Ko Ping-Chung and Alex Kazakis will contest the 2025 World 10-Ball Championship final on Sunday in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, both attempting to secure the largest paydays of their careers.
Ko has been crowned the world 10-ball champion previously, having defeated Joshua Filler to win the title six years ago in Las Vegas, whereas Greece’s Kazakis will be vying to rule the world for the first time in his career.
Whoever reigns supreme in front of what will be a passionate crowd of Vietnamese fans will earn themselves $75,000 in prize money, and Kazakis would become the ninth different winner of the championship as well as the sport’s first Greek world champion.
It has been a far from straightforward route to the finals for Kazakis, who was beaten in straight sets by Shane van Boening in his opening match, subsequently battling through shootouts against Lee Van Corteza and Wesam Hamamm to qualify for the last 32.
The former World Pool Masters champion then defeated Sun Yi-Hsuan and Alex Montpellier in straight sets, before overcoming Marco Teutscher and Van Boening in five-set epics to reach the final. His four-hour-long semi-final against Van Boening needed 13 innings in a shootout to determine a winner.
Ko, meanwhile, has himself experienced the apprehension of the dreaded shootout, denying defending champion Carlo Biado in one during the early rounds. That proved to be the prequel as Ko would later dismantle Biado in straight sets in the semi-finals.
Both Polish youngster Szymon Kural and Oliver Szolnoki forced deciding sets against the Taiwanese star, although Ko has continuously produced the imperative shots at the necessary moments and maintained a standard only a select few players can rival.
Break and runs are a rarity in this race-to-four racks set format but Ko still compiled three of them in his semi-final. A Little Ko at the peak of his powers and fully in stroke is nigh on impossible to stop, and therefore Kazakis has one of the toughest tasks on his hands.
Freshness could also contribute to who reigns victorious in Vietnam. Having brushed aside Biado without breaking sweat, Ko watched his opponent spend four hours under the lights in what was a mentally-taxing contest. Kazakis would sit back in his chair and close his eyes for a few moments after an exhausting match.
Whoever emerges victorious would have thoroughly earned the right to call themselves the world 10-ball champion. Whether it’s Ko for a second time or new ground broken for Kazakis is anybody’s guess.
Prediction: 3-1 Ko
