Django zeroes in on US title

Francisco "Django" Bustamante subdued top seed American Johnny Archer, 11-4, to close in on the fifth US Pro Tour Championship crown at the Normandie Casino in Los Angeles, California Saturday.

A day after disposing of Italian Fabricio Petroni in another 11-4 win, Bustamante, who teamed up with Antonio Lining in copping the 2002 Busan Asian Games gold and with pool legend Efren "Bata" Reyea in ruling the inaugural World Cup last year, went on to pull another one to send Archer to the losers’ bracket while firming up his bid for his first title this year.

The power-breaking Bustamante will face former world pool champion second pick Mika Immonen of Finland in the semifinals with the winner gaining the hot seat for the top purse worth $12,000.

Immonen, a frequent Manila visitor, trampled Raj Hundal and Charlie Bryant both via 11-8 scores to set up the duel with Bustamante.

But while Bustamante advanced, Reyes dropped a 9-11 decision to Tony Crosby in Day 3 and crashed out of this six-day event staking a total purse of $20,000.

Reyes’ first took a 10-11 hill-hill loss to Ronnie Wiseman to drop to the one-loss group.

Archer and Bryant fell to the losers’ side where they will be pitted against Hundal, an 11-6 winner over Shawn Putnam, and Robb Saez, who downed Dutch Shane Van Boening, 11-9, respectively. – Joey Villar