Ko Pin-Yi successfully defended his APP Asian 9-Ball Open title in Singapore following a 13-6 victory over teenage sensation Albert James Manas in Sunday’s final.

Ko scuppered a fairytale run to a maiden ranking final from the 16-year-old from the Philippines as the Taiwanese cueist scooped his third World Nineball Tour ranking accolade and the $15,000 top prize.

Manas won the lag and nervelessly broke and ran the opening rack. He soon doubled his lead with a three-nine combination, before an unsuccessful safety on the one ball from Ko allowed him to clear the table and move 3-0 ahead early on.

Ko pulled off a tremendous long pot on the three ball in the fourth rack on his way to reducing the arrears, only for the young Filipino prodigy to continue to take advantage of any openings he received and restore his three-rack buffer.

The World Pool Masters champion soon began to grasp a foothold in the fascinating encounter and claimed four of the next five racks to level up proceedings at five apiece, with Manas missing a crucial four ball at 5-4.

Manas imminently regained a slender advantage, only for mistakes to creep into his game and ultimately prove decisive. A missed thin cut on the three ball to middle pocket was the tip of the iceberg as the match changed hands.

Ko claimed eight racks in succession to eventually prevail, putting together his fifth break and run of the match to see off an extremely promising opponent who had him under the cosh during the early exchanges.

Beforehand, Ko dismantled Filipino Marvin Asis 11-3 in the semi-finals, having already beaten Jundel Mazon, Singaporean Desmond Goh and recent Chinese Taipei Open runner-up Jeffrey Ignacio during the single elimination phase.

Vietnam Junior Open champion Manas, meanwhile, recorded an eye-opening 10-4 victory over hometown hero Aloysius Yapp in the last 32, highlighting his credentials during the biggest week of his young career.

The 16-year-old followed that with impressive wins over the Vietnamese duo of Luong Duc Thien and Bui Truong An, before fending off fellow countryman Jonas Magpantay in a hard-fought 11-9 victory in the semi-finals.

Quezon City’s Magpantay reached his maiden WNT ranking semi-final with notable wins over James Aranas and Singapore World Cup of Pool star Toh Lian Han.

Another Filipino in Asis similarly made his first ever semi-final with sensational wins over Anton Raga, Johann Chua and world number five Ko Ping-Chung, the latter of who he defeated for the first time having played him three times in the space of two weeks.

Denmark’s Mickey Krause travelled more than 6,000 miles in order to compete and he impressed on his way to the last 16, where he was edged out in a 10-9 thriller against US Open champion Ko Ping-Chung.