GENTING HIGHLANDS, Malaysia — Marlon Manalo and Alex Pagulayan began their respective campaigns in contrasting fashions as the third leg of the Guinness 9-Ball Tour kicked off yesterday at the Genting International Convention Center here.

Manalo was flawless in his opening match in Group E as he blanked local bet Benjamin Lee, 9-0, while Pagulayan was not as fortunate as he suffered a shocking 9-5 setback to Ryu Seung Woo of Korea in Group C of the annual six-leg event organized by ESPN STAR Sports.

The Mandaluyong-based Manalo was in total control of his match as capitalized on miscues by Lee, who is playing for the first time in the Tour.

Manalo was set to face highly fancied Yang Ching-Shun of Chinese Taipei later in the evening for the right to advance to the quarterfinals today.

Pagulayan was visibly out of his element against his Korean opponent as he virtually knocked himself out of the competition with the loss.

Pagulayan, who recently won the World Pool Masters, actually led 3-1, but dry breaks in the fifth and seventh rack allowed Ryu to overtake the lead and the Filipino never recovered.

Pagulayan still had an opportunity to stem the tide during the latter stages, but a scratch in the 13th rack sealed his fate.

Pagulayan now has to win against Mohd Sapawi of Malaysia and hope that Sapawi beats Ryu by at least 5 racks in order to move to the quarterfinals.

Two other Filipinos, Joven Bustamante and Antoinio Gabica were still playing as of press time.

Meanwhile, defending Grand Finals champion Chang JungLin from Chinese Taipei, who swept the first two legs in Taiwan and Penang, remained on track for a third consecutive title as he defeated Fu Jian – Bo of China, 9-2.

The quarterfinals will be aired live on STAR Sports today beginning at 12 noon.

Up for grabs in the Genting Highlands leg is a total prize purse of ,000 as well as points to qualify for the Tour’s Grand Final in Jakarta, which will feature the top 10 players in the overall Order of Merit. The winners of each leg will get to earn ,000 while the Grand Final Champion will pocket ,000.

Following Genting Highlands, the Tour will visit Singapore in July, Guangzhou in September and Jakarta for the Grand Finals in October.