Friday morning, and Manila has already had a day's worth of drama before most of us had the kettle on. Carlo Biado was 8–3 down to his Reyes Cup team-mate Albert Januarta and finished the job with a golden break in front of a mall that, by Matchroom Pool's account, went into pandemonium. Bernie Regalario has thrown out the defending champion David Alcaide 10–2, Francisco Sánchez Ruiz whitewashed Thorsten Hohmann, and Johann Chua beat Aleksa Pecelj to give the Philippines three quarter-finalists before lunch. In Belfast, last night's session filled in the Northern Ireland Open quarter-final line-up, and Scott Donaldson is in a ranking last eight for the first time in six years.
Quezon City — four last-16 ties down, four to go
The first half of the Philippines Open last 16 (race to 10) went like this, per the World Nineball Tour's live updates and One Sports:
- Carlo Biado bt Albert Januarta: Januarta, the Indonesian who knocked out Oliver Szolnoki on Thursday, led 6–1 and then 8–3. Biado took five of the next six racks, levelled at 8–8, and won it with a golden break. WNT hasn't published the final score yet, so we won't guess at it.
- Bernie Regalario 10–2 David Alcaide: the "L'il Prince" was 4–0 up with the help of what WNT called a crazy stroke of luck, and the Spaniard still hadn't won a rack at 6–0. Alcaide won this title last year, beating Arseni Sevastyanov 13–3 in the final, and needed a hill-hill escape against Paul John Ortega just to get out of round two this week. The defence is over.
- Francisco Sánchez Ruiz 10–0 Thorsten Hohmann: a whitewash from the US Open champion, who had already secured his Team Europe place. It doesn't change Hohmann's Mosconi Cup total, because the last-16 money was already banked (more on that below).
- Johann Chua bt Aleksa Pecelj: "Bad Koi" opened with a golden break to go two up and edged it after what WNT called a magnificent battle. He's the third Filipino into the last eight. Score to be confirmed. Pecelj goes out but still goes to Orlando, having booked his first Mosconi Cup place on Thursday.
That gives us two of the quarter-finals: Sánchez Ruiz v Regalario (One Sports confirmed this one) and, going by the bracket, an all-Filipino Biado v Chua.
Still to come, Manila time: Aloysius Yapp v Baseth Mocaibat, Shane Van Boening v Edwin Dela Cruz Gamas, Jefrey Roda v Anton Raga, which guarantees a fourth Filipino in the last eight, and the one American fans are watching, Fedor Gorst v Jayson Shaw.
The Mosconi Cup sum hasn't changed
Hohmann losing this morning doesn't move anything. On the sums we ran yesterday from Rack 9's pre-event list and the prize fund, Hohmann is already above Tyler Styer, who isn't playing in Manila. If Gorst beats Shaw he goes above Styer too, and Styer drops out of the automatic Team USA places and needs a wildcard from captain Johan Ruijsink. If Shaw wins, Styer keeps his spot. Shaw has his own reasons to win: Absolute Pool notes he's hoping for a captain's pick on the European side. These are still our own numbers, so treat them as a guide until the World Nineball Tour confirms the standings after Saturday's final.
Belfast — the evening session, and today's quarter-finals
Thursday night's results at the Waterfront Hall, per WST and BBC Sport NI:
- Scott Donaldson 4–2 Jordan Brown: no home winner this year. Donaldson, ranked 64th, went ahead three times in a grinding match. WST put the average frame at 31 minutes, and a 47 in the sixth was his best break of the night. It's his first ranking quarter-final since the 2020 Northern Ireland Open, and he didn't sound like a man in form. "My game is solid enough but I've still got too many errors in it, so I'm sort of fudging my way through matches right now," he told WST.
- Jak Jones 4–2 Daniel Wells: Jones went 3–0 up in the Welsh derby, the first frame alone lasting an hour, and Wells pulled it back to 3–2 with a 63. The sixth came down to the last red, and Jones potted a mid-range red to the baulk corner to set up the winning chance. He's already won the Championship League and the British Open this season, and he's three wins from another title.
- Mark Williams 4–0 Martin O'Donnell: breaks of 58 and 127. Per WST it's the 124th ranking quarter-final of his career, and he's three matches from beating his own record as the oldest ranking-event winner, set at the Xi'an Grand Prix last year at 50 years and 206 days.
- David Gilbert 4–2 Cheung Ka Wai: runs of 85 and 56 ended a career-best week for the world number 110 from Hong Kong, who had knocked out Ronnie O'Sullivan and Stuart Bingham.
Friday's quarter-finals (BST):
- 1pm: Anthony McGill v Kyren Wilson and Sam Craigie v Elliot Slessor
- 7pm: David Gilbert v Mark Williams and Jak Jones v Scott Donaldson
Wilson and Williams are the only top-16 players left. The semi-finals are on Saturday and the final is on Sunday.
Elsewhere
- Blackball Worlds, London: the men's singles got going last night and Malta had a good start. TVM News lists wins for Clayton Castaldi (6–4 v Alexandre Buscetti), Neil Caruana (6–2 v Barry Fitzpatrick), Gabriel Vella (6–2 v Sean Thicthener) and Clint Azzopardi (6–3 v Houssam El Amrani), plus doubles wins for Caruana/Vella, Gary Carr/Mevrick Zammit, Miguel Mizzi/Clevion Micallef and Azzopardi/Miguel Amato. TVM says the Maltese players are back at 10am UK time in round two of the Men's World Grand Prix, where Castaldi plays England's Mark Badham.
- European Seniors, Gandia: the 10-ball medal matches are tonight. In the 46-plus event it's Jorge Tinoco v Sami Karttunen and Miguel Silva v Anthony Brabin. The 56-plus semis are Manuel Pereira v Bjorn-Erik Bergh and Henrique Correia v Geir Holmqvist, and Pereira only got there after coming back from 5–0 and 6–3 down against Norway's Reider Schive-berg. The women's semis are Sinem Kokten v Tiina Nakari and Silvia Lopez-Fibla v Yvonne Ullmann-Hybler. Semi-finals at 5.15pm, finals at 7pm UK time (per the EPBF via AZBilliards).
- Q Tour Europe, Oberhausen: there are plenty of familiar names in today's round two at Snooker Arena Germany. Robert Milkins plays Nick Demuynck, Mark Joyce plays Dominik Sobaniec, Rory McLeod plays Umut Dikme and Peter Lines plays Sajjad Hassandokht. Mark Davis v Ryan Davies is in round three this evening (order of play per snooker.org).
- Goyang, LPBA: the quarter-finals of the NH Nonghyup Card LPBA Championship started at 7.30am our time, with Kim Ga-young v Kim Bo-mi in the first batch. Results at midday.
- Telford: the men's Ultimate Pool Masters starts today at BallPoint, and the women's event is on Saturday and Sunday. There's £31,200 in total prize money across both.
Where to watch (BST)
- Philippines Open: the rest of the last 16 and the quarter-finals on WNT TV for subscribers, with one table free on the Matchroom Pool YouTube channel and One Sports in the Philippines. Manila is seven hours ahead of the UK. Semi-finals (race to 11) and the final (race to 13) are on Saturday.
- Northern Ireland Open: quarter-finals at 1pm and 7pm on TNT Sports, Eurosport, HBO Max and WST Play.
- Gandia: tables one to three on the Pro Billiard TV YouTube channel.
- Blackball Worlds: live scores on CueScore.
- Q Tour Oberhausen: scores on snooker.org and the WPBSA site.
Biado and Chua meeting in a quarter-final in a shopping mall in Quezon City is about as Filipino as pool gets. We'll have the rest of the last 16, and how Gorst v Shaw settles the Team USA question, at midday.
Sources: World Nineball Tour (Matchroom Pool), One Sports, Absolute Pool and Rack 9 (Manila and the Mosconi Cup race); WST, BBC Sport NI and snooker.org (Belfast and Oberhausen); TVM News (Blackball); EPBF and AZBilliards (Gandia); Newsis (Goyang); Ultimate Pool Group (Telford).
Feature image: “Carlo Biado 2022 International 9-Ball Open” by Puddin Tain, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 2.0.
