Francisco “Django” Bustamante and Dennis Orcollo overwhelmed dark horse Japan, 9-2, Saturday to advance to the semifinals of the 2008 PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool at the Outland Nightclub in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
The veteran Filipino pair, teaming up for the first time, proved just too powerful for the Japanese pair of Doha Asian Games gold medalist Satoshi Kawabata and Naoyuki Oi.
They now need two more wins to rule the $250,000 event.
The second-seeded RP team was slated to face the sixth-ranked United States pair of former world 10-ball titlist Shane van Boening and Rodney Morris Sunday night for a final slot.
The Americans advanced after nipping Austria’s Jasmin Ouschan and Martin Kempter, 9-7, in their quarterfinal encounter.
The other Final Four match pits defending champion China against No. 5 England.
The Chinese pair of Fu Jianbo and Li Hewen demolished No. 9 Italy (Fabio Petroni and Bruno Muratore), 9-2, while the English tandem of reigning world 9-ball champion Darryl Peach and Mark Gray upended the fourth-seeded German pair of Ralf Souquet and Thomas Engert, 9-7.
The semifinal winners will advance to the race-to-11 title duel, also slated Sunday (Monday, 1 a.m. Manila time). The winning team will receive $60,000.
Just as in their previous wins over Denmark (8-2) in the opening round and Russia (8-3) in the Last 16, Bustamante and Orcollo needed just a couple of racks to get into the groove.
The Filipinos surrendered the lag and the first rack to the Japanese but won the next three to seize the lead.
After the Japanese won the fifth frame, Bustamante of Puyat Sports and Orcollo of Bugsy Promotions swept the next six racks to clinch the win and surpass the country’s quarterfinal finish here last year.
It’s the first time the Philippines will meet the US in this event since 2006, when Bustamante and Efren “Bata” Reyes trounced Morris and former two-time world 9-ball king Earl Strickland, 13-5, in the finals of the event’s inaugural edition in Newport Centre, Wales.
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