Fedor Gorst has tasted Vietnamese success following his 13-6 victory over Michael Feliciano to win the Peri 9-Ball Open at the Peri Pool Arena in Hanoi, despite the tournament being dominated by the Philippines.
Three of the four semi-finalists in the opening event of a Vietnamese double-header were of Filipino descent, although Gorst fended them off in emphatic fashion to secure his fourth World Nineball Tour ranking title of the year.
Gorst was the main protagonist throughout the title decider, with a couple of safety errors eventually proving costly for Feliciano as the recent US Open runner-up emerged into a 6-2 lead.
Feliciano received an opportunity to reduce the deficit following a rare missed two ball from Gorst in the ninth rack, although a crucial moment saw him miss position and therefore undercut the eight ball to gift his opponent a 7-2 advantage.
Gorst broke and ran on only one occasion in the whole final, with his superior safety and positional play proving the decisive factor. With him on the hill at 12-6, Feliciano pushed out into prime position for a trademark Gorst jump shot and he executed it before clearing the table to prevail.
The Indiana-based ace defeated Matt Edwards, Nguyen Manh Tung and Dennis Orcollo to begin his single elimination bid, before comfortably seeing off Taiwan’s Fe Che-Wei to reach the semi-finals.
There, Gorst emerged a commanding winner against European Open runner-up Anton Raga, who had beaten recent US Open semi-finalist Aleksa Pecelj, Liu Ri-Teng, Jeffrey de Luna and Niels Feijen during an incredible run.
Feliciano, meanwhile, pulled off a statement victory over Bosnian youngster Sanjin Pehlivanovic in the last 32, following that scalp with a hard-fought win against Filipino compatriot Jefrey Roda in a hill-hill affair.
The Sharks International Open runner-up then ended the campaign of two-time World Championship semi-finalist Kuo Po-Cheng, before battling back from 6-2 behind to defeat Francisco Sanchez Ruiz’s conquerer James Aranas in the final four.
Elsewhere, Shane van Boening endured two heavy defeats on his debut in Vietnam. Filipino Oliver Villafuerte fended off a valiant comeback to beat him in double elimination, before Max Lechner put together seven break and runs in a 9-0 whitewash in the last 64.
Do Van Khai and Bui Truong An were the last-standing Vietnamese competitors, overcoming Billy Thorpe and Mickey Krause to reach the last 16, where they were beaten by Sanchez Ruiz and Aranas respectively.
