Top seed Cordon upset by unranked Muramoto
Top seed Kevin Cordon of Guatemala was eliminated by unranked Ryoma Muramoto of Japan on Day 3 of the TakeCare Saipan International 2023 last night at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.
After a thrilling and intense three sets, it was the end of the road for Cordon as he could not make it happen in the tiebreaker.
Cordon had a 4-0 lead in the first set, but blew it as Muramoto came from behind to snatch it, 21-17.
In the second set, Cordon had another wide lead up until the 10th point when Muramoto crept up after multiple mistakes by Cordon, for a close 11-10 game.
Cordon put his smashes and kills into overdrive as he pushed for more points to ensure he won the second set and forced a tiebreaker.
Cordon won a cliffhanger set as Muramoto was never too far behind. At 20-17 and when Cordon thought he had sealed the deal, he rushed his return and hit the net. It was a long rally until finally Muramoto tired out and Cordon won, 21-17.
The winner-take-all third set began with Muramoto drawing first blood . Cordon didn’t let up easily and led 4-3. However, Muramoto gained the upper hand as he aimed his smashes at Cordon’s feet and took the lead, 5-4.
Muramoto took this change of momentum into his favor and caused Cordon mistakes in his volleys at the net. Cordon was down, 8-12, after an outside serve and was stuck there as Muramoto overtook him, 8-13, 8-14, but finally gained a point after a well-placed return that just painted the inside line. But Muramoto’s speed and tactics to get Cordon to volley near the net paid off as he shut down Cordon, 21-12.
In the other ranked matches of the day, No. 3 seed Su Li Yang overpowered Jia Wei Joel Koh, 21-6, 21-14.
Japan’s unranked Manami Suizu took down the No. 1 seed in women’s singles, Chinese-Taipei’s Sung Shuo Yun, in two sets, 21-19, 21-15.
Japan’s Tomoka Miyazaki defeated No. 4 seed Lin Hsiang Ti of Chinese-Taipei, 21-17, 21-15
Liao Jhuo-Fu shut down No. 5 Jeon Hyeok Jin in three well-fought sets, 21-14, 4-21, 19-21.
Japan’s Kakeru Kumagai and An Sato defeated No. 4 Po Li-Wei and Chang Ching Hui, 13-21, 21-16, 21-16.
As for Team NMI, Ian Lubao and Leonard Manuel put up a valiant effort against Nge Joo Jie and Johann Prajogo, but lost 6-21, 4-21.
Andreau Galvez and Daniel Macario also lost to Lin Bing-Wei and Tseng Ping-Chiang, 7-21, 9-21.
On the second day of games on Wednesday, Galvez, who advanced after the first day, lost to Chen Chi Ting, 5-21, 7-21.
Paulo Quidato, who also advanced on the first day, was defeated by Yang Yang, 6-21, 8-21.
The dynamic duo of Nathan Guerrero and Janelle Pangilinan took on Cheng-Han Tsai and Lee Yu Hsuan but lost, 8-21, 9-21.
