By Mark Angelo Mañez

PHOTO: SPIN PH

Jeff de Luna and Roberto Gomez completed an impossible backsweep from 5-0 down, to obliterate American duo Billy Thrope and Skyler Woodward, 7-5, and book their Final 8 appearance at the 2021 World Cup of Pool, Wednesday night (Thursday morning, Manila).

They will now face 15th seed Estonia, who survived an excruciating hill-hill tussle with 2nf seed Great Britain A's Jayson Shaw and Chris Melling, 7-6.

De Luna and Gomez fell 5-0 right from the get-go, as the Mosconi Cup veteran duo started making shots and capitalizing lapses en route to the advantage.

Down early, 2-0, De Luna took out the short stick and tried a table-length bank on the 7-ball only to be vacuumed by the pocket.

As the lead grew further, so did the grave the Filipinos had to rise from. Gomez rattled a simple 7-ball in to the corner, but was left hanging in its jaws giving Thorpe the gimme, and further widening the gap at 5-0.

From then on, it was the Filipinos who started wreaking havoc on the table. They strung 7 straight racks and kept the Americans glued to their chairs.

More drama ensued in the nightcap as Denis Grabe and Mark Magi scraped past their higher-seeded opponents, 7-6.

Shaw scratched the purple 5 in the deciding rack, giving chance to Magi to simply knock the 9-ball and punch their ticket to the last 8.

In the curtain raiser, replacements Great Britain C (Darren Appleton and Karl Boyes) dumped a sluggush Greek pair, 7-4, and will take on 4th seed Netherlands.


Results - Day 4 - Round 2
Afternoon session
*9th seed 🇷🇺 d. by 8th seed 🇯🇵, 2-7
*30th seed 🇮🇹 d. by 19th seed 🇩🇰, 5-7
*4th seed 🇳🇱 d. 13th seed 🇫🇮, 7-1

Evening session matches
*5th seed 🇬🇧C d. 12th seed 🇬🇷, 7-4
*7th seed 🇺🇸 d. by 10th seed 🇵🇭, 5-7
*2nd seed 🇬🇧A d. by 15th seed 🇪🇪, 6-7

Schedule - Quarterfinals - Day 5
*32nd seed 🇸🇰 vs 8th seed 🇯🇵
*5th seed 🇬🇧C vs 4th seed 🇳🇱
*19th seed 🇩🇰 vs 11th seed 🇩🇪
*10th seed 🇵🇭 vs 15th seed 🇪🇪


Watch the highlights via YouTube