De Luna the giant killer

First, he took down the world’s No.1 player. Second, he beat the world’s No. 2 player and reigning world 10-ball champion. With his feats, Jeffrey de Luna has indisputably earned the title of giant killer in the Philippine Open Pool Championship.

The power-breaking Filipino served notice first last Friday with his smashing 9-6 triumph over Ralf Souquet. He led the match throughout, never allowing the German to close in.

Came Saturday, he pulled off yet another convincing victory, this time against Darren Appleton of UK, 9-7. The Briton fought every step of the way, but De Luna could not be denied.

Appleton missed two golden opportunities during a critical stage of the match – a jump shot on 1-ball and a scratch after making the 5-ball in the 16th rack. That allowed De Luna to wrap up the match.

Finally, to cap his impressive run Saturday night, the Filipino beat Radislaw Babica, 9-5, to earn a place in the Final Four.

De Luna has had to play more games than the other semi-finalist because he lost to Chang Pei-Wei in the third round (2-9). After landing in the losers bracket, he then made his run. His other victories were recorded against Elmer Kalaquian (9-8), Jestoni Magadia (9-2), Oscar Dominguez (9-4), and Rudi Susanto (9-4).