Rubilen Amit made history on Sunday, Sept. 8, by becoming the first Filipina to win the WPA World Women’s 9-Ball Championship after beating China’s Chen Siming, 1-4, 4-2, 4-2, 4-3, in Hamilton, New Zealand.

Learning from the country’s best that include Efren “Bata” Reyes whom she considered like a father, the 42-year-old Amit leaned on an impressive second-set performance to crawl back from a 0-1 set deficit for the title in the $175,000 tournament.

Playing in the sixth rack of the second set and after Chen made a safety shot on the one-ball, Amit delivered a two-way shot and sank the nine-ball in the mid-pocket to clinch the second set.

The shot -- which reminded one of Reyes' jaw-dropping magic tricks -- wowed the crowd, as it boosted Amit's confidence by dictating the tone throughout the match.

Cheng tried to fight back with some moments of brilliance particularly in the fourth set, where she recovered from a 1-2 deficit to a 3-2 lead, but nerves caught up with the Chinese after missing an easy 8 to the corner pocket.

It gave Amit the opportunity to clean the rack for 3-all, then held her ground to sweep the next en route to hoisting the trophy.

The victory was sweeter for Amit, who came close to triumphing in 2007 only to lose to another Chinese rival in Pan Xiaoting in the finals. She also made it to the semifinals in 2018 and 2019.

She was also the first Filipina world champion after winning the 2009 world women’s 10-ball title, then followed it up with another crown in the 2013 edition.

The world 9-ball crown remained elusive until now, as Amit joined fellow cue artist Carlo Biado at the podium this year after the latter captured the World 10-ball Champion last March.

After sinking the last ball, Amit nearly wept in celebration, then went on to hug Chen, the referee, and teammate, Chezka Centeno, whom she beat in the Round of 16 of the knockout stage.

Aside from the 2023 world 10-ball champion Centeno, Amit went to an uphill climb to the summit, digging deep in the losers’ qualification to advance to the 16-player knockout stage where she toppled teammate Chezka Centeno (3-1), Chinese Taipei’s Wi Tzu-Chien (3-2) and Kristina Tkach (3-2), in the race-to-4, best-of-five format.