After Parica took the first rack after a miscue of Mazon, the latter's clustered four consecutive racks to take a 4-1 lead. The 58-year-old Parica, leader of the Filipino invasion in the US in mid 80's nailed his second rack in the 6th rack with a four balls in the break to slice the match at 4-2 but Mazon didn't look back after winning the last five racks for a 9-2 win.
"Grabe walang pumapasok sa break ko, tapos siya (Mazon) pumapasok, pag may pumasok naman sa akin ay walang benta, puro ang hirap," said Parica, who topped the 2007 Blaze 9-ball tour in New York last month.
Meanwhile, two-time defending champion Francisco "Django" Bustamante opened his title retention bid with a 9-1 trashing victory over unheralded Danny Otacan to set up a second clash with veteran local campaigner Rene "Bata" Cruz, who defeated 15-year-old Johann "Bubwit" Chua, 9-8.
Current WPA 9-ball and WPA 8-ball champion Ronato "Volcano" Alcano also romped away with a 9-3 rout of Eduardo "Tisoy" Saracho to arrange a second round duel with 2006 Doha Asian Games 9-ball gold and 8-ball silver medalist Antonio Gabica, who stunned 2006 SMB Asian 9-ball tour leg winner Gandy "Sapsal" Valle, 9-7, in the other match played under the alternate break format.
Also in the winning column were 2007 BCA Enjoypool.com champion Dennis "Robocop" Orcollo, who beat rising star Elmer "Buddy" Kalaquian, 9-4.
In other matches, JayJay "Escoda" Millares upended Mike "Choke" Takayama, 9-5, while Russian Petiza downed Ricky Zerna, 9-7.
Pool Maestro Efren "Bata" Reyes is schedule to face Eduardo "Pikoy" Villanueva late Friday. "Matagal ng panahon 'yun ng nasilat natin si Efren (Reyes)," Villanueva, a native of Bacolod City when he recalled beating Reyes in the 1992 RP 9-Ball Open in Ninoy Aquino Stadium, his memorable performance after settling runner-up place finish
to eventual champion Parica.
In other matches, Marlon Manalo takes on Jharome Pena, Carlo Biado goes against Joven Bustamante, Michael Feliciano versus Glendford Author, last year's runner-up Leonardo Didal versus Jech Jech Limen, 2004 World 9-ball kingpin Alex Pagulayan against Panfilo Damuag and Warren Kiamco versus Jeffrey de Luna for the second TV matches of the day.
(Report from MARLON BERNARDINO)
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