Bata, Django enter World Pool semis

Efren "Bata" Reyes, the hottest player on the international pool circuit today, and countryman Francisco "Django" Bustamante have entered the semifinals of the World Pool League in Poland with some impressive performances against some of the greatest players in the world.

Reyes, fresh from his record-breaking $160,000 triumph in the Tokyo 9-Ball International, the biggest tournament ever in the history of pool, followed up his opening day victory over hometown hero Radoslaw Babica, 7-3, with an identical 7-3 win over last year’s champion Steve Knight of Britain. Reyes, known around the world as "The Magician", was in control of the table from the opening break and won handily.

Bustamante for the first time in a long time stole the thunder from "The Magician" with a scintillating victory over controversial, five-time world champion Earl Strickland, 8-2, before whipping reigning European champion Rico Diks, 7-3.

Bustamante’s awesome break made all the difference in the match against Strickland as he took the opening rack and then capitalized on some sloppy errors by Strickland to take a 4-0 lead. The American ace pulled one back after Bustamante made his first miss of the match but the Filipino quickly recovered to run out an easy winner.

In a post-match interview Bustamante conceded that Strickland "didn’t play so well" but added, "I think I got my break going though and I think I can trust my game." Bustamante said he "needed the money" because he was "building a house in the Philippines" and the top prize of $15,000 should help.

Diks gave Bustamante an early scare when he jumped to a 3-2 lead at the jam-packed University of Warsaw arena but the young Dutchman suffered a succession of unlucky rolls and Bustamante pounced on the opening to string together five racks in a row to take the match.

Reyes and Bustamante have one more crucial match in their respective groups and both have to win to prevent them from meeting in the semi finals. Reyes faces unbeaten World Pool Champion Mika Immonen of Finland who beat Babica 6-4 and Steve Knight 6-4 in Group 2 while Bustamante faces ousted Steve Davis, Britain’s snooker ace in his final Group I match.