Carlo Biado successfully defended his Raxx MVP Tour Open title in West Hempstead, New York, comfortably defeating Alex Kazakis 13-4 to seal his third World Nineball Tour ranking accolade.
Biado, who beat German youngster Moritz Neuhausen in a thrilling hill-hill final eleven months ago, came through a star-studded field to pocket the $9,000 top prize in ideal preparation for the forthcoming US Open Pool Championship.
Having beaten the likes of Mika Immonen, Thorsten Hohmann and Bernie Regalario on his way to qualifying for the single elimination phase, the 2021 US Open champion beat Lukas Fracasso-Verner in a hard-fought 11-9 win to reach the quarter-finals.
There, Biado saw off UK Open winner Robbie Capito in an 11-6 victory, before completing his second win over Regalario in as many days, fending off the Filipino teenager 11-7 in the semi-finals to bring to an end his spirited campaign.
19-year-old Regalario defeated players in the calibre of Pijus Labutis and Wiktor Zielinski on his way to the quarter-finals, where he recorded six break and runs in a complete performance to overcome Joshua Filler.
Kazakis, meanwhile, scuppered the hopes of Vietnam’s Bui Truong An in the semi-finals, with the Vietnamese cueist notably beating newly-crowned European Open champion Mickey Krause in the last 16.
