MANILA---James "Dodong Diamond" Aranas toppled Lauro Bongay, 11-2, in a duel of the fancied Filipino bets to barge into the semifinal round of the 2022 APF (Asian Pool Federation Ltd) Asian 9-Ball Open tour at the Aspire Recreation Centre in Singapore, Saturday night.
Aranas took a 6-0 lead in routing of Bongay to move to the semis where he will meet Naoyuki Oi of Japan.
Oi subdued Anthony Raga, 11-5, preventing an all-Filipino semifinal.
Aranas’ win opened the possibility of an all-Filipino final in the inaugural edition of the tournament after Johann Chua also made it to the semifinals in the other side of the bracket.
Chua dismantled Robbie Capito of Hong Kong, 11-10, in the quarterfinals early in the day.
Chua will meet Ko Pin Yi of Chinese Taipei in the other semi-final showdown. Ko waylaid Masato Yoshioka of Japan, 11-4, in other quarters-final match-ups.
Chua is fresh from winning the gold medal in the 9-ball pool competition during the Southeast Asian Games held in Hanoi, Vietnam last May.
In the distaff side, Rubilen Amit and Chezka Centeno will slug it out each other in the quarterfinals after defeating separate foes.
Amit nipped Yuki Hiraguchi of Japan, 9-3, while Centeno crushed Suvene Ng of Singapore, 9-3.
However, Geona Kristine Gregorio's campaign came to an end.
Gregorio, Chua's long-time partner was beaten by Silviana Lu of Indonesia, 7-9.-Marlon Bernardino-
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