GENERAL SANTOS, Philippines – Carlo Biado punished every little mistake David Alcaide committed and transformed them into brilliant shotmaking to enter the finals of the MP Cup World 10-Ball championships Saturday at the SM City Mall here.
Soft-spoken but deadly on the pool table, the 31-year-old Biado turned on the heat when Alcaide built a 2-1 lead, tied the match on a runout and never looked back.
He was to face Taiwanese Ko Pin-Yi, a 26-year-old phenom, who also handily beat his younger brother, 19-year-old Ko Ping-Chung, 11-2, to set up the finals clash at 4 p.m. yesterday.
The world No. 10 Biado earlier beat world No. 11 Liu Haitao, 11-7, in an unforgiving brand of game, almost perfect that spectators likened him to some of the Philippines’ all-time greats.
“I am pleased they’re comparing me to the legends of the sport, that’s why I’m trying to live up to that hype particularly since the world tournament is held here,” said Biado, who saw the fall of two other Filipinos – Warren Kiamco and Johann Chua – in their respective round-of-eight matches.
Kiamco’s steady break failed him as he lost to Ko Ping-Chung while the 128th seed Alcaide came from behind to beat young Chua in other quarterfinals matches.
“I am just renting. I think I will buy a house if I would become world champion,” said Biado, a journeyman of the sport, who started out competing when he was 14.
The prize fund and the MP Cup was put up by Representative, boxing champion and billiards player Manny Pacquiao, who has started training for his historic May 2 fight with Floyd Mayweather.