2004 World Pool champion Alex “The Lion” Pagulayan defeated compatriot and current world number one Dennis Orcollo, 11 - 6, in the All-Filipino finals of the Singapore leg of the Guinness 9 Ball Tour 2008 Sunday.

A report posted on the tournament’s official website www.g9bt.com said the finals face off between Pagulayan and Orcollo has ended the Chinese Taipei stranglehold of the 9-Ball tour.

Pagulayan pocketed the $15,000 (P675,000) top prize while Orcollo settled with $6,000 (P270,000).

The Chinese Taipei players have previously dominated the Tour as they swept all six legs last year and this year's first three legs, which were all won by Chang Jung-Lin.

This time, however, Chang was booted out of the competition by Orcollo last Friday.

“It's about time that we (the Philippines) won because the Taiwanese kept on winning all the legs since last year. It feels good and extraordinary to beat the number one player in the world," said Pagulayan.

Pagulayan actually trailed Orcollo, 2 – 0, but seized control of the match as he won the next five consecutive racks. Orcollo managed to make the match interesting as he only trailed by two, 8 – 6, after capitalizing on a scratch by Pagulayan in the 14th rack.

However, Pagulayan had the last laugh as he won the next three racks courtesy of another Orcollo dry break in the 15th rack and a scratch in the 17th to cap off his first victory on Tour.

"Everything went wrong for Dennis and all the rolls went my way," said Pagulayan.

"I felt that they changed the way they set up the racks on the table. Alex was really lucky and it seemed that he was motivated ever since the quarterfinals. I played my game, but sometimes it's all about the breaks of the game," revealed Orcollo.

Before reaching the finals, Pagulayan beat 2005 World Pool champion Wu Chia Ching, 9 – 6. Orcollo advanced following a 9 – 8 semis victory over Taiwanese Yang Ching-Shun.

The last time a Filipino won a title on the Tour was in 2006 when Efren "Bata" Reyes beat Ricky Yang in Jakarta, Indonesia.