Reyes & Bustamante Both Suffer Losses

Reyes & Bustamante Both Suffer LossesA surprising twist in the second round came when Efren Reyes and Francisco Bustamante, certainly both favored in this event, suffered losses in the second round. Ivica Hill of Croatia dealt “The Magician” an 8-6 loss.“I’m so excited because it’s my first time playing Efren, and I beat him,” Putnik exclaimed. “It was a very important match because I won my first and now I have two.” He added, “I think the most important thing was the break because Efren … all his breaks no balls went and I made balls only two times. Actually that was one detail that decided it.”IPT discussion forumDay 5 image galleryMatch scheduleMichael Hill was responsible for defeating Bustamante, in a double-hill match that saw Bustamante hover on the hill first before Hill swept by. “I feel exhausted, to be honest,” Hill stated. “I just have to try to regroup now and get my head back on for the next match. I played great—I was up seven-four then got really nervous and tense thinking I was going to beat someone of Francisco’s class, then I missed an easy chance to win eight-four, sat in my chair, had an easy chance to win eight-six, lost it again, and then at seven each I managed to pull out a miracle.”
Reyes and Bustamante are in the same group and now have both a win and a loss for the day.Raj “Hitman” Hundal is currently leading his group, having two wins. He just bested Ralf Souquet 8-3 in a televised match, scoring four break and run-outs along the way. Evgeny Stalev won over Marcus Chamat with a lopsided 8-3 score, and Rafael Martinez has not won a match since Steve Moore defeated him in last night’s round. Martinez just lost to Shawn Putnam 8-6. Team Philippines is still going strong. Rodolfo Luat won 8-5 over Niels Feijen, Dennis Orcollo won by the same score over France’s Yannick Beaufils, and Ronato Alcano dealt a stunning 8-2 defeat to Thorsten Hohmann. Also, there were two double-hill matches that went to the Filipinos: Marlon Manalo over Daryl Peach and Santos Sambajon Jr. over Gabe Owen. Antonio Lining lost a hill-hill bout to Rico Diks. Sandor Tot won his match with former U.S. Open champion Corey Deuel 8-6, saying, “It was very tough, because I lost the first round against Manalo, a great player, and the second round was Corey Deuel, one of the best American players. It was just really tough, I needed to win because now everything is open.:“The Lion” was successful in his match against Finland’s Mika Immonen, winning 8-6 with four break and run-outs. “In the beginning I was struggling,” Pagulayan explained. “I think I got all the rolls the whole match. That’s the only mistake he made, was missing the last ball. I played good at the end, but I want to play better then that during this event.“I think this is the toughest group right now, because Mika is there, and Luat, Dennis, Feijen and the French guy, and it’s a tough bracket. Eventually you’re going to play them at the end, so we’ll see.”Good news arrived at the tournament room this afternoon when tournament director Deno Andrews’ first son and second child James George was delivered safely and is healthy at 9 pounds, 5 ounces, and 21 inches long.Round 4 Group 74Group 75C. DeuelM. ManaloD. PeachA. LelyS. TotD. AppletonGroup 76D. OrcolloA. PagulayanM. ImmonenN. FeijenY. BeaufilsR. LuatGroup 77A. LiningR. MartinezS. PutnamL. NevelR. DiksD. MatlockGroup 78R. SouquetR. MorrisJ. KirkwoodM. ChamatR. HundalE. StalevVisit Inside POOL Magazine for the latest pool and billiard news from the North American Open 8-Ball Championship.

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