The third edition of the Reyes Cup returns to Manila, featuring a young and hungry Team Asia and a star-studded Team Rest of the World.
With home-field advantage, Team Asia jumped to a flying start in the first team match thanks to a phenomenal break-and-run by Duong Quoc Hoang.
Team ROW levelled things up courtesy of Joshua Filler before taking the lead after Carlo Biado rattled the nine-ball in and out of the pocket.
US Open finalist Robbie Capito and reigning MVP AJ Manas regained the lead for Team Asia, capitalising on mistakes from Fedor Gorst and Aleksa Pecelj.
Despite an immediate response from Francisco Sanchez Ruiz, Team ROW succumbed to Team Asia in the first team match thanks to a golden break from Albert Januarta and a clinical finish from Carlo Biado.
Team Asia also comfortably won the first doubles match. Capito and Biado were in perfect sync, making two break and runs in a 5-1 win over Filler and Pecelj.
Down 0-2, it felt like the annual sweep was dawning on Team ROW Avengers. But reigning US Open champion Francisco Sanchez Ruiz quickly snapped them back into the fight.
He made quick work of Duong Quoc Hoang in the only singles match today, pounding on The Martian’s unbelievable miss on a relatively straight nine-ball and never looking back.
The final doubles match of the day seemed lopsided on paper when two former world champions, Gorst and Van Boening, went up against teenage sensations, Manas and Januarta.
The AJs’ inexperience was showcased throughout the match. They missed simple balls and played poor positional shots.
The American duo didn’t play exceptionally well, yet Team Asia was in self-destruct mode, handing Team ROW an important win to tie things up at 2-2 after Day One.
Team Asia’s tactical pairing?
Captain Francisco Bustamante leads a relatively young squad with three players under the age of 25, going up against four former world champions on the other side.
Many might criticise him for sending two teenagers in a doubles match on the very first day of the showdown. But it looked like an extremely tactical move from Team Asia’s captain.
Apart from the team match, he bet on Biado and Capito to go out and win their doubles match for an easy first point, and on Duong Quoc Hoang to demonstrate the brilliance he showed at the Premier League Pool to win his singles.
Half of his plan worked, and Team Asia got two valuable points from it.
As for the young guns pairing, Manas and Januarta are really close outside of the table, with mutual understanding rooted in their shared age group.
They could cause a serious upset if they got off to a hot start and drove on that adrenaline. Unfortunately, Gorst and SVB were too experienced to let that happen.
Van Boening struggled on Day One
One of the greatest pool players of all time had a rough first night in Manila.
He played a subpar team match, tallying the most missed pots for Team ROW. If it were not for Biado’s uncharacteristic miss on the nine, SVB might have gone 0-2 in the opening game.
He played drastically better in the doubles match with his Mosconi Cup teammate Fedor Gorst, but it was also nowhere near the calibre many expected from Shane.
Will we see a better version of The South Dakota Kid on Day Two?
Day One MVP: Sanchez Ruiz
El Ferrari was faultless today, apart from a break and run from Duong in the opening rack of the team match, where he couldn’t do much.
Sanchez Ruiz equalised for Team ROW in the team match with a beautifully executed jump shot on the six before running out the rack.
He also scored his team’s first point today, delivering an absolute clinic against Vietnam hero Duong Quoc Hoang in the singles, winning 5-1.
The Spaniard is the current frontrunner for the Reyes Cup MVP after Day One, given that Team ROW keep up the momentum built late in the day and win the whole thing.
