Castillo Edges Cordon in Thriller
Text by BWF
Pan Am great Kevin Cordon’s campaign for a fifth singles title ended in the round of 16 as he crashed out to Mexico’s Job Castillo at the XXIX YONEX Pan Am Individual Championships 2026.
Cordon, who won singles titles in 2009, 2012, 2022 and 2024, fought all the way before being edged by Castillo. The Guatemalan recovered from 13-18 in the opening game and had game point at 20-19, but couldn’t capitalise on the opportunity. The second game saw Cordon save four match points before eventually falling 22-20 23-21.
In the quarterfinals, Castillo takes on Uriel Francisco Canjura Artiga, who upstaged seventh seed Garret Tan. The El Salvadorean stopped the rising star 21-14 7-21 21-8.
There was no trouble for top seed Victor Lai as the Canadian took his quarterfinal place with a straight-games result over Deivid Silva. Others who progressed included his compatriots and second seed Brian Yang and third seed Joshua Nguyen.
Other Highlights:
» In women’s singles, top seed Michelle Li, looking for her seventh title, cruised into the quarterfinals beating Daniela Acosta 21-16 21-5.
» Defending champion Juliana Vieira is in Li’s quarter, and the Brazilian too had no problems in booking her quarterfinal place beating Namie Miyahara 21-7 21-4.
» Men’s doubles is likely to see a tight quarterfinal between top seeds Chen Zhi Yi/Presley Smith and Daniel Leung and five-time winner Nyl Yakura.