By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Five more Filipinos, led by Lee Vann Corteza, advanced to the Last 64 knockout stage of the 2025 Florida Open Pool Championship on Thursday, Aug. 7, at the Caribe Royale Resort in Orlando.
Corteza swept all his three matches including a 9-7 victory over Finland’s Arseni Sevastyanov to join early qualifiers Carlo Biado, Johann Chua and Bernie Regalario in the next stage.
Patric Gonzales, Marvin Asis, Harry Vergara and Roberto Gomez, meanwhile, marched into the knockout phase by besting their rivals in the loser’s qualification.
Gonzales smashed Chinese Taipei’s Chien Ching Ju, 9-2; Asis routed American Sullivan Clark, 9-4; Vergara survived Sevastyanov, 9-8; and Gomez outlasted fellow Filipino, 9-7, to stay alive in this $200,000 event.
Not so fortunate were Jefrey Roda, who bowed to American Tyler Styer, 9-6, and Michael Baoanan, who yielded to Poland’s Szymon Kural, 9-4.
The Last 64, which will be played in a Race to 10 format, pit reigning world pool champion Biado against Ukraine’s Vitaly Patsura, Chua versus local bet Hunter Lombardo, Regalario over compatriot Harry Vergara, Corteza against Spaniard veteran Francisco Sanchez Ruiz, Gomez versus Singapore’s Aloysiu Yapp, Gonzales over Great Britain’s Elliot Sanderson, and Asis against Indonesia’s Albert Januarta.
