Alcala pulls rug from under Ormilla, tops singles
Teenage ace Mark Alcala capped his splendid rise to the top of the men’s play with a 21-17, 21-17 victory over third seed R-Jay Ormilla Sunday to put away the Open singles title in the FDG Cup 2015 Open and Invitational Badminton Championships at Robinsons Ermita.
Fresh off his big semifinal win over Japan’s Tomoya Takashina, 21-14, 21-19, the 16-year-old Alcala, never gave Ormilla room to regroup to bag the P60,000 champion’s purse.
Ormilla, of PBA-Smash Pilipinas, earlier upset top seed Kevin Cudiamat, 21-10, 22-20, in the other semifinal duel.
Top seed Sarah Joy Barredo, also of PBA-Smash Pilipinas, and Allied-NVBA’s Gelita Castilo were disputing the women’s singles title at presstime.
Spicing up the final day of the four-day event held in honor of badminton patron and Robinsons Land Corp. president Frederick D. Go, was the exhibition match featuring former Olympic and world champion Taufik Hidayat who partnered with Go against London Olympics silver medalist Mizuki Fujii of Japan and former Olympian Kennevic Asuncion.
Meanwhile, top seed Joper Escueta and Ronel Estanislao repulsed No. 3 Carlos Cayanan and John Pantig, 21-14, 25-23, to seal a title showdown with Peter Magnaye and Paul Vivas for the men’s doubles crown.
The Magnaye-Vivas pair, winner of last year’s Swiss Open, earlier routed Mike Minuluan and Alem Palmares, 21-9, 21-12.
Fourth seed Eleanor Inlayo and Alyssa Leonardo downed Joella de Vera and Jessie Francisco, 21-14, 21-14, to arrange a clash with Aires Montilla and Chinese Lili Wang for the women’s doubles title.
