Pinoys bow out of US Open 9-ball

MANILA, Philippines – Filipino cuemasters suffered heartbreaking losses and bowed out of the 40th US Open 9-ball Championship at Sheraton Waterside in Norfolk, Virginia Thursday night.

World No. 3 Dennis Orcollo racked up five successive victories in the one-loss-you-go side of the double-elimination tourney but conceded a 6-11 defeat to Chinese Liu Haitao in the ninth round to kiss his bid goodbye.

Orcollo was actually the last Pinoy standing after the others bowed out in the earlier rounds in the loser’s bracket.

Jundel Mazon fell to Russian Ruslan Chihanov in the eighth round, 5-11, while Carlo Biado yielded to American Corey Deuel in a hill-hill seventh-round matchup, 10-11.

Francisco Felicilda dropped a close 10-11 loss to American Rodney Morris in the sixth round while Roberto Gomez faltered against Estonian Denis Grabe, 8-11, in the fifth round.

Kiamco took the exit in round 6 after losing to Orcollo, 4-11, while Jeffrey Ignacio was booted out in the sixth after falling to Mazon, 8-11.

Ramil Gallego was the first to bow out after dropping a 5-11 loss to Canadian Jason Klatt in the fourth round Wednesday.a