By REYNALD MAGALLON
Former US Open 9-ball world champion Carlo Biado stamped his class and ruled the Medalla Light Puerto Rico Open, defeating Poland’s Daniel Maciol, 2-0, (4-1, 4-3) in the final at the Puerto Rico Convention Center on Saturday, Nov. 19.
The Filipino cue master went off to a hot start, easily winning the first set before banking on his experience to repulse a late rally from the young Polish player in the second set to bag the title and the $25,000 top prize (roughly P1.4 million)
It was a redemption of some sort for Biado who finally won the title in the last leg of the world 10-ball ranking Pro Billiards Series after settling for a silver finish in the Pro-Billiards Series finals last year in Arizona.
After sharing the first two racks, Biado found his groove and scored three straight wins to take the opening set. Maciol, though, refused to go down without a fight as he recovered from a 3-2 deficit to drag Biado to a hill-hill decider in the second set.
A dry break however spelled doom for the 23-year-old player, allowing Biado to get back on the table and finish Maciol off to cap a rousing nine-game sweep of the four-day tournament.
Biado earlier defeated Bart Czapala of Poland, 2-0; Japanese Yukio Akagariyama, 2-0; and German Ralf Souquet, 2-1 in the eliminations before taking down fellow Filipino cue artist Johann Chua, 2-0 in the first round of the knockout stage.
He continued his winning run in the round of 16 with a 2-1 victory over Taiwanese Ko Ping Chung in the Last 16, another 2-1 triumph over 2021 World 10-Ball champion Eklent Kaci of Albania in the quarterfinals before surviving Venezuelan Jesus Atencio, 2-1 in the semis.
On the distaff side, Chezka Centeno settled for the silver after bowing to Taiwanese Tzu Chein Wei, 0-2 in the final.
Biado, Chua and other Filipino cue artists will end their season on Sunday in the Puerto Rico World 8-Ball.
