Thursday, October 18, 2007 Fiery Corteza wins US 9-ball anew By Marianne Saberon-Abalayan
LEE Vann Corteza sustained his fiery form in the 32nd US 9-Ball Championship with an 11-9 cliffhanger win over Jason Klatt in his second match in Chesapeake, Virginia.
Corteza, who hails from Mintal, Davao City, set up a grudge return match with Neils Feijin of the Netherlands with his second straight win in the longest running and most prestigious 9-ball tournament in the world.
Feijin, who prevailed over Don Polo in smashing fashion, 11-1, had beaten Corteza in the finals of the International Challenge of Champions.
But the 28-year-old Corteza avenged that loss when he turned back Fiejin in the semis en route to ruling the Turning Stone Classic in Verona, New York last month.
Other Filipino campaigners also won their second day assignments to keep the Philippine flag flying high in Virginia.
Jose Parica, Francisco "Django" Bustamante, Warren Kiamco, reigning World Pool 8-Ball and 9-Ball champion Ronato Alcano and Efren Reyes flexed just enough muscles to advance.
Parica routed El Yuosef, 11-5, to play Josh Lewis, who posted an 11-9 win over Derek Leonard. Bustamante downed Richie Orem, 11-5, to earn the right to face Joel Gray, who disposed of Mark Javis, 11-6.
Kiamco defeated Daniel Madden, 11-4, while Alcano whipped Paddy MacLaughin, 11-3.
Reyes, the top Filipino bet in the event, dug deep into his bag of tricks before pulling off an 11-10 victory over Marc Vidal.
