WORLD No. 1 Fedor Gorst coasted through to the Last 64 of the Philippines Open Pool Championship on Tuesday at Gateway Mall in Cubao.
The American cue master was hardly challenged by Billy Jay Garcia, cruising to a 10-1 victory in the single-elimination tournament as he led the first 40 players to get through to the next round.
Carlo Biado gained an automatic bye after his opponent Toby Alcantara failed to show up, and so did Hong Kong-raised Pinoy Robbie Capito, Hanoi Open winner Pijus Labutis of Lithuania, Jayson Shaw of Scotland, Thorsten Hohmann of Germany, Lucas Fracasso-Verner of USA, and 1998 World Pool Champion Kunihiko Takahashi of Japan.
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Francisco Sanchez Ruiz of Spain dominated Edmar Cristobal Balboa with a 10-0 whitewash, while Mickey Krause of Denmark blasted Ryan Kersten, 10-1.
Moritz Neuhausen found himself in trouble but fended off a late charge from John Albert Refulle, 10-8, as Jonas Souto of Spain got the better of Michael Abaño Sison, 10-5.
James Aranas and Anton Raga bannered the first local bets to progress to the next round together with Jeffrey de Luna, Jefrey Roda, Michael Feliciano, Michael Baoanan, and Marvin Asis in this 128-man field that stakes a USD125,000 prize fund with USD30,000 awaiting the champion.
Duong Quoc Hoang, though, was among the early upset victims as he absorbed a heartbreaking 10-9 shocker to Eric Navarrete after "The Martian" missed the 9 in their hill-hill battle.
Billy Thorpe of the USA got stunned by Bryant Saguiped, 10-7, as veterans Dennis Orcollo, Lee Vann Corteza, and Roberto Gomez also suffered early exits.
Action continues on Wednesday with legends Efren "Bata" Reyes and Francisco "Django" Bustamante scheduled to play along with Johann Chua, Reyes Cup MVP AJ Manas, and online sensation Jaybee Sucal.
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