Thursday lunchtime. Edwin Dela Cruz Gamas has now beaten a former world champion, a dangerous fellow Filipino and the US Open runner-up in three days at the Philippines Open. Thorsten Hohmann's win this morning has turned the American Mosconi Cup race upside down with two days of qualifying left, and Jayson Shaw needed every one of his 19 racks to get past the German teenager Felix Vogel. Day three at Gateway Mall is the last 32, and it's still going on as you read this.
Quezon City — Gamas takes Capito out
Robbie Capito reached the US Open final this year and played for Team Asia at the Reyes Cup a week ago. This morning he lost 10–7 to Gamas. Rack 9 had Capito at number 11 in its power rankings coming into the match.
It's the third scalp of the week for Gamas. On Tuesday he beat the former world champion Alex Pagulayan 10–6, per Spin.ph, and on Wednesday he beat Harry Vergara 10–5 in the last 64, per Absolute Pool. He is now in the last 16 of a Matchroom Major, worth $2,500, and in a single-elimination draw nobody in his half will fancy seeing his name.
The Mosconi Cup race — Hohmann moves up, Gorst one win away
The Philippines Open is the last event that counts for the three automatic places on Team USA. Shane Van Boening has already qualified. Rack 9's list before Manila had Tyler Styer second on $27,470, Hohmann third on $25,050 and Fedor Gorst fourth on $24,870. Styer isn't playing this week, so his total can't change.
- Thorsten Hohmann 10–6 Tristan Deocareza: Deocareza was the local player who knocked out Duong Quoc Hoang on Wednesday. Hohmann ended his run, and reaching the last 16 is worth $2,500. That takes him to $27,550 on those figures, $80 ahead of Styer.
- Fedor Gorst 10–6 Roland Garcia: Gorst is also in the last 16, which on the same sums puts him on $27,370, $100 behind Styer. A quarter-final place is worth $5,000, so one more win would lift him past Styer as well.
If both of them go past Styer, he loses his automatic place and has to hope captain Johan Ruijsink picks him as one of his two wildcards. The Mosconi Cup is in Orlando from 27 to 30 November. Those sums are ours, built from Rack 9's pre-event list and the prize fund, so treat them as a guide until the WNT publishes the final standings after Saturday.
The rest of the last 32 so far
- Aloysius Yapp 10–3 Michael Feliciano: the world number one said on Tuesday he needed to step his game up after a scrappy start, and a 10–3 scoreline suggests he has.
- Shane Van Boening 10–4 Marvin Asis: the Reyes Cup winner and Mosconi Cup qualifier keeps rolling.
- Jayson Shaw 10–9 Felix Vogel: hill-hill, and the Scot goes through. Vogel, the German teenager, had beaten Mohammed Baabad 10–3 in the last 64.
- Anton Raga 10–3 Bryant Saguiped: Saguiped had beaten Meynard Tipawan, the man who knocked out Moritz Neuhausen. Raga stopped him.
- Jefrey Roda 10–6 Antonio Lining: Lining's escape against Saldy Galliguez didn't carry over.
On the tables at the time of writing, per Rack 9's live ticker: Aleksa Pecelj led Justin Bergman 6–1, Bernie Regalario led Demosthenes Pulpul 9–4, Francisco Sánchez Ruiz led Billy Thorpe 7–2, and Johann Chua and James Aranas were level at 2–2. Still to come are Denis Grabe v Baseth Mocaibat, Oliver Szolnoki v Albert Januarta, Carlo Biado v Calil Ramber, and the defending champion David Alcaide against Skyler Woodward, which Rack 9 had down for 11am UK time. The WNT says 16 players will be left by tonight, Manila time. The semi-finals (race to 11) and the final (race to 13) are on Saturday, and the winner takes $20,000 from a $100,000 prize fund.
Goyang — Montes thrashes Sánchez
Antonio Montes beat his fellow Spaniard Daniel Sánchez 3–0 (15–5, 15–3, 15–10) in the PBA last 64 at the KINTEX PBA Stadium this morning. Montes averaged 2.045 to Sánchez's 0.900, per Billiards & Sports. Sánchez, the Spanish three-cushion great, has now gone out in the last 64 at two events in a row. Montes reached the quarter-finals of the PBA World Championship in 2024-25 but then went 12 tour events without getting past the last 64, until the third event this season. This is his second last-32 of the campaign. He plays Joo Si-yoon in the last 32 on Friday. Joo beat Kim Tae-kwan 3–0 and has reached the last 32 at all five tour events this season, but hasn't yet made the last 16.
US regional — a three-way split at 2.30am
The Q City 9-Ball Tour stop at Mickey Milligan's in New Bern, North Carolina, last Saturday didn't have a winner in the usual sense. At about 2.30am the last three players agreed to split the top three prizes rather than play on. Jas Makhani, unbeaten and in the hot seat, takes the official title, Daniel Davis is runner-up, and Jack Whitfield, who had just won a double-hill match against Wilson Dorsey, shares the money. It was a $250-added event with 27 entrants, per AZBilliards. The next stop is this Saturday at Sticks & Stones in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
Elsewhere
- London, WPA Blackball World Championships: Malta's men's A team lost 14–11 to England on day two and then beat Australia 19–6, per the Times of Malta. Their under-18s beat South Africa's under-15s 9–6 and Mexico's under-18s 13–2, and the men's B team beat British Army men's C 15–10. The under-23s lost 11–4 to France and 13–2 to South Africa. The team matches continue today, and the singles and doubles start this evening. Malta's men's A play Morocco at 4pm, and the singles at 8pm include Clayton Castaldi (Malta) v Jason Hill (England).
- Gandia, European Championships: the seniors team event starts today and runs to Tuesday 27 October, per the EPBF.
Coming up / where to watch (BST)
- Philippines Open, Quezon City: the rest of the last 32 is on now, with three tables on WNT TV, one free table on the Matchroom Pool YouTube channel, and One Sports in the Philippines. Semi-finals and final on Saturday.
- World Billiards Championship final, Landywood: Pankaj Advani v Robert Hall today for the John Roberts Trophy, live on the World Billiards YouTube channel.
- Northern Ireland Open last 16, Belfast: 1pm Kyren Wilson v Pang Junxu and Matthew Selt v Sam Craigie; not before 2pm Anthony McGill v Mateusz Baranowski and Elliot Slessor v Ricky Walden; 7pm David Gilbert v Cheung Ka Wai and Mark Williams v Martin O'Donnell; not before 8pm Jak Jones v Daniel Wells and Jordan Brown v Scott Donaldson. Wilson and Williams are the only top-16 seeds left, and there's £100,000 for the winner on Sunday. On TNT Sports, Eurosport, HBO Max and WST Play.
- Goyang: the LPBA last 16 second session is at 12.30pm, and Cho Jae-ho v Kim Nam-su in the PBA last 64 is at 2pm.
- Blackball, London: scores on CueScore.
Sources: Rack 9, Absolute Pool, Spin.ph and the World Nineball Tour (Manila); Billiards & Sports (Goyang); AZBilliards (Q City Tour); Times of Malta (Blackball); EPBF (Gandia); SnookerHQ (Belfast schedule); World Billiards (Landywood).
Feature image: “Gateway Mall 2 Quantum Skyview” (the Gateway Mall 2 activity area, home of the Philippines Open) by Hariboneagle927, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication).
