Monday, September 03, 2007 Davao's Corteza makes finals in 9-ball tour By Charles Raymond A. Maxey
LEE Vann Corteza of Davao City kept the Philippine flag flying high in the 2007 Guinness 9-Ball Grand Finals, scorching Wu Chia Ching of Chinese Taipei, 11-9, in the semifinals Sunday in Bali, Indonesia.
The 28-year-old Corteza fell behind early but recovered just in time to pull of the victory against the former world champion.
With the score tied at 9-9, Corteza rattled off two straight racks to finally oust a fiery Wu.
Corteza highlighted his win with a terrific thin cut to sink the yellow one on the corner pocket off a long shot, and a carom on the 20th rack to steal the match after falling 5-8 early.
Corteza, 28, was bedeviled by dry breaks throughout the match but recovered with his soft breaks later on that baffled Wu.
Corteza was playing Chang Jung-Lin in the finals as of presstime late Sunday afternoon. The winner will receive $36,000.
Chang pulled off a pulsating 13-12 win over Yang Chin Shun in the first semifinals encounter of the day. Yang raced to a 4-0 lead early on only to falter in the endgame and allow Chang to steal the match.
Corteza, the reigning national open champion who hails from Mintal, reached the semis after going 3-1 in the two-day round robin eliminations.
He beat Chang, 9-3, then walloped Bin Ibrahim Amir of Malaysia, 9-5. He posted a 1-1 record on the first day Friday following a victory over Bernard Tey of Singapore and a defeat at the hands of Pong Fang Chao.
Corteza, also the reigning All-Japan Open champion, is the 10th ranked player going into the Grand Finals.
Now, he has the chance to come out on top.
Ronato Alcano was the other Filipino player who saw action in the tournament, but he bowed out in the elimination phase.
