Alcano, Luat glide to Final 8

Ronato Alcano humbled two great players within 24 hours, winning a money game in between those matches, to storm into the quarterfinals of the 2006 World Pool Championship at the PICC last night.

Alcano stunned Efren "Bata" Reyes, 10-7, in the wee hours Thursday and whipped Taiwanese star Kuo Po-cheng, 11-5, yesterday, joining Rodolfo "Boy Samson" Luat in the Final Eight of the rich, prestigious event.

Hitting pay dirt in the US and Taiwan earlier this year, Luat stayed in the hunt for another cash bonanza as he won a dramatic hill-hill match with Spain’s David Alcaide, 11-10.

"I lost all my fears after hurdling Efren. Beating the world’s best boosted my confidence I can do well against anybody," said Alcano, who hadn’t made it past the Round of 64 in his previous WPC stints.

The Calamba, Laguna native barely squeezed past the group matches but has moved three games short of what could be his breakthrough victory.

Standing on his way to the semifinals is reigning champion Wu Chia-ching, 11-6 winner over Pat Holtz of Scotland.

Kuo was the 2005 WPC losing finalist, twice crushed by Alcano yesterday.

"We played a money game after my match with Efren. I won $500 in beating him, 11-1. Probably, he got scared that’s why I beat him badly again," said Alcano.

Luat outfought Spain’s Alcaide in an error-strewn hill-hill battle for a spot in the quarterfinals that already assured him of $10,000 (P500,000) cash prize.

The 1996 Camel World 9-Ball champion, who finished runner-up in the recent US Open, then reigned supreme in the Taiwan leg of the San Miguel 9-Ball Tour, fought back from the brink to gain a shot at the semifinals against the winner of the Steve Davis-Fu Che-wei tiff.

"I flirted with disaster but it shouldn’t have happened if not for my costly mistake while already enjoying a 5-3 lead. It should have been all over if I made it 6-3," said Samson.

The young Spanish pool master gained decisive headway after Samson’s mistake, taking a pair of two-rack leads at 8-6 and 9-7.

Alcaide went to the hill first at 10-9 but bungled a chance to close out the match on the 20th rack, paving the way for the hill-hill battle with Samson to do the break.

Luat drew a wild applause from the crowd as he made a good break, knocking in the pink-4 with an open shot for the yellow-1.

Alas, Luat cut the yellow-1 too thick, giving Alcaide the opportunity to salvage the match.

Luat had given up hopes when Alcaide also lapsed into a grievous error. The Filipino cleared the five remaining balls on the table to eventually win the match.

Alcano, Luat and Jeff de Luna were the only Filipinos left standing after the Last 32, with Reyes, Marlon Manalo, Rudy Morta and Jherome Peña beaten in their respective matches late Thursday night.

Reyes, the 1999 champion, came out cold and was humbled by Alcano in their match which lasted past 1 a.m. Before the match, he spent hours attending an invitation from Malacañang. Incidentally, he also played till the wee hours the previous session.

Manalo, semifinalist last year in Kaoshiung, was ousted by Kuo, Morta was eased out by Chinese Li He-wen and Peña was bundled out by English Steve Davis.