Session Three - Saturday October 15 2005
Tony Drago (Mlt) 6 - 4 Kuo Po-cheng (Tpe)
Tony Drago raced his way to victory in less than half-an-hour to condemn Kuo Po-cheng to a near certain exit from the 888.com World Pool League in Warsaw, Poland.
The Maltese Falcon lost the last two racks, but already had victory assured to take himself a step closer to the semi-finals.
The first two racks went against the break - Drago taking advantage in the first after a poor safety attempt on the 1-ball from Kuo, and then the roles reversed when Drago scratched from his first break.
Kuo left the 1 hanging in rack three and Drago cleared up with ease before running the fourth to open up clear water. Kuo, with two defeats in his opening games, was not going to lie down though and he potted three balls on his next break before clearing to reduce the deficit to 3-2.
The match continued at quick pace with a swift break and run from Drago and he took the seventh to ensure he would avoid defeat after Kuo again let his chance pass.
A third defeat was sealed for the Taiwanese player as Drago strutted his way to another run-out before Kuo kept the scoreline respectable by repeating the trick in rack nine.
Drago left himself snookered from the break in the last and Kuo took that one as well - but it was too little, too late.
Vilmos Foldes (Hun) 7 - 3 Francisco Bustamante (Phi)
Vilmos Foldes took a step closer to the semi-finals with a morale-boosting win over Francisco Bustmante in the 888.com World Pool League at the NOT Building, Warsaw.
Foldes recorded his second victory of the series in style, quickly finding his stroke and leaving his big-name opponent with few chances throughout the ten racks.
The first three racks produced easy run-outs, but Foldes had to work harder to take the fourth and extend his lead - finally taking advantage after Bustamante errantly left a half-chance on the pink 4 which the young Hungarian cleverly took with a deft cut across the top of the table.
Foldes ran the fifth and then cleared the table in rack six after Bustamante scratched when attempting to leave the cue ball safe near the bottom left pocket.
Rack seven went the way of the 2003 World Junior Champion too as he ensured the biggest surprise of the tournament so far with a victory over the defending champion.
Bustamante pushed out in rack eight but Foldes cleared the layout that was left to go to 7-1 in front. The Filipino ran the penultimate rack and then took the last too to restore some pride but the match belonged to Foldes.
Thorsten Hohmann (Ger) 7 - 3 Alex Lely (Ned)
Thorsten Hohmann became the first man to seal his place in the last four of the 888.com World Pool League after victory over an off-form Alex Lely in Warsaw, Poland.
Lely took his poor displays from Friday into his third match, with Hohmann in no mood to allow him any room for recovery.
Lely was looking set to run the first rack after Hohmann was left a tough lay-out from the break and couldn't run-out, but the Dutchman missed an easy 7-ball and Hohmann wrapped up the table at the second time of asking.
Lely ran rack two in more conventional style and Hohmann then broke softly in the third rack, a tactic which worked for him all game, as he easily cleared the table to re-establish his lead.
An easy cut shot missed on the 1-ball in rack four turned even worse for Lely when the cue ball scratched in - epitomising his lack of form - and Hohmann again didn't waste any time in capitalising on the error with ball in hand to extend his lead.
Lely found his rhythm with a run-out in the fifth rack but left the 2-ball on for Hohmann in the next when he was handed a chance to level the scores.
Hohmann again took advantage of his let-off to extend his lead to 4-2 and leave Lely's League future hanging by a thread.
A wayward bank shot on the 1-ball by the 2003 World Champion gave Lely another half-chance, but he once again produced a poor shot and Hohmann took his fifth rack of the match with a calm clearance.
Lely left himself half-hooked on the 1-ball with his next break but with a small chance of banking it, Lely took it on with nothing to lose - but he left it hanging and Hohmann jumped the ball in.
The German left himself snookered on the blue 2 though and the escape shot left it on for Lely, who cleared to keep alive his slim chance of saving a draw.
Those chances soon evaporated as Hohmann broke and ran out the ninth rack, despite a tricky layout, and he took the last for good measure following yet another missed pot by Lely on the 1-ball.
| Player | Played | Won | Drew | Lost | Games Won | Games Lost | Pts |
| Thorsten Hohmann | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 8 | 6 |
| Francisco Bustamante | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 19 | 11 | 4 |
| Vilmos Foldes | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 17 | 13 | 4 |
| Tony Drago | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 17 | 4 |
| Alex Lely | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 20 | 0 |
| Po-cheng Kuo | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 21 | 0 |
Play continues on Saturday evening with the following ten-rack matches:
Tony Drago v Vilmos Foldes
Thorsten Hohmann v Francisco Bustamante
Alex Lely v Kuo Po-cheng
