The fields of 64 men and 32 women lined up today for the opening sessions of the 2011 Philippine Open. There are 12 tables in play for the tournament, 8 being used for the Men's division, and 4 for the ladies.
Mika Immonen was one big name casualty from today's play, losing 6-9 against Chinese player, Li Wen Lo, currently ranked 105. If today's performance is anything to go by, Lo will certainly climb fairly rapidly in the rankings as there was a lot to like of his game today. Immonen will now face Indonesian Rudy Susanto in the one loss side of the draw, with the loser being eliminated from the tournament.
Ralf Souquet, another big name, had a close 9-8 encounter after leading comfortably in his match against a qualifier, Filipino Carlo Biado. Dennis Orcollo, recent winner of the World 8-Ball Championship also scraped through his first round match 9-7, against fellow countryman Demosthenes Pulpul.
USA's number 1 player, Shane Van Boening, also stumbled at the first hurdle, losing 4-9 to Japanese player Naoyuki Oi. Former world champion (English Billiards) Robbie Foldvari gave number 1 seed Antonio Lining something to think about before losing 7-9.
High quality of play was the talking point in the women's division on opening day, where the biggest upset was world number 2 Allison Fisher losing to Chinese qualifier Wu Jing. On the other hand, world number 1, Ga Young Kim of Korea looked the goods as she easily accounted for her opponent Aradhana Nail 9-0. Other players who were also impressive were reigning World 10-Ball Champion, Austrian Jasmin Ouschan in beating Canadian Veronique Menard 9-0, Korean Yu Ram Cha winning against Suniti Damati 9-1, and young China Open Champion, Chinese player Siming Chen with a 9-1 victory against Reggie Ann Biagcong.
Day two will see play commence at 2.00 pm (+7 GMT) Live scoring will be available on www.wpapool.com
