FINLAND'S Mika Immonen and Petri Makkonen ended the run of Philippine legends Efren 'Bata' Reyes and Django Bustamente in the PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool with a 9-5 quarterfinal win on Saturday night at the Robinson's Midtown Mall in Manila.
Reyes and Bustamante seemed to have ran out of luck as they missed makeable shots and made uncharacteristic errors, including an illegal break by Reyes in the fourth rack that allowed Makkonen and Immonen to win four racks in a row for a 5-2 lead.
"Kinulang kami sa bwenas," said Bustamante. "Wala kaming break, sila kada break may pasok."
The Filipinos managed to inch closer to 5-6 after but Makkonen and Immonen grabbed their chance after Reyes and Bustamante failed to sink the three ball in the next frame.
"We had a chance to go up 7-3 but they close the gap to 6-5, good thing they made an illegal break and from there we pulled away," said Immonen, a former world 9-ball champion.
The Finn said he was honored to play against the Filipino legends.
"It's always amazing to play with them. They're two icons here in the Philippines and winning against them is a career highlight," said Immonen.
"We played a good match and we beat the legends," added Makkonen. "It's crazy, it feels very good."
Finland will face Poland tomorrow in the semifinal match at 1 p.m while Team USA will go up against Taipei. The finals will be played on the same day.
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