Ko Ping-Chung won the inaugural Chinese Taipei Open in his home country to secure his third World Nineball Tour ranking title of the year, defeating Jeffrey Ignacio 11-2 in the final.
Following his US Open Pool Championship and Sharks International Open triumphs earlier this year, Ko strengthened his player of the year credentials by breezing to the $5,000 top prize in Taipei City.
Ko registered seven break and runs in total in his emphatic win over Ignacio of the Philippines in the final, with his opponent’s only two racks of the contest coming after his unfortunate scratches on the break.
Pocketing the one ball off the break was crucial during Ko’s Atlantic City success two months ago and the Taiwanese sensation immediately found his breaking range, sinking the one to middle pocket and break and running to take the opening rack.
Ko subsequently scratched off his second break, allowing Ignacio to clear the table and level up at 1-1. Both players then executed some excellent safety shots and Ignacio won through the safety battle, only to fail to hit a rail after missing position on the five ball.
Despite that only being rack three, that proved to be a defining moment in the final. Ko grasped his opportunity and broke and ran three racks in succession to gain a 5-1 advantage.
Ignacio received his opportunity at 8-1 behind following a second scratch off the break from Ko, although the Filipino scratched himself. That was Ignacio’s last shot in the match as Ko put together an additional two break and runs to close out an 11-2 win.
Beforehand, Ko had beaten Ignacio in a hill-hill thriller to reach the quarter-finals undefeated, before recording dominant victories over Marvin Asis and Michael Feliciano in the quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively.
Ignacio, meanwhile, survived a deciding rack against fellow countryman James Aranas in the last four, having won 10-6 from 6-0 behind against Aloysius Yapp in a scintillating quarter-final comeback.
Yapp missed position on the five ball when 6-0 ahead and allowed Ignacio a lifeline, before the Filipino produced three break and runs on the spin followed by two successful safety exchanges to restore parity at six apiece.
Ignacio executed an unbelievable two-rail cut shot on the eight whilst hooked behind the seven ball to lead for the first time, before errors from a usually faultless Yapp allowed him to complete the fight back.
Ko Ping-Han, the younger brother of the eventual champion, defeated his older brother Ko Pin-Yi to reach his maiden WNT quarter-final, before bowing out at the hands of two-time ranking event runner-up Feliciano.
Ko Pin-Yi was unable to qualify for the quarter-finals following a one-loss side defeat against talented Filipino Jefrey Roda, while Chang Jung-Lin, Bernie Regalario, Chang Yu-Lung and Johann Chua all exited early on.
