REIGNING world 9-ball women’s champ Rubilen Amit and compatriot Chezka Centeno vanquished their separate foes at the start yesterday of the Kamui Las Vegas Women’s 10-Ball Open at the Rio All Suite Casino and Resort in Las Vegas.
Amit beat American Briana Lane 2-0 (4-2, 4-0) while Centeno dumped April Larson of the US 2-0 (4-1, 4-0) in the opening round of the 64-player, double elimination tournament offering a prize of $22,500 (P1.3 million) to the winner.
After handily beating compatriot Roberto Gomez in the quarterfinals, World Games-bound Jeffrey de Luna lost in a war of nerves and fell 0-3 (3-4, 3-4, 3-4) to Estonia’s Dennis Grabe yesterday (Wednesday in the US) in the semifinals of the Kamui Las Vegas Men’s 10-Ball Open.
In an all-Filipino quarterfinal clash, De Luna topped Gomez 3-0 (4-3, 4-1, 4-0) after two hours and 27 minutes but was constantly frustrated by the crafty Estonian in the crunch in the semis to surrender the match after nearly three hours of play.
Grabe stunned fancied former world 8 and 9-ball champion Joshua Filler of Germany for the title, coming back from a 0-2 hole to prevail 3-2 (0-4, 1-4, 4-3, 4-1, 4-3) to pocket the top prize of $37,500 (around P2.17 million) while the latter settled for the runner-up purse of $17,500 (P1.03 million).
De Luna earned $8,500 (P507,000) as a losing semifinalist while Gomez took home $4,375 (P253,000) for his effort.
