Filipino cue artist Jeffrey Ignacio stunned seasoned rivals and dominated Hong Kong's Robbie Capito in the final round, 10-3, to reign supreme in the inaugural 2024 Indonesia International 10-Ball Open on Thursday, Jan. 25, in Jakarta.

Ignacio, 31, faced a daunting task in the week-long tournament, beating world champions like James Aranas in the quarterfinals (10-7) and Spain’s Francisco Sanchez Ruiz in the semis to take home the $25,000 grand prize (around Php1.4 million).

He also disarmed Vietnamese Duong Quoc Hoang (10-6) in the last 32 and Greek Dimitris Loukatos (10-3) in the last 16.

Capito, who has Filipino blood, actually started strong in their race-to-10 collision, taking the first rack before Ignacio pocketed seven straight racks to pull off a 7-1 lead.

Not to be deterred, the Hong Kong player regained his composure and made some counters to tally the score at 8-3. The efforts, however, were not enough as Ignacio hammered in two consecutive racks to wrap up their match.

The Las Piñas pool shark was hailed as the first-ever champion of the Indonesian tourney – a remarkable achievement despite the presence of big names in the competition.

Some other elite Filipino cue masters joined the tilt, including Johannes Chua, Anton Raga, Dennis Orcollo, Kyle Amoroto, Bernie Regalario and Carlo Biado, who fell short in his hill-hill showdown with Sanchez Ruiz in the quarters. 

Filipino Jonas Magpantay finished as third place.