THIS trophy is staying home.
The 2026 Roobet Philippines Open Pool Championship will see an all-Filipino semifinal cast as Johann Chua, Bernie Regalario, Anton Raga, and Baseth Mocaibat took out their respective opponents on Friday at Gateway Mall 2 in Cubao.
Shockingly, the all-local semifinal will not have the most prominent Filipino player as former world champion was ousted by in-form Chua, 1 0-1 , in the latter's return to the World Nineball Tour via this 128-man single-elimination tournament.
READ Johann Chua, fan-favorite Jaybee Sucal advance in Philippine Open
'Bad Koi' Chua was methodical in his attack, jumping to a 5-0 lead as Biado made a few errors, most hauntingly hanging the 7 in rack 8 and once again leaving the 3 on the lip in the upper corner in rack 9 that further gave Chua the 8-1 lead.
Though Chua committed a foul on the 2, Biado did leave the light blue open in their safety battle which opened the floor for the former to clean up the table for the clincher.
Regalario, on the other hand, played the game of his life to oust Reyes Cup MVP Francisco Sanchez Ruiz, 10-1.
'Li'l Prince' Regalario jumped to a 4-0 lead and wowed the crowd numerous times in the match, from his fluke on the 2 in rack 9 and his 2-9 combination in the next to get on the hill, to his jump on the 7 to the long corner for the win.
Raga also delivered a masterful 10-4 stunner over Jayson Shaw as he cut the Scotsman down to size. He took a 7-1 advantage that even if Shaw rallied back and took the next three racks, Raga would answer back by claiming the final three.
And Mocaibat made it four-for-four with a huge 10-9 comeback win against Shane Van Boening.
Fighting back from a 7-1 deficit to get to within one, 8-7, Mocaibat's luck seemed to have ran out after overcutting on the 4 in Rack 16 that helped SVB get to the hill.
But Van Boening had a bad positioning on the 5 and missed his bank on the 8 in rack 17, opening the window for Mocaibat to clean the table and completetense break-and-runs in back-to-back frames for the victory.
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