Billiards Sports23 Editorial 3 min read
Last 16 in Doha: Seven Filipinos, Two Derbies and a Title Defense
Every last-16 match at the Qatar World Cup 10-Ball goes off at 4 p.m. Manila time on Wednesday — and half the draw is flying Southeast Asian flags, led by defending champion Jonas Magpantay.
Half of the last 16 at the Qatar World Cup 10-Ball answers to a Southeast Asian flag. Seven Filipinos and Vietnam's Duong Quoc Hoang survived a punishing last-32 session on Tuesday night at the Ezdan Palace Hotel — a round headlined by Carlo Biado's 11-6 demolition of third seed Francisco Sanchez Ruiz — and all of them return to the table at 11:00 Wednesday morning in Doha.
For fans back home that is a civilized 4 p.m. in Manila. Every one of the eight matches is a race to 11 and all of them start at once, so the SEA contingent will be decided in a single sitting.
The fixtures
| Match | How they got here | Early read |
|---|---|---|
| Jonas Magpantay (PHI) vs Wojciech Szewczyk (POL) | beat Pagulayan 11-7 · Szewczyk beat Kural 11-4 | Coin flip |
| Rocky Tullao (PHI) vs John Morra (CAN) | beat He 11-10 · Morra beat Laikre 11-10 | Coin flip |
| Miguel Salvilla (PHI) vs Jerico Bonus (PHI) | beat Sanderson 11-10 · Bonus beat No.15 Zielinski 11-9 | Slight edge Bonus |
| Joshua Filler No.5 (GER) vs Tobias Bongers (GER) | beat Szolnoki 12-8 · Bongers beat Gnadeberg 11-7 | Filler |
| Carlo Biado No.2 (PHI) vs Konrad Juszczyszyn (POL) | beat No.3 Sanchez Ruiz 11-6 · Juszczyszyn beat Jastrzab 11-10 | Biado |
| Duong Quoc Hoang (VIE) vs Daniel Maciol (POL) | beat No.11 Capito 11-6 · Maciol beat No.19 Roda 11-7 | Coin flip |
| Fedor Gorst No.4 (USA) vs Hsieh Chia Chen (TPE) | beat Charif 11-1 · Hsieh beat Loukatos 11-7 | Gorst |
| Jundel Mazon (PHI) vs Albert James Manas (PHI) | beat Exposito 11-8 · Manas beat Alnar 11-5 | Coin flip |
Two derbies, two guaranteed quarter-finalists
The bracket did the Philippines a favour and a disservice at once. Salvilla–Bonus and Mazon–Manas guarantee two Pinoys in Thursday's quarter-final picture, but they also guarantee two going home before the last eight. Add clean wins from Magpantay, Tullao and Biado and the country could still put five players into the quarters; lose all three swing ties and the derby winners carry the flag alone.
The champion's rematch
Magpantay's title defence comes with a familiar hurdle: Szewczyk is the same man he eliminated at this exact stage a year ago on his shock run from qualifier to champion. The Pole, a two-time European champion, arrives in form — he needed just 15 racks to dismiss Szymon Kural, the very opponent Magpantay beat in last November's final. The "Silent Killer" was made to work by Filipino-Canadian great Alex Pagulayan before pulling away 11-7.
Biado looks the man to beat
The highest seed left in the draw produced the performance of the round, racing past former two-time world champion Francisco Sanchez Ruiz 11-6. Biado, the reigning WPA world 9-ball champion, meets Konrad Juszczyszyn, who needed every rack to edge fellow Pole Dominik Jastrzab 11-10. On current form this is the tie SEA fans should feel best about.
Rocky Tullao and John Morra both escaped hill-hill thrillers — Tullao over Austrian veteran Mario He, Morra over Estonian qualifier Walter Laikre. Neither has a margin of error left to spend.
Duong Quoc Hoang's toughest test yet
Vietnam's leading cueist made the loudest statement of his week by dismantling No.11 Robbie Capito 11-6. His reward is Daniel Maciol — the only man in this last 16 besides Magpantay who has already lifted this trophy, having won the December 2024 edition in Doha. Maciol ended Jefrey Roda's run 11-7 and knows this room as well as anyone.
When to watch (Manila time)
- Wednesday 4 p.m. — all eight last-16 matches (race to 11)
- Wednesday 8 p.m. — quarter-finals
- Wednesday midnight — semi-finals
- Thursday 8:30 p.m. — the final, a race to 13
Live scoring runs on rack9pool.com, with the event played for a $450,000 prize fund at the Ezdan Palace Hotel. By sunrise in Manila, Southeast Asia will know whether it is chasing a second straight Doha title with a full squad — or leaning on two derby winners and a prayer.
