By MARK REY MONTEJO
Red-hot Johann Chua emerged as the last Filipino standing as he survived another night of furious and tense showdown among the elites in the 2025 US Open Pool 9-Ball Championship at the Harrah’s Resort on Friday, Aug. 22, in Atlantic City.
Showing surgical touch when he needed to that complemented his powerful breaks, Chua outlasted Serbian Aleksa Pecelj, 10-7, in Last 16 before notching a 10-2 quarterfinal win over Dutch Niels Feijen in the quarters.
With his valiant effort, Chua was left as the lone Filipino fighting for the revered trophy, the green jacket, and the $100,000 (around P5.7 million) grand prize as two other PH bets suffered painful defeats.
“Last 4! Laban,” Chua wrote on his social media post after two big wins that pushed him closer to becoming the third Filipino to rule the prestigious meet next to Efren “Bata” Reyes (1994) and Carlo Biado (2021). Fil-Canadian Alex Pagulayan was also a grand winner in 2005, but he represented Canada.
But winning the ultimate prize won’t be easy as Chua will have to face reigning champion American Fedor Gorst in the semis.
Gorst, for one, was coming off a thrilling 10-9 win over Filipino Michael Baoanan in the quarters.
The loss was a bitter pill to swallow for Baoanan after leading most of the way – the last at 9-7, before he uncharacteristically lost steam in the face of Gorst’s scorching comeback.
Despite his heartbreak, the Sta. Rosa, Laguna native will go home richer $15,000 (nearly P850,000).
For reaching the semis, Chua is already guaranteed of taking home $25,000.
The other semis bracket features world champions Singaporean Aloysius Yapp and Taiwanese Ko Pin Yi.
Before his way into the semis, Chua outshone German Thorsten Hohmann (10-9) and Greek Alexander Kazakis (10-6) in the knockout rounds, while besting American Floro Ritarita (9-5), Dutch Quinten Pongers (9-7), and Filipino Roland Garcia (9-7) in the preliminaries.
Meanwhile, Philippines’ emerging star Jefrey Roda had a reality check in Final 16 where he absorbed a 10-2 beatdown to Yapp.
The 25-year-old Roda settled for $8,000 (P451,986) consolation purse but surely gained a ton of experience.
