Bernie Regalario stunned newly-crowned US Open champion Ko Ping-Chung as the teenage sensation continued to impress during his debut month on the World Nineball Tour in Vietnam.
Hanoi Open Pool Championship 2023: Draw, live scores, format, prize fund and how to watch
Having beaten world number 18 Aleksa Pecelj during the recent Peri 9-Ball Open, Filipino Regalario claimed the scalp of another high-profile player during his major debut at the inaugural Hanoi Open Pool Championship.
“It means a lot because it’s my first time [at a Matchroom tournament],” explained 18-year-old Regalario to Matchroom Pool. “I was of course very, very nervous but as the match went on I played good.
“I saw the bracket and that my next opponent was Ko Ping-Chung and of course I got excited. I practised before the match and I just played my game.”
Regalario progresses to face his Filipino countryman Dennis Orcollo in the winners’ qualification round for a place in the last 64 following an emphatic 9-2 win over the world number four.
Ko, meanwhile, endured defeat in the second round of a major tournament for the second successive time, having been beaten by American Corey Deuel during his eventually victorious US Open campaign.
The Taiwanese sensation will need to battle his way through the one-loss side once again in the Vietnamese capital, beginning his quest with a resounding 8-2 win over local player Phung Van Quy.
Regalario’s shock victory comes after Vietnam’s Ngo Quang Trung and Trinh Van Binh stunned Carlo Biado and Ralf Souquet respectively on the opening day of the tournament.
Elsewhere, Mika Immonen was on the receiving end of a 9-7 defeat against Taiwan’s Tang Ching-Ting, while Chris Melling was beaten in round one at the hands of Japan’s Takashi Uraoka.
Peru’s Gerson Martinez and Filipino Jeffrey de Luna came through hill-hill thrillers against Jundel Mazon and Do The Kien to arrange mouth-watering contests against Niels Feijen and Jayson Shaw respectively.
Gary Wilson continues his nineball journey in Vietnam and the snooker star made light work of Nikolaos Malai to set up a contest against Ko Pin-Yi in Thursday’s winners’ qualification round.
Greece’s Malai was amongst those to exit the tournament on day two following an 8-7 defeat on the one-loss side to Portugal’s Joao Grillo in front of the streaming cameras, while the likes of Max Eberle, Marcel Price and Sullivan Clark also departed.
