This time, the 50-year-old legend led 8-7 but failed to finish Kuo off when his break came up dry in the 16th frame. The Taiwanese eighth seed ran the table to tie the match but came up empty o­n a 2-9 combination to the corner pocket that would have ended it.  With no straight shot at the 2 ball, Reyes caromed the cue off the side rail and hit the blue ball, which rattled gently into the corner to practically seal the match.

Reyes’ triumph also set up a mouthwatering showdown against 16-year-old Wu Chia Ching of Chinese Taipei tomorrow morning.  Wu, who settled for runner-up honors during the first leg in Singapore, completely outplayed Wanshana Poomjaeng of Thailand 9–2. The pool prodigy from Taishang County of Taipei started off quickly as he raced of to a 6-0 lead and never looked back.

“You have to be really stable and play good defense against him [Reyes],” revealed Wu about his semifinal foe. “He’s really far more experienced than I am, so I have to work hard,” added Wu.

In contrast, Wu’s tormentor in Singapore, Gandy Valle, was not a fortunate as the first leg winner was shown the door by Chinese-Taipei’s Yang Ching-Shun 9-6 in the other side of the quarterfinal bracket.  It was sweet revenge for Yang as he eliminated the player who defeated him during the Singapore leg.

With the match tied at 5-5, Valle muffed a shot o­n the 5 ball to the corner pocket while using a bridge, the cue ball caroming strangely off the rail instead of running alongside it.  Yang, ranked 38th in the world and the o­nly non-Filipino winner o­n the 3-year-old Tour so far, then ran out the table for a 6-5 lead. The fifth seed also took three of the next four racks—spiked by a great jump shot o­n the 7 ball to the corner for an 8-6 advantage.

The fifth seeded Yang now faces Satoshi Kawabata of Japan, the first player to reach the semifinals after a gritty 9-8 victory over Singapore’s Toh Lian-Han in which he rallied from 1-5 down.

For more information o­n the Tour, please check out www.asian9-balltour.com. For the latest schedules and program information o­n ESPN STAR Sports, catch us o­n the net at www.espnstar.com.

The San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Tour is sanctioned by the Asian Pocket Billiard Union and organized by ESPN STAR Sports’ Event Management Group (EMG) in association with the All Indonesian Billiards Association. San Miguel Beer is the title sponsor for the Tour.

Iwan Simonis and Aramith supply the official tablecloth and official balls respectively. Brunswick Metro is the official pool table, Mandarin Oriental Jakarta is the official hotel and Hanggar Billiard & Recreation Center is the official venue. STAR Sports is the official broadcaster. The 2005 Tour will go to Singapore, Jakarta, Kaohsiung and Manila. Besides the total prize money of US$200,000, the top 10 players o­n the Tour Order of Merit every year will directly qualify into the World Professional Pool Championships.

Visit InsidePOOL for the latest news o­n the San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Tour.