Eight Filipinos fill half of last 16 as home run ends at Universal Open
Saturday's 48 knockout ties at Sniper Billiards Club left Lường Đức Thiện the last home player standing — and Edward Koyongian the day's giant-killer after ousting two featured names.
HO CHI MINH CITY — The Universal Open went single-elimination on Saturday and the Philippines made it their day. All 48 knockout ties at Sniper Billiards Club — 32 last-64 and 16 last-32 matches, all raced to ten — are complete, and half of Sunday's last 16 is Filipino.
Edward Koyongian produced the day's run. The unseeded man eliminated featured Oliver Szolnoki 10-5 in the morning and repeated the scoreline against Robbie Capito in the last 32, accounting for two of the event's showcase names in a single day.
The headline names mostly held. Top seed Aloysius Yapp beat Marcel Price 10-7 and Đinh Chấn Kiệt 10-3; world No. 2 Carlo Biado completed his climb back through the losers' side with a 10-3 win over Chang Sheng Yi and a 10-6 defeat of Hsieh Chia Chen; Johann Chua won twice, 10-5 over Julian Serradilla and 10-7 over Liu Ri Teng. Anthony Raga was flawless — 10-2 twice — and Mickey Krause dropped just seven racks across his two ties. James Aranas needed a hill-hill decider to end Wu Kun Lin's unbeaten run 10-9, then beat Nien Rong Chih — the man who had ended Dennis Orcollo's week — 10-6.
For Vietnam, the longest day ended with one man standing. Sixteen home players began the knockout; only Lường Đức Thiện survived, beating Nguyễn Đăng Tuyên 10-4 and winning an all-Vietnamese last-32 tie against Chu Việt Hoàng 10-6. Dương Quốc Hoàng fell 4-10 to Jonas Magpantay, Nguyễn Anh Tuấn went down 8-10 to Michael Feliciano, Nguyễn Phương Thảo lost 2-10 to Raga and Đinh Chấn Kiệt to Yapp — while Hoàng Thái Duy, Thursday's hero over Orcollo, fell 1-10 to Alexis Ferrer and Trịnh Văn Bình went out 7-10 to Hsieh Chia Chen.
Six of the event's 11 featured players reach the last 16: Yapp, Biado, Chua, Krause, Aranas and Raga. Szolnoki, Capito and Wu Kun Lin join Bernie Regalario and Jeffrey Ignacio on the sidelines.
Sunday's last-16 line-up: Aloysius Yapp, James Aranas, Lường Đức Thiện, Jerson Cumayas, Edward Koyongian, Jaycee Garcia, Punguan Hasiholan Sihombing, Lo Ho Sum, Carlo Biado, Mickey Krause, Jonas Magpantay, Albert Januarta, Johann Chua, Anthony Raga, Michael Feliciano and Kouki Sugiyama.
The title settles on Sunday — last 16 at race-to-10, quarter-finals and semi-finals at race-to-11, then the race-to-13 final for the $15,000 top prize from the $63,000 fund.
Sources: results as recorded on the official Digital Pool bracket, confirmed against Ncue's event hub and Sports23's day-four recap. See our day-three wrap.
