MANILA – Filipino pool partners Efren “Bata” Reyes and Francisco “Django” Bustamante outhustled their Italian opponents during their Thursday encounter in the 2009 PartyCasino.net World Cup of Pool at the SM North Edsa in Quezon City.

Reyes and Bustamante, who make up Philippine Team B, scored 8-5 against Italian duo Fabio Petroni and Bruno Muratore to enter the quarterfinals.

The Filipino tandem, both established legends in the sport, felt the pressure to win especially while playing for the home crowd.

"Hopefully it doesn't matter who we play next but me and Efren have lots of pressure every time we miss a ball or make a mistake,” said Bustamante in a report posted on MatchRoomPool.com.

Their next assignment will be either England or Spain, who are still battling it out for a quarterfinals slot.

Team England is made up of 2008 World 10-Ball champ Darren Appleton and Imran Majid while Spain is represented by David Alcaide and Rafael Guzman.

Reyes and Bustamante were the inaugural World Cup of Pool champions when the tournament was first held in 2006.

They, however, would have to sustain their run to get the change to dislodge reigning champions Shane Van Boening and Rodney Morris.

Meanwhile, Philippine Team A, composed of Dennis "Robocop" Orcollo and Ronnie "Volcano" Alcano would have to hurdle Team Russia to join Reyes and Bustamante in the quarterfinals.

Russia is represented by partners Konstantin Stepnanov and Ruslan Chinakhov.