GREAT BRITAIN'S Daryl Peach's mission to bag another world championship belt is in full swing.
The Black Pool native trounced unheralded Filipino campaigner Arnel Bautista, 9-4, Thursday in their Last-64 match at the inaugural WPA World Ten Ball Championship at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City.
After a 2-2 deadlock in the fourth rack, Peach exploded with four straight racks to enable him to race to a 6-2 lead.
Despite
Bautista winning the 9th rack to cut the lead to 6-3, Peach answered
with two straight racks to reach the hill with an 8-3 count before taking the
9-4 victory.
Peach bested Roberto "Pinoy Superman" Gomez,
17-15, during the finals of 2007 WPA World 9-ball championship at the
Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City last year.
Peach
will go against compatriot Mark Gray in the next round. Gray brought
down former US Open 9-ball kingpin Corey Deuel of the United States,
9-6.
Meanwhile,
another Filipino bet Leonardo "Dodong" Didal raced to a 5-2 lead en route to disposing of Chinese Zhang Schuchan, 9-5, and become first Filipino to makes it to the round-of-32.
With
the win, Didal, who finished second in the 2006 Solar RP 9-Ball Open, will face former
two-time Asian Games 9-ball gold medalist Ching-Shun Yang of Taiwan,
winner over countryman Hung-Ming Chu, 9-4.
Other
noted players who got past their Last 64 assignment are reigning US Open
9-ball ruler Shane Van Boening and Shaun Wilkie of the United States,
Pin-Yi Ko and Chia-Ching Wu of Taiwan and Mika Immonen of Finland.
Van
Boening nipped Tony Drago of Malta, 9-3, Wilkie nipped Naoyuki Oi of
Japan, 9-7, Ko defeated Ruslan Chinahov of Russia, 9-2, Wu trounced
Stevie Moore of the United States, 9-4, while Immonen beat Jonni
Fulcher of Great Britain, 9-5.
