Bank On It

Orcollo remains focused on continually improving his already powerful game.

But the Filipinos brought plenty more ammunition. Orcollo sent Williams packing, 11-5, to advance to the semifinals, where he was joined by Alex Pagulayan and Warren Kiamco.

While Kiamco may not be the most flamboyant of the Filipino imports, he certainly has the skill to contend in major events. Mimicking his left-side romp to third place at last year's U.S. Open, the 39-year-old surged in the late rounds of the Predator Championship. Sneaking by Hiroshi Takenaka, 11-9, Kiamco caught fire on the second to last day of the event, besting Rodney Morris, 11-5, and Imran Majid, 11-4, to secure a spot opposite Orcollo in the next day's opening semifinal.

But that break in the action was the worst thing that could have happened to Kiamco. What rhythm he found the previous night was gone on Saturday morning when he faced Orcollo in the shortened race-to-7 semifinal. While Orcollo didn't play perfect pool, Kiamco struggled out of the gate. Thanks to two unforced position errors and a flubbed safety, Orcollo jumped out to a 3-1 lead.

Kiamco knotted the match at 3-3, but the comeback proved abortive, as Orcollo punished his opponent for a string of minor errors. After a Kiamco scratch in the 11th game, the match ended with Kiamco's towel landing on the cue ball and the two countrymen exchanging high-fives and hugs.

"I don't have a stroke," Kiamco said. "I cannot stroke in the morning. But it's hard to play with [Orcollo] right now. He missed one ball, how do you fight that?"

That is nearly the same question Pagulayan was asking after his run-in with Souquet in the second semifinal. Rarely speechless, Pagulayan had no answer for what he witnessed. After scratching on the opening break, the animated Filipino was stuck to his chair as Souquet dropped 29 straight balls - clearing the open table then twice running out from the break - before he broke dry.

After an intentional foul from Souquet, Pagulayan completed a tricky runout for his only rack of the match. Another dry break in the next game and that was it. Souquet again cleared the open table for a 4-1 lead, then broke and ran the next three in a captivating display of rhythm and precision.

"Everything went his way, what am I gonna do?" Pagulayan said. "I had to really earn my one game, so maybe I should just be happy with that!"

Souquet certainly wasn't satisfied.

"Obviously that was a perfect match," he admitted, "but it's not over yet."

That "yet" was exactly the problem for Souquet. The flawless form from his semifinal quickly deserted him in the race-to-8 final. A loose safety and a missed 1-10 combo followed by a runout from Orcollo, and Souquet was already in a three-game hole.

Souquet's only viable comeback attempt stalled with a missed 4 ball when he trailed 6-3. Breaking on the hill, Orcollo steered his way through the rack. The final 10 ball fell and Orcollo raised his fist, unleashing that look-what-I-did grin.

"This tournament, with so many good players, was very hard," he said. "I think this win is very important. If you win this tournament, you get more popular and get invited to more events." If he plays like he did for three days inside the Riviera, Orcollo might not be so popular with whomever he's playing in the near future. After all, the fisherman-turned-world beater is still improving, which is a scary thought.

"Today, this tournament, is going to make me better," he said.

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