Pagulayan enters Guinness 9-Ball Tour quarters

MANILA, Philippines – Former world pool champion Alex Pagulayan defeated Ricky Yang of Indonesia, 9-7, to earn a spot in the quarterfinals of the penultimate leg of the Guinness 9-Ball Tour on Friday at the Garden Hotel in Guangzhou, China. Pagulayan, winner of the Singapore leg in July, took a 7-4 advantage before Yang tied the match at 7-all. But the Indonesian cue master missed on a placing shot and Pagulayan took the opportunity to retake the lead via a 6-9 combination. The Filipino then ran out the next rack to sweep his two assignments in Group C and earn a spot in the final eight where he will face Satoshi Kawabata of Japan. “The ball was actually skidding too much towards the end, but I just played my game. Yang had a bad placing on the three and I just capitalized on his error," said Pagulayan. Pagulayan earlier defeated local bet Fu Jian Bo, 9-3. Paguayan's compatriot Dennis Orcollo, as of this posting, is still playing Wu Chia Ching in the group stages. Orcollo earlier beat Bernard Tey of Singapore, 9-7, in Group E. Pagulayan's entry into the quarterfinals made up for the early exit of compatriots Joven Bustamante, Elvis Calasang and Jeffrey De Luna. – GMANews.TV