Rupert Zaragosa seals semis duel with Ong

Rupert Zaragosa ousted national teammate Justin Quiban, 2 and 1, to barge into the Final Four of men’s action in the Philippine Amateur Open match play championship at Orchard’s Player course.

Zaragosa lined himself up for an intriguing match up with Singaporean national ace and top-ranked Marc Ong, a 4-and-3 winner over club champion Raymund Sangil, for a place in the title match today.

“I just have to stay focused even if I am facing the No. 1 player,” said Zaragosa, who at 18 has a wealth of experience in match play.

Aidric Chan routed an off-form No. 2 Yuto Katsuragawa of Japan, 8 and 7, to barge into the semifinals.

Joshua Ho, another Singaporean, ousted Wei Yu Gao, 3 and 1, to advance versus Chan in the Final Four.

Harmie Constantino, the top-ranked player in the women’s division that doesn’t have members of the solid ICTSI team, earned a semifinal duel with Bianca Pagdanganan after besting Ashia Nocum, 4-and-2.

Pagdanganan nipped Filipino-Japanese Yuka Saso, 1-up.

Ranked No. 15, giant-slayer Annika Guangko nipped Kristine Torralba, 2 and 1, in the Round of 8 and then surprised No. 2 seed Nikki Bruce with the same winning score. Musong R. Castillo