JOHANN Chua got the better of James Aranas, 10-8, to lead the Filipino delegation in the round of 16 of the Roobet Philippine Open Thursday at Gateway Mall 2 in Cubao.
'Bad Koi' fought back from an 8-5 deficit and swept the next five racks to outlast his close friend.
Chua was one of the final seven Filipinos standing in the ruthless single-elimination tournament which started with a 128-player field.
Carlo Biado also advanced to the final 16 after hacking out a 10-8 win over Calil Ramber, while unheralded Edwin Gamas continued his Cinderella run with a 10-7 shocker over Robbie Capito of Hong Kong.
Other Filipinos advancing were Bernie Regalario (defeated Demosthenes Pulpul, 10-5), Jefrey Roda (defeated Antonio Lining, 10-6), Anton Raga (defeated Bryant Saguiped, 10-3), and Baseth Mocaibat (defeated Denis Grabe of Estonia, 10-8).
Meanwhile, social media sensation Jaybee Sucal bowed out of the tourney after losing to Grabe in the round of 64.
How about competitors not from the Philippines?
Defending champion David Alcaide of Spain also kept his title retention bid alive with a 10-6 win over Skyler Woodward of USA.
World no. 1 Aloysius Yapp of Singapore dominated Michael Feliciano, 10-3; Indonesian rising star Albert Januarta lorded over Oliver Szolnoki of Austria, 10-2; Shane Van Boening of USA blasted Marvin Asis, 10-4; Fedor Gorst beat Roland Garcia, 10-6; Francisco Sanchez Ruiz of Spain routed Billy Thorpe of USA, 10-3; Aleksa Pecelj of Serbia topped Justin Bergman, 10-2; Jayson Shaw of UK edged Felix Vogel of Germany, 10-9; and Thorsten Hohmann clipped Tristan Deocareza, 10-6.
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