Cavorting like a child before his shots, the 22-year-old Doha Asiad-bound tripped Taiwanese Lee Kun-fang, 10-8, to keep the fight of the locals in the $ 400,000 tournament going.

De Luna’s victory came after Lee Van Corteza bowed to Spain’s David Alcaide, 8-10, in a match that saw the Spanish rally from 1-3 down.

De Luna, first timer in the WPC, having qualified by finishing third in the Philippine Championship three months ago, raced to a 3-0 lead, trailed 4-6, and then regained his bearing to claim the victory which assured him of at least $ 4,500.

"Malapit na. Maganda na ang pakiramdam ko dahil nalusutan ko siya (Taiwanese)," said De Luna.

"Hindi ako nakatulog kagabi dahil napanood ko siya (Lee) na lumaban ng pustahan at nanalo. Sabi ko ‘magaling ito’ kaya napaisip ako," said De Luna.

He should be nervous as Lee, the 38-year-old from Kaohsiung, was runner-up in the 1997 World Championship as well as in the 1997 WPC.

"Pero nang laro na, sabi ko sa sarili ko, ‘sige lang, laro lang dahil sanay naman tayo sa talo eh," De Luna said.

But as De Luna moved into the next round, Corteza fell prey to missed opportunities and bad breaks.

Alcaide won the lag but started sluggishly to find himself trailing Corteza early, 1-3.

But after he cleaned up on his break in the fifth game, Alcaide, the Spanish national champion for more than 20 years, watched the Filipino double gold medalist in the 2003 Vietnam SEA Games miss a jump ball in the next rack and pounced on the miscue to string up three straight racks to gain the lead, 4-3.

It was a catch-up game for the 27-year-old Davaoeño from there and although he managed to even the count at 6-6, the Spanish relied on his cue positioning to thwart Corteza’s rallies.

"Kulang sa suwerte. Nabigyan ako ng maraming pagkakataon masama naman ang position ng mga bola," Corteza rued, adding that his breaks also added to his woes. "May break ako na hindi naghiwalay ang pato at uno, meron din na nakahinto na ang pato, binangga naman at itinulak sa butas."

Joining De Luna in the next round were Taiwanese Fu Chewei, who ousted two-time world champion and compatriot Chao Fong-pang, 10-8, and Scotland’s Pat Holtz, who ousted Tommo Takana of Japan, 10-6.

Other matches were being played late last night with Efren "Bata" Reyes, Ronato Alcano and Marlon Manalo were to play their third round matches later in the evening.

Reyes, who bounced compatriot Dennis Orcollo, 10-6, late Wednesday night, was set to battle Ronato Alcano while Manalo, who trounced Chan Keng-kwang of Singapore, 10-5, also Wednesday night, was to play Kuo Pocheng of Taiwan.

Also trying to make it to the Last 16 were Filipinos Rodolfo Luat and Rudy Morta.