Bustamante (left) beat compatriot Francisco Felicilda, 11-5, to earn his semis seat last Saturday while the left-handed Lining (right) also outlasted another compatriot, Oliver Medenilla, in a hill-hill battle before prevailing, 11-10.

A Filipino has been assured of a seat in the finals of the 2010 World Pool Championships after Francisco "Django" Bustamante and Japan-based Antonio Lining set up an intriguing semifinal duel in Doha, Qatar.

Bustamante beat compatriot Francisco Felicilda, 11-5, to earn his semis seat last Saturday while the left-handed Lining also outlasted another compatriot, Oliver Medenilla, in a hill-hill battle before prevailing, 11-10.

The winner of the all-Filipino semifinal will meet the survivor of the other semis featuring American Johnny Archer and Taiwanese Kuo Po-Cheng.

Archer reached the semis by overwhelming Serbian Sandor Tot, 11-6, while Kuo beat Filipino hope and 2006 World Pool champion Ronnie Alcano, 11-5.

With their performance, the two Filipinos are expected to be richly rewarded.

As semifinalists in 128-player tourney being played at the Qatar Billiards and Snooker Federation hall, the loser will get $10,000 (P460,0000 at P46 to $1), while the player advancing to the final will be assured of $18,000 (P828,000). The champion brings home $36,000 (P1.6 million).

When they clash, friendship will have to take a backseat for 43-year-old Bustamante and Lining, who as partners, won a gold medal in the 9-ball doubles event in the 2002 Busan Asian Games.

Nine Filipinos, including Jeffrey de Luna, Raymund Faraon and little-known Venacio Tanio, managed to advance to the round-of-32, but fell one by one in the face of the tough international opposition.

Pool icon Efren "Bata" Reyes and Dennis Orcollo and current World No. 5 Lee Van Corteza were eliminated in the Round-of-64.

Meanwhile, on the way to the Final Four, Bustamante trounced Taiwanese Ko Pin-yi, 11-8, in the round-of-32 before downing countryman Marlon Manalo, 11-6, in the round-of-16 late Sunday.

Lining, on the other hand, thumped Vietnamese Nguyen P. Long, 11-6, in the round-of-32 before eliminating Swiss Dimitri Jungo, 11-8, in the round-of-16.