It’s Centeno V Fefilova For World 10-Ball Glory – Alison Chang

THE FINAL MATCH of the Banca del Fucino WPA Women’s World 10-Ball Championship will be between the Philippines’ Chezka Centeno and Margareta Fefilova Styer of Belarus after both recorded semi-final wins in Rome today. Thursday 13.30 is the time and the Rome Cavalieri Hotel is the place as the trophy, the title and the $55,000 winner’s cheque are all on the line.

Centeno of the Philippines is on track for her third WPA World 10-Ball title in four years as she swept aside Seo Seoa (KOR) winning three sets to zero – 4-0, 4-0, 4-3. After Centeno took the first the match hinged on an error by Seo in the deciding rack of the second set.

Needing just the 9 and 10 to level the match up, Seo scratched after cutting the 9-ball into the centre pocket. That turned a possible 1-1 into a 2-0 lead for the Filipina and from there she didn’t look back.

Despite, regularly playing in the biggest matches on the biggest stages, Centeno displays an unerring calmness at all times and will be gunning for her second WPA World Championship in as many weeks after winning the World 8-Ball title in Wisconsin, USA, ten days ago.

Centeno is a woman of few words and attributed her consistent elite-level play to ‘just focus only’. As to her serenity under extreme pressure, she attributed to breathing – ‘just inhale and exhale’.

Facing Centeno will be Margareta Fefilova Styer, the US-based Belarusian, who defeated Chou Chieh Yu (Chinese Taipei), winning three very tight sets to take a 3-0 win, and cement her place in the first World Championship final of her career.

2026 Rome Womens 10-Ball WC - Day 6_Chezka Centeno

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Fefilova had come through a four-and-a-half-hour epic as she defeated Amber Chen 3-2 in the last eight and then outlasted Chou in a 20-rack semi-final. The Belarusian came through another couple of very long matches en route to the final as she drew on her immense mental strength to get her through.

She said, “I’m pretty happy but definitely really tired right now. I had the 4 hour 30-minute match against Amber and this match was probably three hours so I’m mentally drained but very happy and it’s going to be my first final tomorrow so I’m really excited.

“I feel like I’ve been working a lot on my mental game over the last year, year-and-a-half and I can definitely see it’s paying off as I used to be this kind of player when things don’t go my way, I used to give up pretty easy and now I’ve got to keep grinding and even if you’re down 3-0 you can still have a chance to win that set. Having this mentality of never giving up is really paying off in the long run.

“In the long matches, it’s just knowing when to turn it on and turn it off so when I’m in the chair I’m trying to relax a little bit and when I’m at the table, I’m trying to concentrate 110% on every single shot. It’s knowing how to flip the switch. It’s a lot of hours at the table prior to this because when you put in the work you have confidence.

“I’m not going to try and think about that this is the biggest match of my career and at the end of the day, it’s just a pool match and that’s the mentality that I’m going to have.”

2026 Rome Womens 10-Ball WC - Day 6_Margareta Fefilova Styer

The Predator Pro Billard Series Rome moves into its final day with the championship decider of the WPA World 10-Ball Championship taking place at 13.30 on Thursday. Live streaming of Tables 1 can be found on YouTube, via the Pro Billiard TV channel – https://www.youtube.com/@ProBilliardTV

For all results, live scoring and draw visit the events’ homepage https://probilliardseries.com/event/2026-rome/

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