FRANCISCO “DJANGO” Bustamante pocketed a tough one-cushion shot on the one-ball in the 19th rack to set up the winning clean up of his 11-8 win over Mario Tolentino and grab the first finals seat in the Philippine 9-Ball Open yesterday at the Robinson’s Galleria Trade Hall.
The pivotal shot came after Tolentino missed his try on the yellow ball.
Tolentino took the first two racks after Bustamante over cut the black eight in the second frame.
But the pride of Aklan allowed Bustamante to take it back with a scratch on his break in the third.
His break failed him again in the 11th and 13th to give Bustamante some breathing space in the alternate break match.
A superb thin cut by Bustamante on the one-ball after a safety shot by Tolentino in the 13th led to a clean up and an 8-5 cushion for the former world No. 1.
Tolentino, conqueror of big guns Efren "Bata" Reyes, Rodolfo Luat, Leonardo Andam and last year’s champ Antonio Gabica, pulled within 7-8 and 8-9, but Bustamante held his turns to break down the stretch.
Bustamante will next face the winner between Dennis Orcullo and Ronnie Alcano.
Orcullo pounced on a critical error by Ramil Gallego down the stretch to pull off a thrilling 9-7 victory and forge a semifinal duel with the red-hot Alcano.
With the score tied at 7all, Gallego looked poised to run out the 15th frame after holing in a difficult spin shot on the one-ball.
But an uncharacteristic miss by Gallego on a simple cut-shot at the blue two turned the table to Orcullo, who gamely cleaned up the mess to reach the hill.
The diminutive cue artist proceeded to run out the 16th for the clincher.
"Mabuti na lang bumenta ‘yung uno nung huling sargo ko," said Orcullo. "Mahirap kasing pabalikin pa sa mesa si Bebeng (Gallego)."
Orcullo seized an early 2-0 lead in the alternate break match. He beat Gallego in the semis last year.
But Gallego, who clustered seven racks in ousting reigning US Open champion Alex Pagulayan, took the next three to regain control.
