Chezka Centeno yielded to former champion Allison Fisher of Great Britain, 9-7, to crash out of the quarterfinals in the 2023 Kamui World Women’s 9-Ball Championship in Atlantic City, New Jersey Saturday, Jan. 21 (Sunday in Manila).
The reigning Asian Women’s 9-ball winner mustered all her might against her more experienced rival, but still fell short in the crunch to kiss her world title campaign goodbye.
She failed to capitalize her morale-boosting 9-3 triumph over Belarusian Margaret Fefilova in the Last 16 a few hours ago.
Still, it was an impressive feat for the 23-year-old Centeno, who came into the tournament with zero expectations.
Prior to her quarters exit, the Zamboanga native opened her bid with victories over Fefilova (7-6), American Dawn Hopkins (7-4) and teammate Rubilen Amit (7-5).
Earlier, Amit failed to earn a ticket to the knockout stage after bowing to Korean Seoa Seo, 7-3, in the losers bracket.
Seoa eventually went on a rampage and downed Japanese Yuki Hiraguchi, 9-7, before stunning defending champion Kelly Fisher of Great Britain, 9-8, for a spot in the semis against Chinese Taipei’s Chou Chieh-Yu.
Allison Fisher’s triumph over Centeno, meanwhile, set her up a semis meeting with Russian Kristina Tkach, who bested Japanese Chihiro Kawahara, 9-7.