Bustamante leads World Pool League Day Two

Francisco Bustamante

Session Two - Friday October 14 2005

Alex Lely (Ned) 3 - 7 Vilmos Foldes (Hun)

Vilmos Foldes delighted his band of travelling Hungarian supporters with an emphatic win at the start of the Friday evening session of the 888.com World Pool League in Warsaw, Poland.

Foldes, the 2003 World Junior Champion, condemned his opponent, European Mosconi Cup team member to a second consecutive defeat - although the Dutchman will point to a string of misfortunes for his downfall.

The luck wasn't with Lely from the start as, in rack one, an unfortunate kick off the 4-ball sent the white spinning into a pocket and Foldes capitalised to clear the rack.

The young Hungarian then ran the second to give himself an early advantage. Lely got off the mark with a run-out in the third, but Foldes looked to have lost the nerves he showed in his opening match with an assured clearance to go 3-1 in front - sealing the rack in style with a banked 9-ball.

The fifth rack was more scrappy, and a poor attempted safety on the 3-ball by Foldes handed Lely the chance to mount a comeback.

Foldes downed three balls on his next break and wasted no time completing the remaining balls to restore his two-rack lead.

Lely ran the next, but then his luck ran out again as Foldes produced an outrageous fluke on his way to taking the eighth when he missed the 2-ball in the right corner pocket only to see it spin off into the centre left bag.

And things didn't get any better for the Dutchman as he scratched in the penultimate rack, returning to his chair in disgust as the match slipped further away.

And Foldes added insult to injury with a run out in the final rack to get his campaign going.

Tony Drago (Mlt) 1 - 9 Francisco Bustamante (Phi)

Francisco Bustamante smashed his way past Tony Drago as he recorded a remarkable 9-1 victory in the second round of matches at the 888.com World Pool League in Warsaw, Poland.

In an alternate break format, a difference of that size in the scoreline is rare to find in world-class competition, but Drago was out of stroke and offered no competition for the legendary Filipino.

Bustmante employed a soft break to good effect, sinking three balls in the first rack, but he missed the green 6 although Drago allowed him back in with a foul on a jump shot.

Bustamante, relieved at a second opportunity, completed the rack and then added the second when a poor layout from the break hindered Drago.

Another run-out in the third gave him a bigger lead before a second jump shot foul in rack four from the speedy Maltese player gave the Filipino a further chance, and he then ran-out the fourth to give himself a seemingly unassailable lead.

Rack five came and went in the blink of an eye as Bustamante cleared the table with ease, and an out-of-sorts Drago handed him another chance when he missed a cut shot on the 1-ball at the start of the sixth.

A messy tactical battle ensued which Bustamante got the better of and he then ran the seventh to give himself a remarkable lead as Drago sat disconsolately in his seat.

He restored some measure of pride with an eighth rack run-out to avoid a whitewash, allowing himself a wry smile as the 9-ball dropped.

A scratch from Bustamante looked to have handed Drago another rack in the next-to-last frame, but he over struck the 7-ball and Bustamante, almost apologetically, cleared the final three balls.

The final rack was a sorry affair, with the players exchanging friendly banter as often as they exchanged poor shots, but it was no surprise to see the Filipino bring the one-sided contest to a close.

Thorsten Hohmann (Ger) 8 - 2 Kuo Po-cheng (Tpe)

In the same manner as Francisco Bustamante brushed past Tony Drago in the previous match, Thorsten Hohmann thrashed the 2005 World Pool Championship runner-up Kuo Po-cheng in the 888.com World Pool League at the NOT Building, Warsaw.

Hohmann was in complete control of the match from start to finish, potting balls with confidence and getting the better of most of the safety exchanges.

Kuo began with a scratch courtesy of some violent spin on the cue ball and Hohmann swiftly ran-out to seal the opener. A break and run sealed the second for the German and he nicked the third too after coming out on top following a safety battle.

Kuo pushed-out from his break in the fourth rack and Hohmann put him back in - a move which proved correct as he was able to bank in the 1-ball from Kuo's attempted snooker.

He jawed the 2 though and Kuo potted it but then scratched when sinking the 3. Hohmann was in no mood for mercy as he ran the remaining balls to take the scoreline to 4-0. Fortune favoured the 2004 World Champion again as he fluked the blue 2 courtesy of a table length roll, but there was nothing lucky about the way he cleared the table in what was turning out to be the session's second one-sided match.

A quick clearance from the break secured the points for Hohmann as Kuo sat resigned to his fate of two defeats on the opening day of the event.

A safety from the Taiwanese looked to have left the 2-ball safe, but Hohmann produced the shot of the match with a full-length jump shot to sink the blue ball and then followed that up with a long bank on the 3.

Hohmann spurned a long pot on the 1 in rack eight but the ball fell safe and Kuo scratched when trying to escape. For once though Hohmann failed to take the initiative and Kuo got off the mark before showing what he could do with a break and run in rack nine.

Hohmann ran the last from the break to seal an emphatic win and take his perfect record in to day two.

Play continues on Saturday afternoon with the following matches:

Tony Drago v Kuo Po-cheng
Francisco Bustamante v Vilmos Foldes
Alex Lely v Thorsten Hohmann