Thursday, November 08, 2007 Corteza crashes out of WPC By Charles Raymond A. Maxey
LEE VANN Corteza of Davao City crashed out of the 2007 World Pool Championships Wednesday after losing to fellow countryman Jeff de Luna, 7-10, at the Araneta Coliseum.
De Luna used his power breaks to the hilt to rally past Corteza, who had taken a 4-1 lead early only to collapse down the stretch.
Corteza was hurt by two scratches and a few errors and De Luna pounced on these unforced errors to zoom past the Davao bet and earn a ticket to the last 32.
Earl Strickland also crashed out of contention after losing to Luong Chi Dung of Vietnam, 8-10.
Dung looked headed for disaster when he missed the 9-ball in the 17th rack. Strickland, however, has no clear shot and was forced to play safe.
Dung then redeemed himself with a fantastic shot to seal the match.
Corteza had a chance to stage a comeback when De Luna suffered a scratch on the 16th rack. He took the frame but missed a long shot on the yellow one in the ensuing rack to allow his rival to clean up the table for a 9-6 lead.
