Jeffrey Ignacio landed the biggest accolade of his career on Thursday afternoon in Jakarta, winning the inaugural Indonesia Open with a convincing 10-3 victory over Robbie Capito in the final.
Ignacio reigned supreme at one of the WPA’s most lucrative sanctioned 10-ball tournaments, fending off his Filipino compatriots and an array of the world’s finest talents to scoop the $25,000 top prize.
Capito’s misfortunes in the breaking department proved a hinderance early on, although Ignacio was clinical throughout the early exchanges and constructed an unassailable 6-1 lead.
Ignacio was brimming with confidence and that was evident as he sunk a thin five ball on his way to moving 7-1 ahead and, despite Capito claiming two of the next three racks, the Filipino proved a cut above and prevailed a 10-3 winner.
The 31-year-old from Las Pinas defeated reigning world nineball champion Francisco Sanchez Ruiz 10-6 in the semi-finals, with the Spaniard having fended off Carlo Biado in a deciding rack in a thrilling quarter-final encounter.
Ignacio had claimed the scalp of his countryman James Aranas 10-7 in his last eight match, having also beaten Greece’s Dimitris Loukatos and Vietnamese number one Duong Quoc Hoang during the single elimination phase.
Hong Kong’s Capito scuppered the hopes of the dangerous Jonas Magpantay in the last four, having swept aside top seed Wu Kun-Lin 10-5 in a relatively one-sided quarter-final.
Elsewhere, Dennis Orcollo ousted Ko Ping-Chung in the second round of single elimination prior to a 10-5 loss to Jhon La Garde, while Alexander Kazakis endured a shock last 32 defeat at the hands of Indonesia’s own Edward Koyongian.
The next prestigious 10-ball events on the WPA calendar are the Las Vegas Open and the World 10-Ball Championship on the Predator Pro Billiard Series, which take place from February 21 until March 2 in Las Vegas.
