INQUIRER Sports

DAVAO CITY? Efren ?Bata? Reyes dodged the upset axe with a 10-7 decision of Jomar de Ocampo and reached the finals of The Manny Villar Cup Kadayawan leg yesterday at the jampacked activity area of NCCC Mall here.

The 55-year-old pool legend moved up against former leg winner Ramil Gallego, who subdued Cebu leg champion and top local bet Gandy Valle, 10-4, in the first semifinal.

Reyes and Gallego, the Villar Cup Bulacan leg titlist, will dispute the P300,000 top prize in this island-hopping series presented by Senator Manny Villar?s Villards: Tulong sa Pagsulong ng Philippine Sports.

?It?s really hard to win here because the players are good and the young ones like Jomar kept on getting better,? said Reyes in Filipino.

Reyes also made it to the finals of the inaugural leg of the Camella Communities-sponsored series in May 2008 at StarMall Alabang, where he lost to Warren Kiamco.

De Ocampo, the 20-year-old pride of Alaminos, Pangasinan, won the lag, but it was Reyes who took the first two racks, before the latter evened the score at 2-2.

Reyes pocketed two straight frames to retake the lead, but De Ocampo kept himself within striking distance until Bata used his vast experience and held on.

De Ocampo made it to the Final Four by upending former leg winners Lee Van Corteza (9-5) and Francisco ?Django? Bustamante (9-7).

Before beating De Ocampo, Reyes edged Carlo Biado (9-8) and Mike Takayama (9-3).

Gallego, meanwhile, made it to the semifinals after beating former world champion Ronnie Alcano (9-6) and Kiamco (9-5), while Valle won against Rene Mar David (9-4) and two-time Villar Cup champion Roberto Gomez (9-6) before bowing out of contention in the event co-organized by the Billiards Managers and Players Association of the Philippines.