Estanislao, Ormilla pull off Binay GP shockers

MANILA, Philippines - Ronel Estanislao and R-Jay Ormilla took out a pair of seeded rivals to barge into the Last 16 of the men’s Open singles while young Carlo Remo rolled into the fourth round of the Under-19 class by upending No. 10 John Santos in the VP Binay Grand Prix Badminton Open Championships-PBaRS fourth leg at Powersmash in Makati yesterday.

Estanislao outsteadied sixth seed Jaime Junio Jr. in a closely fought contest, hacking out a 21-18, 23-21 victory to arrange a fourth round match with Ralph Mendez, who blasted Christian Bandialan, 21-9, 21-10, in the lower half of the draw.

Ormilla also surprised No. 8 Kevin Dalisay with a superb all-around game, scoring a 21-16, 21-18 victory for a clash with Randolph Balatbat, who bundled out Jose Benipayo, 21-14, 21-16, in the upper bracket.

Top ranked Toby Gadi of the Golden Shuttle Foundation sustained his pace and toppled Ian Bautista, 21-17, 21-9, to lead the charge of the other favorites in the P1 million national ranking event co-presented by MVP Sports Foundation and Robinsons Land.

They include second seed Paul Vivas, No. 3 Gabriel Magnaye, fourth ranked Joper Escueta, No. 5 Wilfred Natividad, No. 10 Charlo Tengco, Paolo Sunga, Jason Oba-ob, Sonny Boy Montilla, Wilfredo Amoroso and Andrei Babad.

Vivas overwhelmed Justin Boro, 21-7, 21-6; Magnaye whipped Kit Cajefe, 21-8, 21-10; Escueta saw off Edison Cupcupin, 21-10, 21-13; Natividad won by default over Bryan Chan; Tengco repulsed Abdel Boac, 18-21, 22-20, 21-18; Sunga held off Tonj Takeuchi, 21-7, 21-18; Oba-ob beat John Calbario, 21-17, 21-7; Montilla defeated Roden Rivera, 21-12, 21-13; Amoroso won over Joshua Monterubio, 21-14, 21-17; and Babad thwarted King Espiritu, 21-14, 21-13.

Meanwhile, the 15-year-old Remo, also the youngest player in the Open singles, dominated the 10th-ranked Santos to complete a 21-9, 21-15 victory as the La Salle Greenhills bet moved to Last 16 against No. 8 Gerald Sibayan, disposed of Lance Bautista, 21-12, 21-13.

Top seed Joper Escueta continued to flash fine form, beating Isaac Leonardo, 21-5, 21-4, to tow the other fancied bets in the tournament put up by Vice President and PBA president Jejomar Binay, Rep. Albee Benitez and businessman-sportsman Manny Pangilinan.

Others who advanced were No. 2 Wilbert Natividad, who beat John Reyes, 21-10, 21-5; third seed Jason Oba-ob, who trounced Clarence Filart, 21-8, 21-11; No. 4 Kevin Cudiamat, who downed Paulo Infante, 21-14, 21-9; No. 7 Karl Foronda, who thwarted Dave Dueves, 21-14, 21-14; and ninth seed JC Clarito, who outplayed Gen Fabro, 21-10, 21-7.

Meanwhile, the leading players in the premier women’s Open singles strut their wares today with top seed Gelita Castilo taking on Diane Castro at 10 a.m., No. 2 Bianca Carlos squaring off with Janelle de Vera for berths in the quarterfinal round.

Third seed Danica Bolos clashes with Elaine Malelang while No. 4 Grace Lim mixing it up with Pauline Tan even as fancied Malvinne Alcala battles Kim Mayomo, who disposed off Joyce Po, 21-9, 21-17.