CUE aces Carlo Biado and Chezka Centeno had contrasting results in the finals of the Medalla Light Puerto Rico Open, the final leg of the Predator Pro Billiards Series, last Saturday at the Puerto Rico Convention Center in San Juan.
Biado subdued Poland’s Daniel Maciol 4-1, 4-3 in the best-of-3 finale to pocket the top prize of $25,000 (around P1,430,000) while Centeno lost to Taiwanese Tzu-Chien 2-4, 0-4 in the distaff side and settled for the runner-up purse of $10,000 (P572,000).
“Finally, I made it because I lost in the final against Fedor Gorst before,” Biado said, referring to his defeat in Arizona last year. After sharing the first two racks of the opening set, Biado quickly took the upperhand at 4-1 but the second was far less comfortable for the Filipino as Maciol tried to force a shootout.
Biado had the opening break of the set but only took down the first rack when Maciol missed a soft-rolled 3-ball. The Pole tied the set after Biado failed to kick the 6-ball but the Filipino cleared the table to regain the lead after his 23-year-old opponent broke dry.
Maciol wasn’t done yet, however, and levelled the set at 2-2, before Biado moved to the hill 3-2 after running out when Maciol’s dry break left an open table.
Biado failed to sink a ball on his break and Maciol took advantage to find himself breaking at hill-hill in a rack he needed to win to deny Biado the title.
However, another dry break brought the 2017 World 9-Ball champion back to the table and Biado showed his class as he completed a difficult out to earn his first Pro Billiard Series title.
Biado will remain in the Puerto Rican capital for the Predator World 8-Ball Championship that began yesterday (Saturday in the US) and will run until Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila).
