The youthful duo of Dennis Orcollo and Lee Van Corteza entered the finals of the 888.com World Cup of Pool after a breathtaking 9-7 win over bitter rivals Chinese-Taipei in the semi finals late Sunday night, Manila Time at York Hall, Bethnal Green in England.
The Filipinos looking to give the country its third World Cup of Pool title following the two previous victories of ?The Magician? Efren ?Bata? Reyes and his bosom buddy Francisco ?Django? Bustamante will face the tough tandem of Niels Feijen and Nick van den Berg of the Netherlands who handily overcame defending champions Finland 9-4 to arrange a showdown for the top prize of $60,000 with the Filipinos.
Orcollo and Corteza playing particularly well held a comfortable 7-2 lead over the Chinese Taipei pair of Chang Jung-lin and Ko Pin-yi but the Taiwanese rattled off five racks in a row to tie the count at 7-7.
But the Taiwanese scratched on the break which left the Philippines with ball-in-hand and they made no mistake before taking the final rack for the win.
The Netherlands were held to a 4-4 deadlock by Finland before they strung together five racks to win 9-4 to enter the finals.
Matchroom Sport reported that Team USA's Mosconi Cup playing captain Johnny Archer believes the Netherlands (Holland) ?will be slight favorites for the final? and said he ?has been impressed with how well they have played this week. He agrees with Niels Feijen's assessment that the Dutch have improved as the week has gone on but says whoever wins semi-final number two (which turned out to be the Philippines) will be very tough to beat.?
Feijen himself said "Finland were hard to beat but from 4-4 we were cruising, executing very well. They are defending champions and played very well. Relaxation wise this was the easiest match we have had. We made it easy for each other and we have been a little better with every match so we want to keep it going like that."
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