ALOYSIUS Yapp saved the day for Team Asia, as he pulled his side ahead in day one of the Reyes Cup early Wednesday at Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The Singaporean completed a runout in the winner-take-all rack 9 to take the 5-4 singles victory over Jayson Shaw and grab the 3-2 series lead.
"My confidence is not so good today. I was definitely a trainwreck out there, but I feel happy because of my teammates. They really encouraged me a lot and they lifted up my spirit," said Yapp.
READ: Reyes Cup brings together billiards' best from Europe and Asia
It was a sweet finish for the home team in first day after squandering a 4-0 lead in the opening team match and seeing the Filipino pair of Carlo Biado and Johann Chua fall in their doubles match.
Team Asia looked like it was well on its way to a shutout in the first match, but Ko Pin Yi couldn't seal the deal in rack 5 as Mickey Krause got Team Europe on board with a 3-9 combo.
The visitors strung three more racks to go on hill-hill and capitalized on a costly Duong Quoc Hoang corner pocket miss on the 7-ball in rack 9, as David Alcaide sealed the 5-4 team win.
Ko and Yapp did level things up in their doubles match over the Spanish pair of Alcaide and Francisco Sanchez Ruiz, 5-2.
Recovering from an early 2-1 deficit, the Asian duo would win the next four racks, including a Ko golden break in rack 6 to send Team Asia to the hill.
Duong also earned a point for Team Asia, stunning Eklent Kaci, 5-3, in their singles match.
Kaci committed a painful scratch on break in rack 8 which led to the Vietnamese cue artist to seize the lead for his quintet.
Chua and Biado, however, failed to capitalize on a three-rack lead and bowed to the combination of Shaw and Krause, 5-3, in their doubles match.
Shaw's golden break got Team Europe on the board, using that boost to play flawlessly in the succeeding racks, including runouts in racks 6 and 8 to level the series.
Yapp, though, buckled down and clawed his way back from a 0-2 deficit and took advantage on Shaw who left the 2-ball open in rack 7 to get to the hill, 4-3.
Shaw made it a hill-hill affair with a runout, but Yapp also cleaned up the decider to take the W.
"I hope tomorrow, it's the same: we can win 3-2, or even 5-0," said Ko, with the lead certainly lifting the morale for the Efren "Bata" Reyes-captained side against the more experienced Europeans.
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