Pardon me for the abrupt ending yesterday, it was a blogging blowout. After witnessing five Taiwanese players exit the tournament, including sitting by the table as Corey Deuel come from 6-9 behind to cut down Chang Jung-Lin, my heart wasn’t in it. So much for journalistic objectivity. I guess that’s the liberty a blogger has, to write as he feels.
Four matches down and if I were a betting man, I’d have been totally wiped out. Given the schedule last night, I’d ticked four names from the first four matches: Stepanov, Kawabata, Pagulayan and Martel. Of the four, none remain. NADA!
Stepanov chose the wrong time to get an attack of the nerves. He’d been absolutely cruising up to this stage but on TV Table 1, I counted three of four miscues. At 5-1 down, Stepanov got back to the table and reeled off three straight racks to close to 5-4. Then, inexplicably, he slipped up again, and Englishman Karl Boyes just keep his cool to pull away and win.
It’s a surprise for all to learn that Boyes have only been playing 9 ball seriously for the past year, after being part of the defunct IPT. He has a no-frills game and is unlikely to excite even the most manic of pool fans. But on a table playing so predictably off the break, you need to make the most of your turns and Boyes surely made it count at the right time.
Kawabata meantime had Joven Bustamante in trouble but the local boy hung in there, making the big shots to go 10-8 up. Kawabata got back a rack but again slipped up, allowing Joven to get to the finish line. Either one of Boyes or Bustamante are set for the biggest game of their lives tomorrow – one more win and it’s the final four, two more wins and it’s the final. Wonder if they can sleep well tonight?
While 2001 champion Mika Immonen was taking care of Alain Martel at TV Table 2, it was full house at the Main Table for arguably the day’s biggest match, an all-Filipino final 16 match between Francisco Bustamante and Alex Pagulayan. Django is playing the pool of his life at the moment, he looks comfortable on and off the table. Alex? Well, Alex is just Alex, isn’t it? From 2-0 down, Alex got back to 2-2. And that was that.
I went for a walk just at that point and got back from Shopwise with my fags, gum, Mentos (spearmint flavour) and Yakult right into a crowded media room. That could only mean one thing: the Pinoys are meeting the press now. Django and Alex put on a show for the local media, trying hard not to dissect what has been a blowout 11-2 win for the older man. One thing I have to say about Django – the man needs a new hairdresser. That haircut doesn’t cut it even for a fashion klutz like me.
Other than that, Django is by far the most dangerous player right now. He knows how the TV table works. And so long he does not have a mental yawn like the one he had yesterday against Nick van den Berg, this could be his year. It’s five years on since he last made it to the final when he lost to Earl Strickland. In those five years, Django’s game has not diminished as much as Earl’s mind has. He will have either Daryl Peach or Harald Stolka for the quarter-finals, and is on track to meet Mika Immonen in the semis.
Immonen meantime has quietly made his way into the final eight, beating Alain Martel 11-8.
