Carlo Biado and six other Filipinos made their way to the round-of-16 of the World Pool Championship following their knockout stage victories in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

READ: Filipinos off to winning start in World Pool Championship

Biado set up an all-Filipino showdown with Jeffrey Ignacio after defeating Chris Melling, 11-9, and Wiktor Zielinski, 11-8, to boost his chances of repeating his 2017 triumph.

Bernie Regalario and Patric Gonzales also forged a battle of compatriots by also posting twin wins against different foes.

Regalado beat Dimitris Loukatos, 11-7, and Lo Ho Sum, 11-9, while Gonzales downed Tobias Bongers, 11-6, and Eklent Kaci.

READ: Biado, Chua lead Filipinos in World Pool Championship KO stage

The Biado-Ignacio and Regalario-Gonzales assured two Filipino slots in the quarterfinals which will be played after Friday’s last 16 matches.

Also in are Jefrey Roda, Anton Raga and 2023 World Cup of Pool co-winner James Aranas.

Roda prevailed over Fu Che Wei, 11-4, and Jayson Shaw, 11-9, while Raga was victorious over Fahad Aldhayan, 11-3, before eliminating fancied Johann Chua, 11-6, in an all-Philippine battle in the last 32.

Aranas, meanwhile, eliminated David Alcaide, 11-4, before taking down Mickey Krause, 11-4.
The strong Filipino contingent left in the tournament will have to go through defending champion Fedor Gorst, who is facing Mario He in the round-of-16.

Gorst won last year’s edition after defeating Kaci in the final.