Biado also hurdles 1st round rival

MANILA, Philippines — Fancied Carlo Biado took the cue from his compatriots and hurdled his opening assignment to close in on the knockout stage of the 2017 World 9-Ball Championship Saturday night in Doha, Qatar.

Biado, the reigning World Games titlist, broke free from a 5-5 standoff with Chinese Xu Xiao Cong by taking four of the next five racks to score a 9-6 victory in Group 13.

The world No. 7 Biado was gunning for a seat in the Last-64 last night against South African Richard Halliday.

Biado’s victory came after Francisco Felicilda, Johann Chua, Jeffrey de Luna, Warren Kiamco, Jeffrey Ignacio, and Roland Garcia took care of business in the earlier session of their respective groups.

Like Biado, the six were vying for spots in the KO phase against separate rivals at presstime.

Israel Rota was the lone Phl bet who stumbled in his first match in Group 16 and found himself in the losers’ side of the double-elimination format group play.

Rota bowed to Taiwanese Chie Liu Cheng, who strung up three successive racks to extricate from a 6-6 standoff and post a 9-6 verdict. Rota was bidding to salvage a slot in the $200,000 tournament with a win over South African Jeremiah Naidoo Sunday night and one more after.