By REYNALD MAGALLON
Rubilen Amit stamped her class and dominated Chinese opponent Han Yu, 4-2,4-1,3-4,4-2 to claim the 2025 Las Vegas Women’s Open title at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino in Nevada Sunday, March 2 (Manila time).
The veteran pool master easily shrugged off the resistance from Yu to actually make it a double-celebration after she also won the 8-ball Women’s Challenge of Champions just a day ago on the same venue.
Amit took down Kristina Tkach of Russia, 6-3, to rule that tournament which pitted 10-ball and 9-ball world champions.
The Filipina cue artist then carried over the momentum to the Las Vegas Open where she immediately took a two-set lead over Yu in the finale.
Amit had some sloppy plays in the third set which allowed Yu to gain some steam and come back from a 0-2 deficit and claim her first point in the final.
The 43-year-old Amit retaliated and went to the hill first with a commanding 3-0 lead in the fourth although she still had to overcome some tense moments after Yu scored two-straight racks to come within one.
“It was really a relief to shoot the final 10-ball because I was really nervous. The third set, the exchange, I was up 2-0 and then she crawled back and won the set. And then thebfourth set 3-0 up and then 3-2. I was really nervous,” admitted Amit.
Amit pocketed $22,500 prize money (roughly P1.3 million) to add to her previous $15,000 (P869,100) winning from the Challenge of Champions.
Earlier in the day, Amit actually overcame a first set hiccup to pull off a 1-4, 4-1, 4-0, 4-3 win over Austrian Jasmine Ouschan in the semis to forge the final match against Yu
