Orcollo leads march of pool faves

MANILA, Philippines - Dennis Orcollo stamped his class on little-known rival Judy Villanueva, 8-1, to lead the charge of the favorites on opening day of the 10th Predator International 10-Ball Championship at SM North EDSA yesterday.

Out to redeem himself from a humbling defeat in the final of last week’s World Cup of Pool, Orcollo left nothing to chance against Villanueva, pulling off a quick rout that sent him to the third round of the tough four-day tourney.

Orcollo drew opening round bye while Villanueva went through the proverbial eye of the needle in the initial round, nipping Russian Vitaly Pavlukhin, 8-7.

The setback dropped Villanueva to the losers’ bracket.

“I stayed focused on the game and, with little luck on my side, beat him easily,” said Orcollo.

Lee Van Corteza rode the momentum of his Predator Sweet Sixteen triumph in thumping Emil Martinez, 8-3.

Corteza ruled the earlier Predator tourney at The Block Tuesday night, beating Spain’s David Alcaide in the semis then American Roger Morris in the final. The earlier rounds were played in Europe.

Ramil Gallego was another highly touted player who made it early to the third round, blasting Korean Min Ha Ug, 8-1.

American Corey Deuel dumped Qatari rival Muhammad Bin Ali, 8-4, to be the first foreign player to make it past the second round.

Heavyweights Efren “Bata” Reyes, Francisco “Django” Bustamante, Ronnie Alcano and Alex Pagulayan were still playing their first matches at press time.

Ricky Zerna created a stir in the opening round in pulling the rug from under long-time national mainstay Marlon Manalo, 8-4.

Zerna played catch-up game early on before getting into the groove, taking the last five racks to win with plenty to spare.

“I took a 4-3 lead then got nailed,” rued Manalo.

Roberto Gomez and Jeff de Luna made it to the second round, beating fellow fancied rivals.

Gomez topped Edgar Acaba while De Luna tripped Warren Kiamco, 8-3.

Gomez, the other half of the RP pair that placed second in the recent World Cup of Pool, set up an interesting second-round encounter with Bustamante.