His People's Champ

Within two racks of victory in the final, Ronnie Alcano fell just short of a second World 9-Ball title.

At just about the same time, the Philippines former 9-ball champion Ronnie Alcano and Japan's Toru Kuribayashi were headed for the cliff in another quarterfinal match. As he had in his previous matches all day, Alcano had flashed that same smooth magic that carried him to the world title in 2006. The match went to a sudden-death rack with both players missing very difficult attempts before Alcano cleared for a spot in the semis.

Across the arena, Vinacio Tanio and Akakariyama were also heading for heavy drama. Tanio, a Filipino who lives in Dubai and coaches the United Arab Emirates national team, had earlier taken down Ralf Souquet in the round of 16. Akagariyama outlasted Croatia's Carlo Dalmatin, then barely got by the Philippines young gun, Carlo Biado, 11-9.

The pair jostled back and forth and the match went to a one-rack decider. In the final frame Tanio broke off, got two balls down and found a path to the finish line where an unlikely spot in the semifinals of the World Championship awaited. But just when he had the prize in his grasp, Tanio left himself bad position on the 8. The resulting pot left a long cut on the 9, which he missed by at least a foot. In disbelief, Akakariyama jumped up to look at an extremely tough, full-table cut. Taking a full 10 minutes, the Japanese star then sent it down the rail and into the pocket for the biggest win of his career - and a place in Friday's semifinals.

The final semifinal spot went to the world's No. 1-ranked player, Dennis Orcollo. Orcollo cruised through his draw completely untouched. Earlier he had handily defeated the defending champion Bustamante, 11-7, before blasting England's Daryl Peach, 11-4.

"He played brilliant[ly]," Peach conceded. "And Dennis doesn't get rattled by the Filipino fans cheering him on like some of the other Filipinos. It actually does him good."

"I'm hungry to win this tournament," Orcollo said after waylaying Peach. "I have a lot of experience and I know how to focus. I always want to play good in any tournament but this one is big."

In Friday's semifinals, Orcollo did indeed seem to be the betting favorite. However, on the TV table in front of nearly 1,500 fans, it was Alcano who controlled the proceedings, jumping out to a 2-0 lead and never looking back. Alcano consistently made balls on the break and left himself shots. Orcollo, on the other hand couldn't seem to find the same control he showed the day before. He fought back to within a rack before Alcano closed out the set by a 11-9 score line.

The other semifinal on the outside table was a much closer match. From the start, Gray just couldn't seem to get any rolls off the break, while Akagariyma continued his low key but effective approach to the game and moved up, 6-2.

At 8-3 it looked like it would just be the Japanese's day, but then the Englishman struck back with five straight. Akagariyama went up, 10-8, but Gray again fought back to force a case game. Then, breaking the biggest rack of his career, Gray experienced the unthinkable and scratched by a sliver of a roll of the cue ball. Akagariyama calmly picked off the colors for another death-defying escape.

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