Johann Chua secured a semifinal berth to emerge as the last Filipino standing in the 2025 US Open Pool 9-Ball Championship after Michael Baoanan and Jefrey Roda fell to their respective opponents on Saturday, Aug. 23, at the Harrah’s Resort in Atlantic City.

Chua, 33, first outlasted Serbian Aleksa Pecelj, 10-7, before toppling Dutch Niels Feijen, 10-2, to inch closer to the crown.

The back-to-back victories arranged him a tough semis duel with defending champion Fedor Gorst, who foiled an all-Filipino showdown after surviving Michael Baoanan, 10-9.

The American also dug deep in his earlier match against Wiktor Zielinski with a similar 10-9 score.

“Last 4! Laban!” Chua wrote on social media as he eyes to put the country back in the champion’s list and join former Filipino winners Efren “Bata” Reyes (1994) and Carlo Biado (2021)

Regardless of the results, the 2023 World Cup of Pool winner is already assured of $25,000 (around P1.4 million) for reaching the semis.

Prior to booking a semis spot, Chua outshone German Thorsten Hohmann (10-9) and Greek Alexander Kazakis (10-6) in the knockout rounds, while besting American Floro Ritarita (9-5), Dutch Quinten Pongers (9-7), and fellow Filipino Roland Garcia (9-7) in the preliminaries.

Meanwhile, Jefrey Roda exited in the Last 16 after bowing to Singaporean veteran Aloysius Yapp, 10-2.

Yapp eventually carried that momentum to the quarters, edging Germany’s Joshua Filler,10-8, to keep his title bid alive.

He set up a semis date with Taiwanese Ko Pin Yi, who dominated Scotland’s Jayson Shaw, 10-2, and Estonia’s Denis Grabe, 10-5.

Baoanan’s quarters stint earned him $15,000 (around P850,000), while Roda is going home with $8,000 (around P450,000).

The tournament offers a $500,000 (around P28.2 million) total prize fund, with the champion taking home $100,000 (around P5.7 million).