By JONAS TERRADO
Dennis Orcollo and Johann Chua stayed unbeaten, Carlo Biado absorbed his first loss while two others are still alive after the third day of the US Open Pool Championship at Harrah’s Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Orcollo beat American veteran Corey Deuel (11-1) and Greek Alex Kazakis (11-3) and Chua beat American Christopher Lawson (11-5) and Slovenian Pijus Labutis.
Carlo Biado downed Finnish standout Mika Immonen (11-5) but was relegated to the loser’s bracket after being defeated by Spaniard David Alcaide Bermudez (11-5).
Jeff de Luna and Roland Garcia bounced back from suffering their first defeat by winning two matches each to keep their campaigns alive in the event that implements a double-elimination format.
De Luna lost a hill-hill battle to American Rodrigo Geronimo (11-10) but recovered to edge American David Daya (11-3) and Filipino-born Alex Pagulayan of Canada (11-0).
Garcia fell to Japanese Naoyuki Oi (11-8) but came back to beat Qatari Waleed Majid (11-8) and Polish Mateusz Sniegocki (11-5).
Four Filipino cue artists weren’t as fortunate as their compatriots after bidding goodbye to their stint in the prestigious 9-ball competition.
Roberto Gomez lost twice to Russian Fedor Gorst (11-6) and Taiwanese Wu Kun Lin (11-10) while James Ignacio suffered a similar fate to Labutis (11-9) and Spaniard Jonas Souto Comino (11-10).
Warren Kiamco and Jeffrey Ignacio won once after dropping the loser’s side before falling short in their next match.
Kiamco was defeated by Spaniard Francisco Sanchez Ruiz (11-6), bounced back with a win over American Joseph Korsiak (11-2) only to be eliminated by American Skyler Woodward (11-9).
Ignacio succumbed to Taiwanese Chang Jung-Lin (11-8), beat American Raymond Linares (11-3) before being routed by Canadian John Morra (11-2).
