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WPA World 8-Ball: Down to Elite Eight
Apr 23, 2008, 4:55 PM

Alcano is three wins away from going back-to-back.

At the Damas World 8-Ball Championship, the field of 32 that began the day was whittled down to just eight players in a matter of hours. At the Expo Center in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, five Europeans and three Filipinos are left to square off in quarterfinal matches that will get underway on Thursday afternoon.

The big story in the round-of-16 was the success of the big-name Filipino stars. Reigning champion Ronnie Alcano breezed past world 9-ball champ Daryl Peach, 10-5; money-game kingpin Dennis Orcollo outlasted Taiwan's Hung Hsiang Wang, 10-6; and veteran Warren Kiamco topped Poland's Radoslaw Babica.

The three Filipinos, however, are all clustered on one half of the bracket. Kiamco and Orcollo will meet in the quarterfinals tomorrow afternoon, while Alcano meets Italian Bruno Muratore. The winner of the Kiamco-Orcollo match will face the Alcano-Muratore winner, meaning the Filipinos could be sending one another out of the tournament.

Muratore pulled off one of the bigger upsets in the round-of-16 with his impressive win over American Shane Van Boening. Muratore surged ahead late, grabbing a 9-6 lead and winning the match, 10-7.

On the other half of the bracket, Marcus Chamat leads an all-European contigent. Chamat has yet to be challenged in the single-elimination phase of the tournament. The Sweded easily topped Denmark's Kasper Kristoffersen and Italian Gabriele Cimmino by identical 10-5 scores.

Chamat will face another surprise quarterfinalist in Switzerland's Dimitri Jungi.

The final match features Ralf Souquet facing England's 8-ball specialist Chris Melling. Souquet outlasted Niels Feijen in a hill-hill cliffhanger to move into the final eight.

Two rounds will be played on Thursday, leaving the two finalists to square off on Friday.