Power-breaker De Luna advances to US Open 9-ball Q'finals
By Marlon Bernardino
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 25 Apr 2019
Jeffrey de Luna.
Quarterfinal, Race to 11
Joshua Filler of Germany vs Francisco Sanchez Ruiz of Spain
Jeffrey 'The Bull' De Luna of the Philippines vs Alex "The" Lion" Pagulayan of Canada
Power-breaker Jeffrey 'The Bull' De Luna cruised to the quarter-finals of the partypoker money-rich 43rd US Open 9-Ball Championship being held at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino Convention Center, Las Vegas on Thursday (Manila time).
De Luna stamped his class over Imran Majid of Great Britain, 11-9, in the round-of-16.
"Good news Pilipinas I just won 11-9 against Uk?s Imran Majid! I struggled in the beginning but i thank God for giving me so much strength to get through it," said former Doha Asian Games silver medalist De Luna.
"When you break, you should not rush the first shot. You must wait for the balls to settle and then pick the best pattern from there," added De Luna who yielded to Chang Jung-lin of Chinese-Taipei, 11-10, in the quarterfinal rounds of last year's edition.
"I think this is the key to the championship and I plan on employing this approach for the rest of the competition," said De Luna.
In the next round, De Luna will meet 2005 US Open 9-ball ruler Filipino-Canadian Alex "The Lion" Pagulayan, who brought down Aloysuis Yapp of Singapore, 11-10.
?It?s going to be tough in my next match, but I believe I have a great chance to win,? last word of De Luna.
Joshua Filler of Germany and Francisco Sanchez Ruiz of Spain arranged their quarterfinals meeting after beating defending champion Jayson Shaw of Scotland (11-4) and Ko Ping-Chung of Chinese-Taipei (11-4), respectively.
The remaining match still playing at presstime of the tourney are Hsu Kai-Lun (Chinese-Taipei) vs. Lui Haitao (China), Chang Yu-Lung (Chinese-Taipei) vs. Jeffrey Ignacio (Philippines), Hsu Jui-An (Chinese-Taipei) vs. Wang Can (China) and Shane van Boening (USA) vs. Wu Jiaqing (China).
The tournament which attracted 256 pool masters has a total prize fund of $300,000 with the winner getting $50,000 as top purse while the runner-up place will receive $25,000.The 3rd and 4th will pocket $12,000 each. De Luna, on the other hand assure $6,250 for reaching the quarterfinals.-Marlon Bernardino-
Photo credit: Vincent Rochefort/Matchroom Sports.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Marlon Bernardino.
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