By MARK REY MONTEJO
Top Filipino bets Carlo Biado and Johann Chua stayed hot and outlasted their respective rivals to barge into the knockout round of the 2025 US Open Pool 9-Ball Championship at the Harrah’s Resort in Atlantic City Thursday, Aug. 21 (Philippine time).
Tied at 3-3, the 41-year-old Biado flaunted the form that made him proud winner of the coveted World 9-Ball Championship twice by taking the next four racks on the way to a 9-5 win over Vietnam’s Luong Duc Thien.
With the win, Biado set up a Round-of-64 showdown against Estonian Denis Grabe in the event that offers $100,000 (around P5.7 million) prize to the champion.
Not to be left behind, Chua came through with several tough shots – some appeared magical – to reassert his mastery over Roland Garcia, 9-7, in an exciting all-Filipino duel that drew the attention of the crowd for sheer intense of the match.
Up next for Chua is German Thorsten Hohmann – one feared players in the event.
“Last 64! Laban,” Chua wrote on his social media post as he joined the future Billiard Congress of America (BCA) Hall of Famer Biado to the next round.
Biado, currently ranked No. 2, and Chua shoot for Round of 32 slots on Friday.
Aside from the two Filipino high-ranking aces, Marvin Asis, Michael Baoanan, Lee Vann Corteza, Bernie Regalario, Jefrey Roda, Harry Vergara, Roberto Gomez, and Baseth Mocaibat overcame their separate adversaries.
Two of them will have a mountain to climb as they are pitted against the so-called rising stars with Vergara going to lock horns with Polish Wiktor Zielinski, while Corteza taking on German Moritz Neuhausen.
Apart from Garcia, Patric Gonzales, Charles Vergara, Glen Facun, and Mark Muir were booted out of the competition after succumbing to their foes.
Other fancied bets in Danish Mickey Krause, Singaporean Aloysius Yapp, Taiwanese Ko Ping Chung, Spanish Francisco Sanchez Ruiz, German Joshua Filler, Vietnamese Duong Quoc Hoang, and American reigning champ Fedor Gorst also advanced to the next round after scoring contrasting wins.
