Filipino Dennis Orcollo disposed Singaporean Toh Lian Han, 9-1, to book a semifinal seat in the Guinness 9 Ball Tour 2008 at the Garden Hotel in Guangzhou, China.

The current WPA World No.1 actually had a golden opportunity to score a shutout after claiming the first eight racks but flubbed a shot on the four-ball in the ninth rack, allowing the Singaporean to win the rack and avoid being swept out in the match.

Reaking in the 10th rack, Toh had a chance to claim another rack, but the 35-year-old committed a foul on the one-ball and Orcollo closed out the match with a 5-9 combination.

"I was very confident and well-conditioned heading into this match. My break was very good this time around and my shots were very precise," said Orcollo, who needed only 50 minutes to eliminate Toh in the fifth leg of this six-city tour organized by ESPN STAR Sports.

The victory also assured Orcollo a spot in the Grand Final in Jakarta, Indonesia next month.

PAGULAYAN JOINS ORCOLLO

Alex Pagulayan also advanced with a 9-3 win against Satoshi Kawabata in another quarterfinal match yesterday.

The Filipino, who is already guaranteed at least $3,500 (P164,500) for reaching the semifinals, was simply unforgiving as he ran out the table in the first, third and seventh racks and capitalized on Toh's scratches in the second, fourth and eighth racks and misses in the fifth and sixth racks.

Orcollo was ranked 10th in the Tour's Order of Merit heading into the Guangzhou leg.

Only the top ten players in the Tour's Order of Merit list will qualify for the lucrative Grand Final and a qualifying spot in the WPA World Pool Championship.

Orcollo, who finished runner-up to countryman Pagulayan in the Singapore leg, will next meet the winner of the quarterfinal match between Yang Ching Shun of Chinese Taipei and Ryu Seung Woo of Korea, who were still playing as of press time.

The winner will play Wang Hung Hsiang of Chinese Taipei in the other semifinal match today. Wang eliminated compatriot and defending Grand Final champion Chang Jung Lin, 9-4, in the first quarterfinal match.

Three other Filipinos – Joven Bustamante, Jeffrey De Luna and Elvis Calasang – were all eliminated in the group stages on Friday.