Francisco Bustamante rolled back the years and stunned world number one Fedor Gorst at the Philippines Open in front of a packed Gateway Mall in Quezon City.
Fresh from his Reyes Cup success on debut as the Asian captain, Bustamante punished Gorst’s uncharacteristic errors to gain 5-1 and 8-4 advantages in their Philippines Open second round clash.
Nevertheless, the two-time world champion battled back from behind as he so often does and forced an all-important rack, much to the delight of the hundreds of Filipino fans overlooking from the mall’s second and third floors.
In one of the most dramatic deciding racks of the year, the veteran Bustamante appeared to be running out to complete an incredible victory, although he undercut the eight ball and seemingly gifted Gorst the win.
However, Gorst would excruciatingly butcher a relatively routine nine ball, and that caused a cacophony of deafening roars from the Filipino crowd as Bustamante knocked in the winning ball for a seismic shock.
