Carlo Biado sensationally sealed World 10-Ball Championship success for the first time in his illustrious career, overcoming the flamboyant Japanese cueist Naoyuki Oi 4-1, 3-4, 4-2, 4-1 to trouser the lucrative $75,000 in Las Vegas.
It was an instance of second time lucky for Biado, having been narrowly defeated at the hands of Ko Pin-Yi in the championship match nine years earlier, and a victory that lauds him as one of the greatest Filipino players of all time.
Biado was the sole Filipino representative for the prestigious tournament, sanctioned by the World Pool Association, although the WPA world number 33 was the last left standing as he added another accolade to his World Pool Championship and US Open Championship triumphs.
Oi won the lag but immediately scratched off the break, and Biado took full advantage as he cleared the table before break and running the second rack to double his lead.
A dry break from Biado allowed Oi to get off the mark, although the Filipino welded him behind the purple four ball with a superb safety shot to regain the ascendancy, before a second break and run saw him take the opening set 4-2.
A captivating safety battle unfolded in set two, with Oi eventually unable to go around the houses and make contact with the three. Despite being 2-0 down in the second set, the Japanese star battled back as a superb bank helped him restore parity.
Biado produced an incredible bank up the long rail to gain a slender lead in set three, although a bank helped his opponent level up before a costly scratch from Biado allowed Oi to take the lead in a fascinating contest.
Oi soon missed position for the five ball in a crucial moment and was subsequently unable to execute the intended jump shot, allowing the Black Tiger back to the table as he made amends prior to break and running the next rack to lead 2-1 in sets.
A fourth break and run opened the fourth set for Biado, and his safety game proceeded to prove superior as he moved 3-0 up and on the hill. A subsequent scratch gifted Oi one last hurrah, before the 2021 runner-up misjudged the speed of a critical safety shot and enabled Biado to run out for the championship.
Beforehand, the evergreen Biado defeated multiple-time Pro Billiard Series event winner Fedor Gorst to the loss of only a solitary set, having beaten Ko Ping-Chung in the quarter-finals in a five-set thriller.
Oi, meanwhile, won successive sets to beat Denis Grabe from 2-1 behind in the semi-finals, having already brushed aside Bader Al-Awadhi and won a five-set affair against Skyler Woodward.
Estonia’s Grabe had ousted reigning world 9-ball champion Francisco Sanchez Ruiz as well as two-time PBS event winner Aloysius Yapp during a landmark campaign, narrowly falling short in the semi-finals and having to settle for a bronze medal.
Defending champion Eklent Kaci was dethroned in the last 16 at the hands of Kuwait’s Al-Awadhi in a five-set contest, while Gorst denied Shane van Boening in a captivating contest in the same round.
Joshua Filler, a semi-finalist last year, endured consecutive losses during the double elimination phase against Canada’s Alex Pagulayan and Mexico’s Ruben Bautista, while Jayson Shaw and Wiktor Zielinski also failed to qualify for the last 16.
