Centeno enters semis in World 10-Ball Women’s Championship

MANILA, Philippines — A day from now, Filipino Chezka Centeno will have a place in the pantheon of women’s billiards history as she is on the cusp of accomplishing what others before her have not done — win two straight world women’s 10-Ball titles.

That was right after the 25-year-old dynamo from Zamboanga City smashed 2022 champion Chouh Chieh-Yu of Taiwan in a gripping, come-from-behind 1-4, 4-3, 4-1, 4-1 win Friday night that catapulted the former straight to the semis of the WPA World 10-Ball Women’s Championship in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The win set Centeno up against South Korean gem Seoa Seo, who decimated American Sofia Mast, 4-3, 4-3, 4-1.

And Centeno hopes her victory against Seoa in the Las Vegas Open that she topped last February would carry weight when they battle each other in the semis set Saturday night.

On the other end of the semis bracket are 2010 titlist Jasmin Ouschan of Austria, who turned back last year’s losing finalist Han Yu of China, 0-4, 4-0, 4-3, 4-2; and Russian Kristina Tkach, a 4-3, 4-1, 4-0 winner over 2022 second placer Wei Tzu Chien of Taiwan.

Centeno is hoping to replicate her momentous feat in Klagenfurt, Austria where she became the third Filipino to rule the annual event after Rubilen Amit, her mentor and friend, reigned supreme here in 2009 and 2013.

If she accomplished it, she will become the first one to ever win this same tournament two in a row.

It would also canonize the Filipinos as the best pool players in the planet having ruled not just 10-Ball but also 9-Ball as well.