Two big upsets send Gabica to round of 64

MANILA, Philippines - Antonio Gabica pulled off back-to-back upset victories to barge into the round of 64 in the World 10-Ball championships at the SM City Mall in Gen. Santos City.

Gabica, who fell short of his world 9-ball title bid in 2013 in Qatar, stunned eighth seed Liu Haitao of China with a 9-3 romp late Tuesday then upended Karol Skowerski of Poland in a thrilling hill-hill finish, 9-8, yesterday.

“It’s still a long way to go,” said Gabica, who joined compatriot Lee Van Corteza in the Last 64 phase from Group 4.

Gabica, 41, lost the world 9-ball crown to Thorsten Hohmann during the 2013 finals in Doha.

Gabica raced to a 6-3 lead and held on to an 8-6 advantage before Skowerski took the next two racks to draw level. But the Filipino ace recovered his bearing and rhythm in the 17th rack and fended off Skowerski.

Corteza, meanwhile, beat compatriot John Rebong, 9-5, to join fellow Filipinos Anton Raga and Raymund Faraon from Group 2.

Other Filipinos who advanced were Francisco “Django” Bustamante and Jerico Bonus with the former blasting Ivica Putnik of Croatia, 9-3, and the latter outlasting Marco Teutscher of the Netherlands, 9-7.

In Group 1 play, top seed Chang Yu Lung continued to dominate, beating Petri Makkonen, 9-6, and towing Poland’s Piotr Kudlik into the next round. Another Pole, Mieszko Fortunski, scored a 9-5 upset over No. 9 Qatar’s Waleed Majid to gain a berth in the knockout stage.