The 39-year-old Archer, who won Player of the Decade award in the 1990s because of those two WPC romps, raced to a 5-1 lead and cruised the rest of the way to continue his advance in the loser’s side of the draw.

Leonardo "Dodong" Andam, the wily veteran who claimed Jeff De Luna’s scalp on Thursday night, sustained his winning form on the loser’s side, coming from behind to nip Raymond Faraon and stay on track to winning the $ 10,000 champion’s purse.

Andam, who rose to prominence in the 1980s, battled back from as many as three racks down and from two racks behind after Faraon had taken the hill by winning the final three frames for a 9-8 victory.

It was not the same for Archer, who found little difficulty in disposing of Kabawata after building that huge lead.

"I played a lot better in that match, maybe 10 times better," Archer said, referring to the loss to Mario Tolentino late Wednesday night which put him in the loser’s bracket.

Allan Soliman put Kabawata in the loser’s draw with a 9-5 upset Thursday night as the Japanese failed to keep in step with the other big guns in the event like Marlon Manalo, Antonio Gabica and German gun Thorsten Hohmann.

Philippine junior champion Jericho Banarez also won a third straight match and stayed in the winner’s side, ripping Taiawanese Chung Chien-te, 9-5.

Hohmann, also a former winner of the WPC 9-ball, raced to a 6-0 lead before turning back Canada’s Gary Watson, 9-4, while Manalo played just hard enough to fend off Gerald Carbonera via the same score.

Gabica, the reigning Asian Games gold medal winner, also prevailed via a 9-4 score over Englishman Courtney Symons.

There were still a handful of matches scheduled late last night, with the quarterfinals to be played today and the semifinals tomorrow morning.

The title match is set for tomorrow afternoon.