Chezka Centeno defeated China’s Han Yu to seal success at the Women’s World 10-Ball Championship in Klagenfurt, Austria, securing the biggest title of her career in the process.
Emotions were running high for the talented 24-year-old as she earned the largest prize in women’s pool of $50,000 and joined Filipina compatriot and idol Rubilen Amit in winning the prestigious accolade.
Han missed the one ball and scratched on her first shot of the final and Centeno cleared the table for a 1-0 lead, before a dry break from the recent China Open champion allowed her to double her early ascendancy.
Han missed the four ball twice in the third rack but came through a fierce safety battle to get on the board, only to gift Centeno a 4-1 lead following a poor safety in rack four and a missed seven ball in rack five.
A couple of costly fouls allowed Han to claim four of the next five racks and reduce the arrears to 5-4, although her break continued to prove a problem and two dry breaks sandwiched by a break and run from Centeno saw the Filipina move 8-4 in front.
Centeno executed an impressive four-rail positional shot from seven ball to eight ball in the twelfth rack, and breezed to victory from there before tearfully waving the Philippines flag as she fulfilled her destiny and became a world champion for the first time.
Beforehand, the Zamboanga City cueist had won five racks in succession from 8-4 behind against the legendary Allison Fisher in the semi-finals, having convincingly overcame defending champion Chou Chieh-Yu 9-2 in the quarter-finals.
She had already beaten Fisher during the double elimination phase, while Bulgaria’s Kristina Zlateva, China’s Pan Xiaoting and Germany’s Melanie Suessenguth were also on the receiving ends of impressive displays from the eventual champion.
Elsewhere, Las Vegas Open champion Seo Seoa of South Korea and Kristina Tkach both failed to qualify for the last 16 following defeats at the hands of Pia Filler and Sara Rocha respectively.
Filler subsequently bowed out in the last 16 against Singapore’s Silviana Lu, while returning Chinese stars Chen Siming and Pan also departed at the same stage.
The Women’s World 10-Ball Championship was part of the 2023 Predator Pro Billiard Series, which reaches its conclusion with the Puerto Rico Open and World Teams Championships from November 7-12.
