Alcano high in Shanghai

Ronnie Alcano kept the Philippine flag hoisted in the fifth leg of the Guinness 9-Ball Tour in Shanghai yesterday with a lopsided 8-3 win over former world champion Chao Fong Pao of Taipei.

Alcano, the reigning world champion in 9-ball and 8-ball, lived up to his billing. He took a commanding 6-0 lead then wavered a bit before wrapping up the match with a two-minute run-out of the 11th rack.

Alcano will face Korean Ryu Seung-Woo in today’s semis. The other pairing is between two-leg winner Yang Ching Shun and local bet Fu Jian Bo.

Yang, winner of the Kaoshiung and Singapore legs of the tour, defeated Roberto Gomez of the Philippines in the quarterfinals while Fu needed all the luck to stun 2005 world champion Wu Chia-Ching of Taipei.

Chang Jung Lin, another Taiwanese, won the two other previous legs in Jakarta and Malaysia. The grand finals offering $36,000 to the champion is set Aug. 31 in Bali, Indonesia.

Alcano pounced on big miscues by Chao in the first two racks to race to the 6-0 lead. But the Taiwanese took three consecutive racks only to fall short of his rally.

In the final rack, Alcano unleashed a powerful break and sank Nos. 1, 6 and 8. He needed less than two minutes before clearing the table and moving on the semis.