JOHANN Chua was in his old, dominant form on Friday, ruling the Pattaya Open Pool Championship in Chonburi, Thailand.
Bad Koi was in his element, besting his close friend James Aranas, 15-5, in an all-Filipino final for his first ranking title of the year to take home the USD22,500 cash prize.
Chua got out of danger with a short jump to pocket the five on the corner as he completed a runout of rack 20.
But that was really the case from the match's on-set, with Chua jumping on a 5-1 lead and strung five straight racks to take a 12-3 advantage.
Aranas, his 2023 World Cup of Pool teammate, still tried to put up a fight but left an open shot at the two in rack 19 allowing Chua to clean up the last two frames and secure the victory. He settled for the USD12,500 prize as the runner-up.
It was a memorable showing for Filipino cue artists with the four semifinalists all hailing from the Philippines.
Chua got the better of veteran Dennis Orcollo, 13-11 in their own matchup, while Aranas escaped Alexis Ferrer, 13-12, in a tight contest to set up this duel as Ronel Nalaunan and Michael Baoanan also made it through to the top eight.
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