Reyes pockets Asian 9-ball leg title, P.5M

Efren "Bata" Reyes turned what had appeared to be a tight finale into a 9-ball romp as he thumped Taiwanese Yang Ching-Shun, 11-6, to pocket the top $10,000 (roughly P540,000) purse in the second leg of the San Miguel Asian 9-ball Tour at the Hanggar Billiard and Recreation Center in Indonesia yesterday.

Swooping on three straight bad breaks by Yang, Reyes broke away from a 6-6 game and cruised to the win in a triumph that was more of a victory of the spirit for the 50-year-old master who had to squeak past his rivals in the first four matches via 9-8 scores.

More so, the win boosted Reyes’ bid for another shot at the world 9-ball crown as he gained 70 ranking points in the only qualifying tournament in Asia for the World Championships in Taiwan in July. Reyes also bounced back from a quarterfinal defeat to compatriot Antonio Gabica in the tour’s kick-off leg in Singapore last month.

The victory also reasserted the Filipinos’ domination of the circuit after Gandy Valle won on his first try in Singapore last month. Reyes also avenged the losses of fellow Lee Vann Corteza and Valle to Yang, who also disposed of Japan’s Satoshi Kawabata with ease, 11-6, in the other semis duel.

Dragged into the last rack in his first four matches, Reyes found the going a lot easier this time as Yang’s failed to protect his turn on the rack after seizing a 6-5 lead.

With the Taiwanese star turning up two dry breaks and two scratches off the break in the last six racks, Reyes simply ran out the tables with the help of three brilliant 9-ball combos to prevail.

"Alam nyo naman na yung mga laban ko, talagang balikatan at pahirapan," said Reyes, ranked No. 5 in the world. "Si Yang na ang may pinakamagandang tira sa mga nakalaban ko dito, pero pag walang pumapasok sa break e mahirap talaga manalo."

Valle eliminated compatriot and second seed Francisco Bustamante, 9-8, in the second round, keeping Bustamante winless in the third year of the Tour bankrolled by San Miguel Beer and sanctioned by the Asian Pocket Billiards Union.

Yang’s loss to Reyes was similar to that of his compatriot Wu Chia-Ching, who dropped the last five racks to Reyes when he likewise struggled with his break in their semis duel in the morning.

"The turning point came when my break came up dry," said Yang, who settled for $5,000.

In the semifinals, Reyes pulled off yet another thriller of a win, rallying from three racks down to nip Taiwanese prodigy Wu, 12-10, in a race-to-11 match that extended to another frame because of the win-by-two-racks rule.

Like in his victories over Kunihiko Takahashi, Indon Robby Suarly and Kuo Po-Cheng, it seemed all was lost for Reyes when, leading at 6-4, he made two dry breaks and scratched on a 1-9 combo in the 14th rack, enabling Wu to sweep six of the next seven frames to go up, 10-7.

But Wu had an empty break on the 18th rack, which Reyes took before adding four more racks to advance to the final.

Despite the loss, Wu said he felt it was his best chance to beat the former world champion in four career meetings.