RP great Reyes, Luat mix it up early in US 9-ball Open

An early clash of top Filipino players highlights the second day of action of the US Open 9-ball Championship as Efren "Bata" Reyes and Rodolfo Luat tangle at the Cheasepeake Conference Center in Cheasepeake, Virgina, USA.

Luat defeated Duke Weaver, 11-3, to arrange a duel with the former world 9-ball champion in the lower bracket of the two-division event which drew 157 players from around the world.

But luck of the draw seems not to favor the Filipinos as Francisco "Django" Bustamante is in the upper bracket of the Reyes-Luat group. Bustamante, coming off a big win in the Joss Tour Cambridge event last week, is fancied to dominate his group.

Bustamante almost went undefeated through the field of 46 players at the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour event held at Great Slates Billiard Lounge in Cambridge, MD.

Bustamante took the hot-seat on Sunday with a 9-5 win over Young Hwa Jeong and waited for an opponent in the finals. As Bustamante beat Jeong on the winners’ side, Scott Frost put away Shaun Wilkie’s challenge in the losers’ side. Frost didn’t have an answer for Jeong though, as he lost and settled for third place.

The true double elimination final between Jeong and Bustamante took two sets as Jeong won the first set 9-6. Bustamante came back and took the final set 9-4 for the win.

Bustamante won $2500 for first while Jeong settled for $1800 in second place prize money. Frost and Wilkie filled out the top four spots.

Meanwhile, Day One of the US Open tilt went with no major upsets.

In the match of the afternoon, Keith McCready handed Chris Cass a ‘nightmare’ of a match. McCready was playing fast and loose and before the crowd knew it, he had won 11-0.

The evening session held two marquee matches. In the first, Mark Gregory took complete control of his match with Larry Nevel and cruised to an 11-6 win. Nevel appeared frustrated and Gregory took advantage of that frustration.

In the other marquee match, George ‘Ginky’ San Souci sent former US Open champion Tommy Kennedy to the one-loss side early. Ginky took the lead early and was able to hold on when Kennedy made his run to get back into the match. Kennedy was able to break and run three straight racks, but was not able to close the gap and lost 11-7.

The impending arrival of Hurrican Isabel had convinced at least one player to pack up his cues and head for home. Jimmy Reid forfeited his match against Thomas Teschner and left Virginia.