NEW YORK, NEW YORK---DENNIS “Surigao” Orcullo defeated former AZ Billiards Rookie of the Year Ronnie “Calamba” Alcano, 11-8, to forge a rematch with highly favorite Francisco “Django” Bustamante in the finals of Philippine 9-Ball Open at the Robinson's Galleria Trade Hall in Mandaluyong City, Philippines over the weekend.
Orcullo, a cue master hail from Bislig, Surigao Del Sur also nipped veteran campaigner Ramil “Bebeng” Gallego, 9-7, in the quarterfinals, while the Tarlac ace Bustamante earlier downed Mario “Aklan” Tolentino, 11-8, to grab the first seat in the race-to-15 championships round in this event with a whopping total pot prizes of P1.35-million (roughly US$ 23,500).
It shall be recalled, Bustamante inflicted the first loss of Orcullo, 6-9, in the early round that relegated the latter into loser's brackets of the tournament co-organized by Puyat Sports headed by God Father of Philippine Billiards Aristeo “Putch” Puyat and Solar Sports and fully sanctioned of the Billiard Snooker Congress of the Philippines (BSCP) led by it's president Ernesto “Ernie” Fajardo.
On the other hand, the United Arab Emirates campaigner Tolentino, conqueror of big guns Efren "Bata" Reyes, Rodolfo “Boy Samson” Luat, Leonardo “Dodong Dadiangas” Andam and last year's champ Antonio “Ga-Ga” Gabica, respectively, crushed Jeffrey “Jeff Bata” De Luna, 9-4, to complete the cast in the semis.
The winner gets P500,000 and the runner-up P250,000. Alcano and Tolentino settled for P100,000 each as losing semifinalists.
