Vietnamese duo stun Biado and Szolnoki as Universal Open day two closes
Trinh Van Binh and Chu Viet Hoang sent two featured names to the one-loss side on a banner day for the hosts — while Jeffrey Ignacio became the first featured man out of the tournament.
HO CHI MINH CITY — Home players claimed two of the Universal Open's biggest names on Thursday as the winners' second round settled in Ho Chi Minh City — Trịnh Văn Bình downing world No. 2 Carlo Biado and Chu Việt Hoàng ousting Hungary's Oliver Szolnoki on a banner day for Vietnamese pool.
Denmark's Mickey Krause was the third featured casualty of the day, beaten by the Philippines' Jerson Cumayas, as three of the event's 11 featured men dropped to the one-loss side in the space of an afternoon.
Eight home players in all hold the winners' side going into Friday. Bình and Việt Hoàng were joined by Cao Văn Hào, Lường Đức Thiện, Tất Duy Kiên and Nguyễn Anh Tuấn, overnight hero Dương Quốc Hoàng beat Taiwan's Zhuang Zhi Yu, and Hoàng Thái Duy backed up his morning victory over Dennis Orcollo by beating the Philippines' Michael Feliciano — two Filipino scalps in a single day for the home favourite.
Five featured names still stand on the winners' side. Aloysius Yapp, Wu Kun Lin and Robbie Capito won through the morning blocks before Philippines Open champion Johann Chua beat Japan's Kenichi Uchigaki and Anton Raga ended Nguyễn Viết Tâm's run in the final wave. Chang Yu Lung and Jefry Zen also advanced from late ties.
The one-loss side produced the tournament's first casualties, with 12 players eliminated in the opening wave of race-to-eight losers'-side ties. Jeffrey Ignacio became the first featured man out of the event, falling to Indonesia's Billy Robiansyah in one of six one-loss ties the official bracket records without rack scores. Five home players — Đặng Hoàng Huy, Ngô Hồng Thắng, Lê Quang Tuấn, Đoàn Thế Tuấn and Khải Tony — were among those heading home, though seven of the 12 one-loss winners were Vietnamese, including Nguyễn Anh Tuấn Minh, Lương Văn Nam and Châu Chiêu Minh.
Thursday's slate — the final dozen first-round ties in the morning, all 32 winners'-side second-round matches and the first 12 one-loss ties — is complete. The double-elimination phase resumes on Friday, building to the last 64 before the bracket cuts to straight knockout and Sunday's race-to-13 final for the $15,000 top prize from the $63,000 fund.
Sources: outcomes as recorded on the official Digital Pool bracket; Thursday's first-round block independently confirmed by the event hub. Rack scores from the second round and one-loss side are not yet independently confirmed and are not cited. See our round-one coverage and day-one wrap.
