Efren Reyes, undefeated on three points had a golden chance to secure a spot in Sunday night's play-offs as he faced off against World Champion Thorsten Hohmann in the opening match of the afternoon session at the StanJames.com World Pool League in Warsaw, Poland.
It was a chance he took, as aided by a bit of good fortune as well as plenty of skill, he managed to steal both points from the German when a draw would have been a fairer result.
The match turned in the final rack as Hohmann, breaking for a share of the points, was snookered on the 1 ball. He pushed out, leaving Reyes a chancy double bank shot to take control of the table. He executed it to perfection and cleared the table to win 6 - 4 and leave himself on five points.
For Hohmann, it was a disappointment, as he lead 3 - 1 at one stage, but a combination of Reyes' skill and a little carelessness, let the man from Manila back in.
In the second match, it was Hawaiian Rodney Morris who prevailed over Malta's Tony Drago in a highly enjoyable match full of mistakes, scratches, flukes and of course high-powered billiards.
The first five racks went with the break with a combination of nervy run-outs and tight snookers but it was in the sixth rack that the destination of the points was ultimately decided. Drago fluked the pink five as he lashed at it with nothing really on.
However, he scratched on his next shot as he over-drew the cue ball to leave Morris ball in hand with just the 8 and 9 on the table. From there he cleared to lead 4 - 2.
The American, though, scratched himself in the next and Drago ran out to get to 4 - 3 and in the following rack, the longest of the match, everything happened as luck and safety played their respective parts.
In the end it was Morris who won through to go to 5 - 4 and a break and run out in the next gave him both points and moved his tally to two wins from three starts.
In the final match of the session, Taiwanese hot-shot Hui-kai Hsia moved to the top of the group and left Mosconi Cup captain Oliver Ortmann facing a mission impossible if he is to claw his way into tomorrow evening's play-offs.
8 - 2 was the final score-line, the second time the German has been drubbed by such a margin, and once again in was Hsia's devastating break that put him in the driving seat.
In fact, from Hsia's five break shots in the best of ten, alternate break match, he ran out four of them and crunched home another 'golden break' in the other!
Ortmann, who is suffering from a very heavy cold, could not respond and allowed Hsia the opportunity to steal his racks after some careless work.
The 28 year-old from Kaohsiung City now heads the group with a perfect record and is assured a spot in tomorrow evening's play-offs as is Reyes who has two wins and a draw from his three starts.
Photo courtesy of Mark Whiteside
Saturday Afternoon Results:
Efren Reyes (Phi) 6 - 4 Thorsten Hohmann (Ger)
Rodney Morris (USA) 6 - 4 Tony Drago (Mal)
Hui-kai Hsia (TPE) 8 - 2 Oliver Ortmann
Day Two Standings:
| Plys | Won | Drwn | Lost | For | Away | Pts | +/- | ||
| 1 | Hsia | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 8 | 6 | +14 |
| 2 | Reyes | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 17 | 13 | 5 | +4 |
| 3 | Morris | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 14 | 4 | +2 |
| 4 | Hohmann | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 14 | 16 | 2 | -2 |
| 5 | Drago | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 19 | 1 | -8 |
| 6 | Ortmann | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 20 | 0 | -10 |
