Amit stays unbeaten in Women's 10-Ball bash

Rubilen Amit, the reigning titlist of the Women’s World 10-Ball event, is back in championship form. A day after struggling at the start of her title retention bid, the Filipina pool sensation rediscovered her vicious form and scored an easy 6-1 triumph over compatriot Ana Tulauan Tuesday at the Nuvo City in Libis, Quezon City. Amit capitalized on her inexperienced rival’s series of blunders to shatter a 1-all deadlock and come up with consecutive game close-outs in the next five racks. The win shoved the reigning champion closer to the Round-of-24. Despite the victory, Amit admitted that she felt the pressure even after beating Angel Paglia, 6-3, on Monday in front of a big audience. In that contest, the 29-year-old accountancy graduate from the University of Santo Tomas started strong, but made several miscues midway until the latter part of the match before pulling off a win. "Even though I'm playing in a non-TV table, I'm still pressured. But then I'm more relaxed now than yesterday," said Amit, who prior to this tourney placed fifth in the China Open held three weeks ago in Shanghai. Amit claimed the first rack, but Tulauan, a 22-year-old upstart from Manila who began to play competitive pool three years ago, tied the game in the next rack. But the pressure of a big-time tournament took its toll on Tulauan. She missed several easy shots, allowing Amit to take advantage. Amit, who is now 2-0 in Group A, is the only unbeaten Filipina player. Iris Ranola, one of the country’s best bets, suffered a stinging 4-6 setback at the hands of Spanish player Amalia Matas. Ranola fell behind most of the way. She dropped the first two racks and found herself teetering on the brink of defeat, 2-5. Ranola made a last-ditch stand to try to win via the backdoor after claiming the next two racks and threatened to within 4-5, but Matas was able to close it out in the 10th rack to hand the former National Pool champion her first loss after three games. Ranola fell to 2-1 for second spot behind Korean Yu Ram Cha, who won her second straight match when she came back from three racks down to beat Miyuki Fuke of Japan, 6-5. Cha, one of the attractions of this event, trailed 2-5, but came back strong in the next three racks to set up an exciting windup. The charming Korean cue artist pounced on Fuke’s miscues in the down-the-wire encounter and held steadier in the stretch to complete the come-from-behind win. Fil-American Shanelle Loraine of Guam, also an instant attraction in this event, suffered her third straight defeat Tuesday. She lost to Tamara Radermakers of the Netherlands, 6-3. But Ga Young Kim, one of the top-rated lady players, failed to join Amit and Cha in the list of unbeaten players when she lost, 5-6, to Han Yu of China. It was her first defeat after three matches. It was actually the second match of the day for Kim, who beat American Julie Kelly, 6-3, in an afternoon match in Libis. She proceeded to Robinsons Galeria in Ortigas for her match with Yu. Yu, who is already assured of a spot in the Round-of-24 with her 4-0 record, was trailing 3-5, but came back to win the final three racks and beat Kim. - RCJ/KY, GMANews.TV