Philippines Edge A Classic

THE Filipino dream team of Efren Reyes and Francisco Bustamante made their way through to the final of the PartyPoker.com World Cup of Pool as they overcame fourth seeds Germany in a hard-fought encounter at the Newport Centre.
 

Backed by a large support, the dynamic duo took their chances in the latter stages but the turning point of the match was the tenth rack.
 

With the Philippines leading 5-4, Reyes got out of a snooker and managed to fluke the 9-ball in down the rail to open up a two-rack lead from which the Germans never really recovered.
 

“It was really tough but very exciting,” said a delighted Bustamante. “We got lucky in two games and I thought it would be 8-8 and then there would have been a lot of pressure on us. But we are in the final so me and Efren will have to play as hard as we can do to win the final and hopefully we make it.”

Reyes added: “At the beginning I played well and had a lot of tough shots but potted many balls.”

Following the flag waving introductions, the Philippines won the lag and Reyes clipped home a cross table bank shot to take the 1 ball and followed that up with a perfect cut on the 3 ball down table. From there they took the rack to establish the early lead.
 

In the next there were two balls off the break for Engert but with no available pot on the 1-ball, Ortmann tucked the white behind the 8-ball. The deadlock was broken by a flashy long pot on the yellow 1 by Bustamante and that set up the run out to take the Filipino lead to 2-0.
 

Engert gave the Philippines ball in hand in the third as his three rail escape from a snooker failed to come off and Reyes and Bustamante cleared to the 8 ball. However, Bustamante missed a simple black to give the Germans a chance and Ortmann played a superb bank shot into the middle pocket to leave Engert perfect on the 9 ball.

A great break from Ortmann in the fourth set up a run out for Germany to level the score up at 2-2 but Philippines restored their lead from the break in the next.
 

Engert let the Philippines back in the sixth game as his escape from a snooker made contact with the 1 ball but left it on for Reyes. The run bro