Tony Drago produced one of the best performances of the Mosconi Cup XIV tournament so far yesterday as he secured a 6-2 win over US Open Champion Shane Van Boening on the second day of the event.

Drago is one of five members selected to play for the Europe team against the strong USA side in this annual event of 9-ball pool. The other members in the Europe side are Ralph Souquet of Germany, Niels Feijen of the Netherlands, Daryl Peach of England and Konstantin Stepanov of Russia. The USA team is represented by Earl Strickland of North Carolina, Johnny Archer of Georgia, Rodney Morris of Hawaii, Corey Deuel of Ohio and Shane van Boening of South Dakota.

Drago had struggled on the opening day of the Mosconi Cup but looked a different player yesterday at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

He had already beaten Rodney Morris 6-5 on Friday in another singles match, despite at one stage losing 5-1 and he appeared full of confidence in his second singles match of the afternoon.

His victory meant Europe, who trailed 4-1 at the start of the day, was then leading for the first time in the contest, by 5-4 in the race to 11, even if at the end of the second day, the USA team was still leading 6-5, after winning the last two matches of the day.

“If I play like that should I worry about anyone? said Drago after the match. “Shane is a great player, more of a 9-ball player than me but when I get into my rhythm I am hard to stop. It’s been a fantastic day.?

Drago is one of just four players who have a 67 per cent record so far. The others are Europe’s Feijen and Souquet and the USA team member Earl Strickland.

So far, Drago has won two singles matches and lost one doubles match. In that match, he and Stepanov lost narrowly 6-5 to Strickland and Corey Deuel of the USA.