Unranked Cho stuns No. 1 Kevin Cordon

South Korea’s Geonyeop Cho, right, reaches for a return from opponent Kevin Cordon, left, in the second set of their Round 16 match of the Crowne Plaza Northern Marianas Open 2023 yesterday afternoon at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium. (LEIGH GASES)

Top seed Kevin Cordon was eliminated in Round 16 of the first 2024 Paris Olympics qualifier in the CNMI after unranked South Korean Geonyeop Cho pulled off the three-set upset victory.

The Crowne Plaza Northern Marianas Open 2023 continued yesterday afternoon as Cordon and Cho went at it in a much-anticipated match in the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

Cordon, after handily defeating Guam’s Allen Zeng on Wednesday, found his match as he took on Cho. Cordon, the favorite to advance, held steady in the first few points, gaining a 7-3 advantage over Cho. However, Cho breathed down Cordon’s neck the whole set, as points went back and forth throughout the match, 9-9, then 15-15, 17-17, 19-19, and 20-20. 

Cho pulled risky maneuvers as he didn’t reach for a couple of Cordon’s returns, but was rewarded as they were all out of bounds, handing the first set to Cho, 21-23.

It was all or nothing for Cordon in the second set and he wasn’t willing to go down without winning a match, so he aggressively pushed kills that Cho could not get to in time. Cordon eventually pulled away with the redemption set by the skin of his teeth, 21-19.

Fatigue set in for 36-year-old Cordon as 26-year-old Cho’s strong returns were unwavering. Cordon came back from a 1-4 deficit early on, but Cho held him back with well-placed kills near the outside lines that Cordon could not get to. 

Cordon didn’t help his cause when it came down to softplays at the net, as it turned out to be his kryptonite—he made many errors and couldn’t get his returns over.

Cordon slowed down when the deficit was too big to bridge, and Cho won, 21-10, eliminating Cordon from the tournament.

After the game, Cho said in a brief interview that it felt nice beating the tourney’s top seed player. Cho said that he played to Cordon’s weaknesses, which was the net game, and it paid off for him. He said he knew that Cordon’s strengths were smashing and slicing, and he tried to pull away from that as much as he could.

Upset is the theme of this tournament as the world’s former no. 1, South Korean Son Wan Ho, was defeated by Yang Yang in Round 64 of the first day of matches last Tuesday, 21-15, 10-21, 21-18.

As for team NMI, all singles players were eliminated yesterday, as well as the doubles teams.

Yesterday, Daniel Macario and Paulo Quidato were defeated by Chinese-Taipei’s Lin Yu Chieh and Su Li Wei, 21-7, 21-2; Brian Lubao and Daniell Pablo lost to Nge Joo Jie and Johann Prajogo, 21-6, 21-9; Ian Lubao and Leonard Manuel were defeated by Chen Cheng Kuan and Chen Sheng Fa, 21-6, 21-5.

In Wednesday’s games, Nate Guerrero and Janelle Pangilinan lost to Lu Chen and Chen Yu-Pei, 21-7, 21-9; Brian Lubao, who advanced to Day 2 via forfeit, lost to Yang Yang, 21-6, 21-2; and Daniel Macario, who won against Guam in Day 1, lost to Japan’s Yushi Tanaka, 21-4, 21-5. 

The matches will continue today, from 1pm to 9pm. Semis matches on Saturday will be from 1pm to 9pm, while finals in the men’s and women’s singles and men’s, women’s, and mixed doubles are slated for Sunday, June 11, from 12pm to 5pm.