Pool icon Efren “Bata” Reyes made short work of Mika “The Iceman” Immonen, 9-1, Saturday to lead the march of Filipino bets in the 1st Annual Hard Times-Mezz Cues 10-ball open in Los Angeles, California.
Taking cue from his 9-5 opening round triumph against Melinda Huang, the 55-year-old Reyes gave the reigning world 10-ball champ no chance as four other Filipinos advanced to the next round.
Lee Vann Corteza, last year’s world 10-ball runner up, Roberto Gomez, the 2007 world 9-ball finalist, Warren Kiamco and Ramon Mistica similarly scored their second straight victories to underscore the Philippines’ strong charge in the tournament held at the Hard Times Billiards in Bellflower.
Corteza, blanked Steve Chaplin, 9-0, before routing Ismael Paez, 9-1, while Gomez clobbered Ezekiel Morrison, 9-4, in his second game.
Kiamco, playing out of the Negros Billiards Stable, nipped Marcos Rodriguez, 9-5, while Mistica, who is best to remember for beating Filipino pool legend Jose “Amang” Parica in the mid 80’s, beat Chris Tate and Abe Lim with the same score line of 9-2.
Posts
