Kiamco surges as RP bets fall in US 9-Ball

MANILA, Philippines –  Former Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Warren Kiamco topped Spain’s David Alcaide, 11-5, and was the lone Filipino left in contention after the third day of the 35th Annual US Open 9-Ball Championship at the Chesapeake Conference Center in Virginia.

Kiamco stayed in the running in the losers’ bracket with earlier wins over American Tommy Kennedy (11-8), countryman Efren “Bata” Reyes (11-4) and Chinese Lo Li-wen of China (11-9) after a loss to Corey Deuel (10-11).

With the win over Alcaide, Kiamco set up a rematch with Deuel for a seat in the semifinals in the rich tourney offering a top prize of $40,000.

Former world 9-Ball and 10-Ball champion Mika Immonen of Finland and 2008 world 10-Ball champion Darren Appleton of Great Britain topped their respective brackets in the winners side.

Immonen trounced Jason Klatt, 11-4, while Appleton subdued Alcaide, 11-8, to arrange a showdown for the first final seat.

The loser will have another crack at the finals against the winner of the Kiamco-Deuel match.

Filipino bets who failed to make it past the third day of competition were Francisco “Django” Bustamante, Jose “Amang” Parica, Alex “The Lion” Pagulayan, Ronato Alcano, Dennis Orcullo, Roberto Gomez, Antonio Lining, Lee Van Corteza, Ramil Gallego, Santos Sambajon, Jundel Mazon and Edwin Montal.