Gomez ties Peach, 12-all, at WPC final

Roberto Gomez finally evened the score with Daryl Peach at, 12-all, in the 24th rack of their race-to-17 final match of the World Pool Championship, which is in progress at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City. The 24th rack, with Gomez doing the break, turned out to be the longest of the match so far, as the opponents traded a long series of safeties on the 1-ball. Gomez eventually won the battle of safeties, but then missed on the 7-ball, which he and Peach had missed a few times in earlier racks. Peach in turn failed to pocket the 7-ball, allowing Gomez to finish the rack. Peach took the lead at 10-9, because the Gomez player scratched breaking the 18th rack, which the Englishman finished to tie the score at 9-all, and he took the next rack as well. Gomez also had to take his seat starting at the seventh rack, in which he flubbed his shot at the 2-ball, letting Peach run out and take the next racks. But in the 12th rack Peach scratched on his break, allowing Gomez to get back at the table and run out the racks that gave him the lead. Edgy like Gomez at the start, Peach finally found his rhythm by the ninth rack, which he took along with the 10th to pull away from, 7-3. Gomez won the lag for the first break but lost the rack to Peach because he failed to pocket the 7-ball, apparently out of nervousness. Peach finished the second rack as well, putting him in the lead at 2-0. Peach, apparently taking his turn at getting nervous, also committed an error in the third rack that put Gomez back at the table. Peach hit the cue ball softer than he intended so that he failed to pocket the 2-ball that was so near a corner pocket. Gomez finished the rack to put the score at 2-1. Gomez managed to even the score for the second time at 3-3, but he flubbed his shot on the 2-ball in the seventh rack, letting Peach run out and take the next four racks as well with little trouble. The 35-year-old Peach, an Englishman, is seeded No. 17 in the tournament, while Gomez, a Filipino native of Zamboanga City, is a first-time contestant. The tournament has returned to the winner's-break format. The 29-year-old Gomez seemed to be feeling the pressure from the predominantly Filipino audience at the Araneta Coliseum. Referee Michaela Tabb, who got a rousing round of applause before the match started, had to hush up the excited crowd as Gomez made his first few shots. "This is a long match," Tabb said. "Let the players concentrate." - GMANews.TV