Defending champion Carlo Biado was the last man standing for the Philippine contingent as four other bets fell by the wayside in the 2018 WPA World 9-Ball Championship on Monday in Doha, Qatar.
Biado needed to produce some magical shots to survive the two-round knockout matches and secure a berth in the Round of 16.
He first defeated Ukrainian Vitaliy Patsura, 11-9, before outsteadying Polish Konrad Juszczyszyn, 11-7.
Biado and the rest of the Round of 16 participants are taking a break.
Jeffrey Ignacio was first to fall after losing to Finland’s Petri Makkonen, 11-9, in the Round of 64 before 2006 Asian Games silver medalist Jeffrey De Luna followed suit with a 11-9 defeat to Chinese Taipei’s Lin Ta Li.
Last year’s finalist Roland Garcia scored an 11-7 victory over host Qatar’s Waleed Majid, but faltered against 2016 winner Albin Ouschan, 11-8, in the next round.
Like Garcia, Johann Chua was dominating in his 11-2 triumph over Myanmar’s Phone Myint Kyaw, only to lose steam in the Round of 32 against 17-year-old Wiktor Zielinski of Poland, 11-5.
Biado’s victory set him up against China’s Wu Jia-qing, who won the crown in 2005.
Seventeen-year-old Robbie Cabito, whose parents are Filipino but who was born and raised in Hong Kong, pulled off the day’s biggest upset triumph after stunning world No. 1 Klenti Kaci, 11-10, to move into the Final 16.
His next match will be against Germany’s Joshua Filler, an 11-6 winner over Nguyen anh Tuan of Vietnam.
