Carlo Biado has been crowned champion of the world for the second time in his career, defying a spirited comeback from defending champion Fedor Gorst in a 15-13 victory at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Gorst was vying to become only the second player to successfully defend the title and become a three-time world champion, although a merciless Biado scuppered those hopes and instead etched his own name into the history books once more.
The 41-year-old pocketed the lucrative $250,000 champion’s cheque and became the first two-time champion from the Philippines, eight years after he initially tasted success, following in the footsteps of Gorst himself, Earl Strickland, Johnny Archer, Chao Fong-Pang, Thorsten Hohmann and Albin Ouschan.
Gorst gained the early ascendancy, breaking and running to lead 2-0, although a costly missed five ball after an unreal jump shot in the third rack unleashed Biado. Gorst’s mistake was seized on by the Black Tiger, before he broke and ran himself to restore parity at two apiece.
That sparked a nine-rack flurry from the legendary Biado as he capitalised on Gorst’s safety and positional errors and produced some brilliance of his own to gain a seemingly unassailable 9-2 advantage.
Nevertheless, the pendulum swung and the defending champion took advantage of an unsuccessful Biado safety to the hilt. Gorst subsequently strung together three consecutive break and runs to reduce the arrears to 9-6 in a gripping contest.
A dry break from the American allowed Biado back to the table, although a surprise missed two ball gifted Gorst another rack. Gorst would soon level up proceedings at nine apiece, making for a captivating conclusion to the sport’s richest match.
Biado quickly restored his four-rack buffer nonetheless. He initially cashed in on a wayward jump shot from his opponent, before breaking and running, and then producing an incredible jump shot followed by a bank with the eight ball glued to the rail to lead 13-9.
Biado was closing in on his biggest payday, although a scratch from the break meant he needed to wait a little longer. Gorst moved within one rack following a phenomenal two-nine combination and a brutal roll in his favour in the proceeding rack, before compiling his fifth break and run to restore parity at 13 each.
Gorst was breaking needing only two racks to retain his crown, although an untimely dry break gave Biado his opportunity, much to the excitement of a supportive Filipino portion of the crowd. He cleared the table without batting an eyelid, before breaking and running on the hill to seal success.
Beforehand, Biado was remorseless in the semi-finals, completing an emphatic 11-3 rout of Filipino youngster Bernie Regalario, while Gorst battled past Albanian teenager Kledio Kaci despite an out of sorts performance.
Biado will now return to Atlantic City for next month’s US Open Championship, where he reigned supreme four years ago, as a two-time world champion, but before then it’s the inaugural Florida Open Championship from August 5-10.
Robbie Capito earned the $10,000 bonus for the most consecutive break and runs in the tournament, despite being beaten in the last 64, compiling five in succession in his first round victory over Jose Alberto Delgado.
