Pinoy Mazon makes final of China 9-ball

Former Guinness World Series of Pool champion Jundel Mazon of the Philippines stormed to the finals of the 2011 China 9-Ball Invitational Championships after scoring a heart-stopping, 11-10 victory over compatriot Lee Vann Corteza last Saturday.

The Davao City bet Corteza jumped to a 6-4 lead against his fellow Negros Billiards Stable (NBS) stablemate Mazon at the Best Bet Maccaline Plaza in Hefei City, Anhui Province in eastern China.

But the table started to turn against Corteza as Mazon won the 11th and 12th to tie the score at 6-all. Corteza, however, took two of the next three racks to seized an, 8-7 lead in the race-to-eleven, alternate break format. Mazon won the 16th rack to level again at 8-all.

After trading racks, Corteza and Mazon, whose stints here are backed by Energen and Kopiko, reached hill-hill at 10-all.

In the 21st rack, Corteza, a former World Ten Ball finalist and BSCP National Pool Champion, played safety on the blue 2-ball but Mazon managed to sink it and clean up the table to escape with the 11-10 victory.

“It was just all luck. I hope that I will still be lucky in the finals, said Mazon.

Mazon will face Chao Fong Pao, a former world 9-ball champion from Chinese-Taipei who has since migrated to China for the championship crown and the top prize of $16,000.

Chao prevented a possible all-Filipino finals when he outclassed Filipino pool legend Efren “Bata” Reyes, 11-6 in their semifinal duel.

Mazon and Chao are already assured of getting at least $8,000 for reaching the finals while losing semifinalists Corteza and Reyes received $4,000 each.