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Guangzhou leg winner Dennis Orcollo of the Philippines picked up from where he left off as he dominated the first day of the preliminaries with three victories even as hometown bet Ricky Yang split his two assignments at the start of the Guinness 9 Ball Tour 2008 Grand Final at the jam-packed Mal Taman Anggrek.

Orcollo started the day with a 9 - 7 conquest of fellow Filipino Alex Pagulayan then survived Wang Hung Hsiang of Chinese Taipei, 9 - 8, in Group A. The current WPA number one made it a clean sweep and virtually assured himself an automatic semi-final spot after beating Ryu Seung Woo of Korea, 9 - 5.

Meanwhile, local favorite Yang remained alive for a berth in the semi-finals despite falling to Joven Bustamante of the Philippines, 9 - 8, in the nightcap over in Group B. Bustamante lost his earlier match 5-9 to fellow countryman Antonio Gabica.

The 36-year old Indonesian, who earned a wild card spot in the Grand Final as the country's best player, started the day with an impressive 9 - 4 triumph over Ibrahim Bin Amir of Malaysia. Yang can guarantee himself a place in the last four should he sweep his three matches tomorrow.

One player who is in a precarious position after the first day of competition is defending Grand Final champion Chang Jung Lin of Chinese Taipei. Chang only managed one win in his first three assignments over in Group A.

Chang dropped his first assignment to countryman Wang Hung Hsiang, 9 - 7, but bounced back to win over Ryu Seung Woo of Korea, 9 - 5.

However, the 23 - year old fell to Alex Pagulayan of the Philippines, 9 - 5, and must now win over Orcollo tomorrow and hope that both Pagulayan and Wang also drop one more match each for any chance at a title repeat.

In other matches played today, Chinese-Taipei's Wu Chia Ching suffered a surprise 7-9 loss to Malaysia's Ibrahim bin Amir. However, Amir also lost to Chinese-Taipei's Yang Ching Shun 4-9 in his other game.

Eleven players were divided into two groups and players will play in a single round robin format. The top two players from each group will advance to the semifinals with the final two meeting in the final match tomorrow. The champion will earn the top prize of US$36,000.

The Top Ten of the Tour's Order of Merit following the first five legs automatically qualified for the Grand Final.

Up for grabs in the Grand Final is total prize money of US$72,000, with the winner taking home US$36,000. The Guinness 9 Ball Tour remains the only ranking tour in Asia for players to qualify for the WPA World Pool Championship. The six-city Tour previously had stops in Chinese-Taipei, Penang, Genting Highlands, Singapore, and Guangzhou.

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