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Kelvin Leong reporting from Taipei .

Joven Bustamante ensured that it will not be an all Chinese-Taipei affair in the finals later today, as he made a stunning comeback to defeat local boy wonder, Ko Pin Yi in the first semi-final of the day.

The Filipino got off to a quick start going up 2-0 on the first two racks on the back of some careless mistakes by Ko and early signs of nerves was beginning to tell on the young lad’s face.

Ko then upped his game when Bustamante called for a push out after a bad break on the 3rd rack to give a point away cheaply to the local boy wonder.

And the next rack was a good break and run out by Ko to level the score at two apiece.

The 5th rack proved to be the first turning point as both players took turns to miscue their shots. Ko’s miss on the 7-ball proved the costlier of the two, and Bustamante regained the lead at 3-2.

Technical delegate, Simon Chang, shook his head in disbelief and moaned, “Grave error by Pin Yi. A basic shot that couldn’t have been easier. Absolutely grave mistake. Shouldn’t have happened.”

The Chinese-Taipei youngster refocused and got back to business as he took the next two racks down to jump into the lead.

It was Bustamante’s turn to feel the heat as he was left ruing his big mistake in the 5th rack when he miscued the 6-ball to go into the interval trailing by 4-3.

When play resumed after the interval, Ko calmed down and tried to play his normal game and it worked to some extent when he managed to move to 6-4 after Bustamante made some bad shots in the 9th and 10th racks.

The next two racks saw a break and run out for both players to take the score to 7-5.

At this point, Bustamante knew the 14th rack would be either make or break him but the charming and sometimes quiet Filipino didn’t seem to wilt under the enormous pressure.

“I was still very positive when I was down 7-5 as I knew I only needed one opportunity to come back into the game.”, said Bustamante when asked how he felt at that point.

True to his words, and with the support of his compatriots, Alex Pagulayan and Jeff De Luna who were cheering him on in the stands, the Filipino came storming back in the next four racks.

Bustamante called for a push out on his break in the 13th rack but Ko surprisingly handed back the initiative to him with a really poor shot and there was no looking back from there.

The next rack saw Ko with a push out call but Bustamante was on a streak and he potted all eight balls to tie the game at 7-7.

There were plenty of worried faces in the crowd as they knew their hopes of an all Taiwanese final was at risk.

Their worse fears came through when Bustamante broke and ran out the table on the 15th rack to send Ko into a make-or-break rack in the 16th.

Ko crumbled under the pressure and allowed Bustamante to finish up the game with in spectacular fashion.

In the other semifinal has just concluded with last year’s Guinness 9-Ball champion, Chang Jung-Lin moving into the finals after defeating his compatriot, Yang Ching Shun.

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