Orcollo, Alcano, Corteza reach Pattaya semis

MANILA–Dennis Orcollo, Ronnie Alcano and Lee Van Corteza made it to the semifinals of the 2010 Sangsom-Pattaya 9-Ball Invitational pool championship at the Royal Garden Plaza in the famous Thai resort of Pattaya on Saturday.

Efren (Bata) Reyes had a chance to make it an all-Filipino cast in the Final Four but he absorbed a 9-3 upset loss to Chinese Taipei’s Lui Hui Chang, who advanced against Corteza.

Orcollo, the 2010 World Pool Masters champion, ousted Britain’s Chris Melling, 9-5, and then disposed of Chinese-Tapei’s Chien Chieh, 9-6,  to set up a semifinal clash with Alcano, the 2006 World Pool 9-Ball winner.
Alcano stopped the winning run of Lee Chenman of Hong Kong 9-4 before slipping past Stevie Moore of the US with a pulsating 9-8 victory.   The 2010 US Open 10-Ball champion Corteza eliminated Thailand’s Nitiwat Kanjanasari, 9-4, before booting out Chinese-Taipei’s talented Fu Chi Wei, 9-7.   The 31-year-old Corteza of Jonathan Sy’s Negros Billiards Stable is hoping he could overcome Chang to set up an all-RP title match.   Earlier Corteza crushed Kevin Fortt of  Britain 9-1 in the Round of 32, Orcollo overwhelmed Ophas Suwannarat of Thailand 9-3, Alcano ripped Somkuan Tianponkrang also of Thailand 9-5 while Reyes smashed Sompol Saetang, a hometown boy, 9-1.