Carlo Biado
Carlo Biado has been crowned the inaugural Ho Chi Minh City Open champion in the Vietnamese hotbed, overcoming Mario He 13-8 to win the $35,000 top prize at the WPA-sanctioned event.
Biado was one of the pre-tournament front runners at the Ho Xuan Huong Gymnasium and he lived up to expectations, landing his biggest nine-ball title since winning the US Open Championship three years ago.
The legendary Filipino had began his campaign with a routine 9-3 win over Nguyen Quoc Trung, before coming from 8-6 down to deny Taiwan’s Lin Ta-Li in a hill-hill affair to qualify for single elimination.
Biado then defeated Yuya Tanaka and Wang Hung-Hsiang in closely-contested matches as well as Valeriano Pajuay to reach the quarter-finals, where he completed an 11-4 rout of Anton Raga.
It was in the semi-finals that the former world champion received his stroke of fortune, as Sanjin Pehlivanovic missed position and therefore squandered his attempt on the eight ball at hill-hill, allowing Biado to reach the final as an 11-10 winner.
Both Biado and He opened the final with break and runs in the alternate break format and remained locked at seven apiece as the contest progressed, before the Filipino claimed successive racks to gain a two-rack buffer.
Biado soon put together back-to-back break and runs when breaking to move onto the hill at 12-8 in front, where he battled through a brief safety exchange to etch his name onto the Ho Chi Minh City Open trophy.
Austria’s He had beaten WPA number one Alexander Kazakis to reach one of the biggest finals of his career, notably beating Indonesia’s Edward Koyongian in the quarter-finals and denying Ko Ping-Han in an 11-10 thriller.
Elsewhere, WPA number two Denis Grabe endured two defeats in three matches as he failed to qualify for single elimination, suffering deciding rack losses at the hands of two Vietnamese players in Nguyen Ba Manh and Nguyen Hoang Phong.
Indonesia’s Edward defeated the likes of Wu Kun-Lin, Alex Pagulayan and Michael Baoanan on his way to the quarter-finals, while Nguyen Phuc Long was the last-standing Vietnamese player after beating recent China Open runner-up Hayato Hijikata to reach the last 16.
British hall of famer Darren Appleton survived back-to-back hill-hill affairs against Vietnamese prospects in Nguyen Dang Tuyen and Vu Quang Huy, although he was ultimately beaten in the last 64 at the hands of Tran Minh Khai.
Dennis Orcollo also exited in the last 64 following an 11-10 loss to Chien Ching-Ju, while Thorsten Hohmann, Aleksa Pecelj and Jose Alberto Delgado endured defeats at the same stage.
The WPA-sanctioned Ho Chi Minh City Open was the beginning of a treble-header in Vietnam, with the World Nineball Tour now returning for its Peri Open and the prestigious Hanoi Open Championship.
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