Lining joins two German players in Philippine Open Pool quarterfinals

Antonio Lining is marching to the last eight of the Philippine Open Pool Championships.

The highly-ranked player in this WPA event defeated compatriot Lee Van Corteza, 9-5, to remain unbeaten on Sunday at the SM Megamall.

Trailing 5-4, Lining took full advantage of his solid breaking game to turn back the former World Ten Ball runner-up Corteza.

The world's #2 player Lining had a string of run-outs and didn't allow Corteza a chance to come back all the way to booking a seat in the quarterfinals.

Lining, playing under the banner of Jonathan Sy's Negros Billiards Stable, is scheduled to face Hai Tao Liu of China next. Lining and Liu were joined in the quarterfinal round by Germans Ralf Souquet and Thorsten Hohmann.

A double world champion, Souquet found himself in another hill-hill encounter before edging former World Ten Ball champion Darren Appleton of Great Britain, 9-8.
Hohmann, on the other hand, beat Marcus Chamat, 9-4.

But the two Germans will find themselves in a head-on collision course for a Final Four seat. Both players are scheduled to play as of press time.