Reyes saves best for last in Sian tour 9-ball final

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Despite flirting with defeat in earlier rounds, Efren "The Magician" Reyes emerged the winner of the second leg of the San Miguel Asian 9-ball Tour in Central Jakarta.

The Filipino had been lucky to narrowly beat Robby Suarly of Indonesia, Chinese Taipei's Kuo Po-Cheng and teenage wonder boy Wu Chia Ching of Chinese Taipei in the Sunday morning semifinal, but he moved his game up a gear in an 11-6 win over Chinese Taipei's Yang Chin-Sun.

In the final, Reyes and Yang, who was celebrating his 27th birthday, were neck and neck until reaching 6-6.

But in frame 13, Yang made a poor break, allowing Reyes to steal the rack to lead 7-6.

It was the lucky break that Reyes needed. As he prepared to hit his last shot, Reyes gave a knowing smile and then raised his arms in triumph after sending the ball into the pocket.

"The final was my best performance throughout the tournament, with my opponent also playing well," the three-time world 8-ball champion said.

Reyes, who will turn 51 in August, received the winner's check of US$10,000.

Yang acknowledged that his temporary loss of concentration was the decisive factor.

"The turning point is when the score was tied at 6-6 when I made the break but no balls went into the pocket," the 2001 World Games champion said.

"However, being the runner-up is an improvement for me, as I finished third in Singapore."

In the semifinals earlier on Sunday, Yang defeated Japan's Satoshi Kawabata 11-6, but only had a four-minute break before he had to compete in the final.

Yang refused to use the short rest time as an excuse for his loss, but did say that a 10-minute break would have given him better preparation time.

Next stops on the tour are Kaohsiung, Chinese Taipei, on April 29-May 1, and the final in Manila on June3-5.

All players in the Asian 9-ball Tour will also compete in the Bali International Open, which starts on Monday.