2003 U.S. Open

Wednesday, 02 July 2003

Day One: Jens Lundqvist, who had custom-made rackets stolen at the Brazil Open, went back to Sweden in an attempt to get a replacement, but it was not to be. He is still planning on returning, but it'll mostly be for vacation purposes. He has withdrawn from Men's Singles (and presumably Men's Doubles). As a result of this, the Men's Singles draw will be redrawn at 10:30 AM Thursday morning. Only the top eight seeds will be moved, including the new #8 seed, Jim Butler. The women's singles draw also had been redone, due to the withdrawal of Japan's An Konishi, the #2 seed. This moves USA's Wang Chen to the #2 position. Wang, currently ranked #39 in the world, was #4 in the world a few years ago when playing for China. Japan's Aya Umemura is the #1 seed. Only the top eight seeds were moved in the draw. (This left one spot in the draw where a previously seeded player with a bye is now a double-bye.) At the 2002 Nationals, the tournament committee had made the decision to cancel Mixed Doubles, an event that had been held at every Nationals since the first USA Nationals in 1976. Recognizing that it was a mistake, the event was rescheduled - to take place here, at the 2003 U.S. Open, for USA citizens only (just as at the Nationals). Better late than never! Unfortunately, there were only two entries, since many of the top USA players were not present, especially on the men's side. So the two finalist were Sean O'Neill/Jackie Lee vs. Samson Dubina/Laura Leach. O'Neill/Lee won rather easily, 7,8,5, adding to O'Neill's already large horde of USA national titles, and adding another to U.S. #1 Under 18 Girl Jackie Lee's projected numbers. Tim Boggan/Frank Dwelly and Larry Hodges/Steve Berger both had doubles titles to defend. Boggan/Dwelly successfully defended their Over 70 Doubles title, 6,10,-7,7 over Grady Gordon/Dick Evans. However, Hodges/Berger were not so successful, as they went down in the Hardbat Doubles final to Ashu Jain/John Jarema, -12,17,15. (All hardbat events were games to 21.) Grady Gordon didn't win Over 70 Doubles, but he did win Over 75 over Frank Dwelly, 7,6,6. Dwelly had won the year before over Gordon. This was the first year with Over 60 Women's Singles at the Open, and the inaugural winner was Barbara Kaminsky, in a long 8,-8,-10,4,7 battle over Suzanna Sanders. Richard Hicks won Over 60 Men's Singles over Kwing Yiu Lau, 7,-8,6,9. Probably the BIG match was the semifinal rematch between Hicks and George Brathwaite. Last year, Brathwaite had defeated Hicks in the final. This time, Hicks won their semifinal match, but it was a doozy - 9,9,-6,-8,12! The Under 2000 Hardbat had the wildest finish. Homer Brown won the first game, and led 20-19 match point in the second against James Rautis, but couldn't convert. In the third, he led 19-14 and 20-16. At 20-18, he smacked a pop-up off. At 20-19, James got a net, Homer had to lob it back - but two medium-high lobs later, and James got caught jammed at the table and smacked a backhand into the net. Match to the foot-shuffling Homer Brown, attending his 35th consecutive U.S. Open, 18,-20,19. "This was the first time in my life I've ever gotten more nets than my opponent!" exclaimed Homer. "He always thinks his opponent gets more nets than he does!" responded James. The two had verbal byplay throughout their final's match. All three rating doubles events were completed today. The most interesting one was the Waltz brothers of Illinois, Jim & Mat, winning Under 3700 Doubles for the second year in a row. It was an "All in the Family" final, as they defeated the father-son team of David & Brian Taylor of Colorado in the final, -5,7,-8,6,8. Winning Under 4200 Doubles was Yin Wang/Thomas Haynes over Samson Dubina/Josh Kuhn, 10,3,6. Winning Under 3200 Doubles was Evan Ng/Stephanie Shih over the brother/sister team of Mark & Alicia Wei, 8,-10,-9,11,9. Day Two: Men's Singles 2001 USA National Men's Champion Eric Owens hasn't been practicing much since the Worlds in May, and so didn't enter, but he came to help out at the Paddle Palace booth. He was seen warming Jim Butler up - dressed in sandals and street clothes. USA's Butler, who was player #666 (!), had just been moved into the 8th position in the draw (due to the withdrawal of Jens Lundqvist), giving him a much better draw. However, it didn't help as he was upset by Brian Pace in the second round in 4-3 battle, 9,-11,5,-9,-9,9,6. Pace always seems to give Butler trouble - the last time they played was the North American Teams in December, and Butler had won 3-2, 11-9 in the fifth. This was the only upset of a top player so far as the men played into the Final 16. One interesting consequence of the Lundqvist withdrawal - when Butler was moved into the 8th spot in the seedings, it left a hole in the draw where he had been before. So Pan Lin, rated 2324, reached the Final 16 by defeating Richard Hicks, rated 2238! These aren't bad ratings - but this is the U.S. Open! Pan's next round will be tougher as he faces Japan's Koji Sanada, world #144. Pace, world #514, may have a slightly easier time, facing Japan's Yuji Taniguchi, world #291. The other interesting match in the round of 64 was Ju Ling's win over Boris Rosenberg, -8,6,5,7. Ju, who is from China and used to go by the name of Jin Ju, had upset world #119 Thiago Monteiro at the World Championships in May, and had lost a close 4-2 match to World #1 Timo Boll in the following round. But because you have to beat at least two world-ranked players to get a world ranking, he was unranked, and so unseeded - despite his obviously 2800+ level. Up against him was Rosenberg, who had lost to Dan Seemiller - at the 1983 Worlds! However, just a few days before he had won the New York Open over Atanda Musa, and his level was estimated to be between 2650 and 2700. A huge crowd gathered to watch this match - but, since it was so early in the draws, it was non-umpired (so few knew the score), and only a best of five. With a better draw, Rosenberg could have made the quarterfinals, but instead he was out in the round of 64. A few words on Ju Ling's game - he's a chopper, almost identical in style to Joo Se Hyuk of Korea. He chops on the backhand with long pips, but mostly loops on the forehand side (with inverted), although he can chop on that side as well. In the round after playing Rosenberg, he won against USA's Mark Hazinski, -3,8,5,2,9. In the next round there will be a titanic struggle when he plays the #3 seed here, Olivier Marmurek of France.   Women's Singles There was one upset in the round of 64: Japan's Asami Suemasu (world #309) upset her teammate, Yuka Nishii (world #74), at -9,5,12,2,9. There were no other upsets in Women's Singles as the women also played to the Final 16. The only other truly contested match was U.S. #1 Junior Girl Jackie Lee's match with Japan's Motoko Sato, world #231. Jackie, who was pictured in today's issue of the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinal (but only in the print version, not the online version, in one of the five articles in local newspapers so far), is ranked #305 herself, but couldn't quite pull it off as she faded in the end, -5,7,7,-7,6,1. Other Events The brother & sister act of Adam & Judy Hugh pulled off the double play, winning Under 16 Boys' and Under 16 Girls' Singles. In the boys' final, #1 seed Adam defeated #2 seed Misha Kazantsev, 5,-9,7,9, while Judy won the girls' final over Atha Fong, 4,9,8. "I did what I always try to do," said Judy. "I serve and try to Loop." Maryland may be known for its junior program, but it dominated Over 50 Women's Singles, with Marylander Charlene Liu winning the final over Suzanna Sanders of Florida, 7,-7,-9,5,7. The other two semifinalists? Sisters Barbara Kaminsky (who led almost the entire fifth game before losing to Charlene, 7,-9,-8,5,9) and Donna Sakai of Maryland. Barbara, who was the defending champion, actually lives in Virginia, but often plays at the Maryland Table Tennis Center. But Barbara had already won Over 60 Women's Singles the day before - also over double-finalist Suzanna. The New Jersey/German pair of Gary Osmanoff and Boris Rosenberg won Over 40 Doubles over another New Jersey pair, the husband and wife team of Barry Dattel and Lily Yip, -8,8,13,9. Osmanoff/Rosenberg had to battle through a pair of five-gamers to get to the final, defeating John Allen/Scott Preiss in the semifinals at 4,-2,-9,9,2, and over the second seeded team of Keith Evans/Ernest Virgo in the quarterfinals, -6,5,-7,10,5. Sean O'Neill won the battle of a thousand cuts as he won the Under 2500 event despite losing games in nearly every match. In the first round, playing on the cement floors with he described as a breeze over the table, he won the first two easily, but then had to work for the last two against John Leach, 3,2,-9,6. In the second round, he again played on the cement floor against the Puerto Rican chopper Abner Colon, who was listed as 2258, but probably was a bit better. "About 2400," O'Neill estimated. "He would push to my wide backhand, and I had trouble getting around on the cement floor." Colon went up 2-1 in games, but O'Neill came back, winning 11-9 in the fifth, -9,6,-10,4,9. In the next round, O'Neill said he was getting set to play either Taju Oshodi or Clark Yeh - but instead, out came 2158-rated Daryl Strachan, who had defeated Yeh, and defeated Shawn Embleton in five after Embleton had defeated Oshodi 11-9 in the fifth. Would this finally be an easy match, against the much "lower" rated Strachan? It looked that way when O'Neill won the first two at 6 & 3, and led 10-8 match point in the third. A short time later, and it's not only 2-2 in games, but Stachan has won the first two points in the fifth game, on O'Neill's serve! But that would be the end of the line, as O'Neill would win ... 11 in a row! Scores were 6,3,-11,-9,2. He's now won 3-1, 3-2 and 3-2, and he's facing Barry Dattel, the 2001 U.S. National Over 40 Champion. But O'Neill's the 2001 U.S. National Over 30 Champion, and so while he drops another game, he wins, 6,-7,6,8 - and he's only into the semifinals! There he would have a "breather," winning 5,5,6 against Yosmely Bovdillo. Bovdillo, who recently defected to the U.S. from Cuba and now lives in Florida, was down 10-8 match point in the fourth against Lily Yip in the quarterfinals before winning, 4,-9,-9,13,7.  In the final, O'Neill played Paul David. David's a good rallier, but his backhand serve went long too often, and O'Neill's first loop often gave David nothing to rally with. O'Neill wins the first two (pulling out a the second at deuce), and leads 6-3 in the third - then drops the obligatory game (again...), but wins the match and Under 2500's, 5,10,-8,6. In the Under 2350 Final, Misha Kazantsev won the first two games, and had two match points in losing the third, 17-15. A short time later, he found himself down 4-1 in the fifth. But the rest of the way was all Misha. At 6-6, he won four in a row as he won the match, 5,7,-15,-9,7.  "We both win points on our serves," Misha said. "He started to get used to my serves, and was dropping them short. I couldn't really do anything with them other than to drop them short back. He's very strong from both sides in the rallies, and would pin me down on my backhand." When asked how he came back to win in the fifth, he said, "I had to fight like crazy." Hector Berrios came back from down 2-0 to win the Under 2200 final over Shawn Embleton, -7,-7,14,7,7. Gary Harbeck won a five-game "laugher" final in the Under 2000 event over Jose Pagan. It went five, but none of the games were close: -6,4,4,-6,7. But Harbeck had to struggle to get there - like O'Neill, he too won a "battle of a thousand cuts." In the semifinals, he won 11-9 in the fifth over Aaron Edwards, -11,9,6,-7,9. In the quarterfinals, he won another five-gamer, 6,-8,8,-6,6 over Derrick Poon. And two rounds before that, in his first match, he was down 2-0 in games to Javier Rivera before winning with an egg in the fifth: -7,-9,5,3,0! That's four five-games in the event, and eight games lost - topping O'Neill's seven to take the "gutsy win" title by a cut! Tony Chen overcame the coaching of sponger-turned-hard-batter-turned-bi-sponge/hardbatter Steve Berger to defeat his protege, Jake Carter, in the Under 1500 final, 4,7,6. Berndt Mann won the Under 1500 Hardbat event. Berndt often switches from penhold to shakehand, and usually prefers penhold with a reverse penhold backhand - but decided to play this final all -shakehand. However, if Mann was the Man, then Rhoda Samkoff was the Woman, since she reached the final before losing to Mann, 15,15,14. (The match slip mistakenly said best of five to 21 - and so that's what they played! All hardbat games are to 21.) Michael Hsing did not lose a game in winning the Under 1175 event, winning the final over Jorge Ramirez, 5,9,8. Under 800, the final event of the day to complete, was won by Jubran Khoury, 7,1,-4,8 over Allison Wu. Day Three: Men's Singles - Final 16     * Aleksandar Karakasevic (YUG) d. Seiya Kishikawa (JPN), 5,8,-9,7,-6,-9,5     * Alfredo Carneros (ESP)d. Koichi Takeya (JPN), 11,9,8,-9,8     * Ryusuke Sakamoto (JPN) d. Zoltan Varga (HUN), 6,13,5,-14,8     * Minoru Muramori (JPN) d. Stefan Feth (GER), 10,10,10,8     * Olivier Marmurek (FRA) d. Ju Lin (DOM), 11,-8,8,10,9     * Yuji Taniguchi (JPN) d. Brian Pace (USA), 5,2,9,9     * Koji Sanada (JPN) d. Pan Lin (USA), 6,9,2,8     * Yousuke Kurashima (JPN) d. Thomas Keinath (GER), -2,9,-8,7,10,-10,7 It was a nice round for the Japanese players, who won five of seven matches, but a horrible one for the two German players, seeded #2 and #5, who both lost to Japanese players. #2 seed Thomas Keinath (world #78) lost to Yousuke Kurashima (world #372!) in a straight topspin seven-game match. In the seventh, Keinath fell behind 0-3, and took a timeout. Afterwards, he came back to lead 5-4 - but only scored two more points the rest of the way, including a big rip at 6-10 that led the Japanese player to take a timeout himself before winning the last point when Keinath backhand killed a loop into the net. So the #2 seed was out, -2,9,-8,7,10,-10,7. #5 seed Stefan Feth (world #136) went down to lefty penhold looper Minoru Muramori (world #199!), in four straight close games: 10,10,10,8! The big "almost" for the Japanese was Seiya Kishikawa's near win against the #1 seed, Aleksandar Karakasevic (world #61). Kishikawa, ranked #232 in the world, matched the left-handed Karakasevic loop for loop (both are shakehand loopers) into the seventh game. Karakasevic had lobbed Kishikawa down the first point in the seventh, and led 3-0 before the Japanese tied it at 4-all. From there on, it was all Karakasevic (and especially his ripping backhand loop) as he scored six in a row to lead 10-4 match point. Kishikawa scored one, then took a time-out. When returned, he served into the net, and Karakasevic advanced, 5,8,-9,7,-6,-9,5. The most watched match, and possibly the best-played one, was between #3 seed Olivier Marmurek (world #117) and the unseeded Ju Lin of the Dominican Republic. Ju, a chopper/looper originally from China, had no world ranking, but had not only beaten world #119 Thiago Monteiro at the Worlds, but had had a close 4-2 loss to world #1 Timo Boll. Since you have to win two matches against world-ranked players to get a world ranking, he was still unranked. But his level about the same as Marmurek - leading to fantastic rallies. In the first game, Ju led 10-9, but Marmurek won at 11. In the fourth, Ju led 10-8, but Marmurek scored four in a row, including two of the most spectacular shots to win the last two points. At 10-all, Ju had chopped heavy and deep to Marmurek's wide forehand. Marmurek looped the ball around the net, so that the ball rolled on the table - unreturnable! Ju followed that by getting an edge ball - but Marmurek scooped the ball right off the floor, and so caught Ju off guard that Ju missed an easy-looking shot - but who knows what secret spin Marmurek put on the ball when he scooped it back? In the sixth, Marmurek is down 5-7, but wins 11-9, winning the final point on a medium-speed loop that goes so wide to Ju's forehand that he can't run it down. Match to Marmurek, 11,-8,8,10,9. The two USA players left in the Men's draw both went down in straight games. Brian Pace battled the last two games, but lost to lefty shakehand looper Yuji Taniguchi of Japan (world #291), 5,2,9,9. (But some of these rankings for Japanese players were beginning to be somewhat suspect - have they been practicing?) Pan Lin, who reached this stage with a little help from the withdrawal of Jens Lundqvist (and a redraw that took Jim Butler out of his part of the draw) and a default from Michael Hyatt, had some nice counterlooping rallies with Japan's Koji Sanada (world #144), but also couldn't break through, 6,9,2,8. Men's Singles - Quarterfinals     * Aleksandar Karakasevic (YUG) d. Alfredo Cameros (ESP), 4,9,2,8     * Ryusuke Sakamoto (JPN) d. Minoru Muramori (JPN), 6,4,4,10     * Olivier Marmurek (FRA) d. Yuji Taniguchi (JPN), -4,9,5,7,-6,10     * Koji Sanada (JPN) d. Yousuke Kurashima (JPN), 9,10,-6,-9,9,-4,8 Three of the quarterfinal matches were all-lefty battles, as six of the eight players were left-handed! The two righty's, Sanada and Kurashima, played each other in a long, almost exhibition match, but there was no doubt it wasn't an exhibition - just both were steady counter-spinners, and both (especially Kurashima) were great lobbers. In the end, it was Sanada into the semifinals, 9,10,-6,-9,9,-4,8. Marmurek (world #117) plays with more "gears" than most players - he can spin at any speed. Since opponents never know what speed he'll be looping at, they are constantly caught off guard. When the do attack strongly, he just backs up and spins - sometimes hard, sometimes soft. After losing the first to Taniguchi (world #291), he dominated most of the rest of the way. In the last game, the two battled to deuce, but Marmurek ripped a winner to end it, -4,9,5,7,-6,10. Karakasevic and Sakamoto dominated their matches, with Karakasevic winning over Spain's Alfredo Cameros, 4,9,2,8 in a pure looping match, and the shakehand looping Sakamoto defeating his penhold looping teammate Muramori, 6,4,4,10. In tomorrow's match-ups, Aleksandar Karakasevic (YUG) will play Ryusuke Sakamoto (JPN), and Olivier Marmurek (FRA) will play Koji Sanada (JPN). The matches will take place back to back at 5:00 and 6:00 PM. The Final will be at 8:00 PM. Women's Singles - Final 16     * Aya Umemura (JPN) d. Hye-Sook Brenda Mun (USA), 3,6,2,3     * Motoko Sato (JPN) d. Lily Yip (USA), -8,11,7,11,10     * Kou Itsuki (JPN) d. Tonja Hain-Hofmann (GER), -6,5,6,4,-6,-11,5     * Wu Xue (DOM) d. Asami Suemasu (JPN), 8,8,-9,-3,-10,8,14     * Satoko Kishida (JPN) d. Mary Rodriguez (DOM), 1,2,4,4     * Jasna Reed (USA) d. Michelle Do (USA), -10,6,-8,5,12,7     * Naoko Taniguchi (JPN) d. Carmen Bejara (DOM), 5,1,14,4     * Wang Chen (USA) d. Marisol Delzo Infante (USA), 3,2,4,4 Six USA players went into the Final 16; two came out. Unfortunately, four of the USA players found themselves playing each other, so two had to go out. Wang Chen (recently  ranked #1 among USA women, and world #33, but previously world #4) won easily over Marisol Delzo Infante, 3,2,4,4, in a battle of close-to-the-table shakehanders with pips on the backhand.  Jasna Reed had a tougher time with Michelle Do (who had knocked her out of the 2001 Nationals), -10,6,-8,5,12,7. Michelle often backhand kills Jasna's opening loops, giving Jasna a tough time. The two split the first four games. In the fifth, Michelle led early, but Jasna tied it at 8-all, and led 10-9 game point. Then Michelle had leads of 11-10 and 12-11, but Jasna held on to win this key game, 14-12, and the sixth, to advance, -10,6,-8,5,12,7 The other USA player, pips-out penhold hitter/blocker Lily Yip, had her chances with inverted penhold looper Motoko Sato of Japan (world #231, to Lily's #143). The scores tell most of the story - -8,11,7,11,10. The missing part of the story was that Lily led 9-7 and 9-6/10-9 in the last two games, but couldn't hold it. "She's steadier than me," said Lily. "She practices more, and so makes fewer mistakes. And she's a fighter." #1 seeded Aya Umemura had no trouble with USA's Hye-Sook Brenda Mun, winning 3,6,2,3 and posing for pictures with her afterwards. Unseeded Kou Itsuki of Japan pulled off the round's main upset, defeating Tonja Hain-Hofmann of Germany (world #80), -6,5,6,4,-6,-11,5. Both are shakehand loopers, but Hain-Hofman had a tendency to back up too often, and ended up lobbing and fishing too often. The points were often spectacular, but spectacular looping and hitting usually beats spectacular lobbing and fishing. Match to Itsuki, -6,5,6,4,-6,-11,5. Naoko Taniguchi of Japan (world #176) and Carmen Bejara of the Dominican Republic are both choppers, and both wanted the other to attack - so there were some long pushing rallies. But Taniguchi was simply too steady, winning 5,1,14,4. The loooongest and best match was easily the battle between world #412 Wu Xue (another player from the Dominican Republic, but originally from China) and Japan's Asami Suemasu (world #309). The rankings may have been deceptive - both seemed far better. Suemasu plays an interesting style - she has what appears to be medium or long pips on the backhand, and can attack and counterdrive with them - or switch to dead blocking - or switch to regular chopping. She seemed to do each about 1/3 of the time. Combined with her all-out forehand attack, and her ability to get just about anything back, and she's a tough opponent. However, Wu Xue's steady lefty penhold looping seemed equally steady - even when faced with attacking 10 balls or more per rally to score a point. Suemasu led 7-4 in the seventh, but after losing the next four in a row, called a timeout. During the timeout, she just sat down to rest, didn't talk to her coach, while Wu Xue talked animatedly with her coach. The score went to 9-all. From there on, they each had three match points - but it was Wu Xue who, leading 15-14, blocked Suemasu out of position and finally ended the match with a smash, 8,8,-9,-3,-10,8,14. In the last quarterfinal, Japan's Satoko Kishida (world #57) had little trouble with Mary Rodriguez (another player from the Dominican Republic), 1,2,4,4. Women's Singles - Quarterfinals     * Aya Umemura (JPN) d. Motoko Sato (JPN), 5,3,8,-13,-7,4     * Wu Xue (DOM) d. Kou Itsuki (JPN), 9,-6,-9,11,8,3     * Satoko Kishida (JPN) d. Jasna Reed (USA), -9,9,8,11,-8,7     * Wang Chen (USA) d. Naoko Taniguchi (JPN), 7,2,4,4 Three of the eight quarterfinalist were lefty's. Combined with the six of eight in the men's, and 9 of the 16 quarterfinalists were stroking from the "wrong" side! Is being left-handed (which players aren't as used to) that big an advantage? Or perhaps Japan was sending lefty's and righty's in equal number so they could play better doubles? (Left/righty combinations are an advantage in doubles, since both players can favor their forehands without getting in each other's way.) The lefty's were Kishida, Sato and Wu Xue.  Wang Chen continued on her roll, winning against her chopping doubles partner, Naoko Taniguchi of Japan, 7,2,4,4. Up 10-0 in the second, only Wang knows if she gave away the next two points! But perhaps you don't want to upset your doubles partner too much - the two will be playing the women's doubles final tomorrow. Wang, who was interviewed by reporters afterwards, said that she has been practicing twice a week for the past two months with chopper Steve Berger, and so felt pretty comfortable playing a chopper. Wang, who hadn't trained much after coming to the U.S. three years ago, is back to full-time training at the Manhattan Club in New York City. She also let us know that she will be a citizen in 2005, after which she will not only be eligible for the USA Nationals, but also for the USA Team - meaning that with her and Gao Jun together, USA will suddenly be a powerhouse! Some of us are already licking our chops....Gao was #3 in the world when she came to the U.S. around 1995, and Wang was #4 in the world just a few years ago. USA's Jasna Reed had difficulty with the high-toss serves of lefty penholder Satoko Kishida of Japan. Kishida throws the ball way up, and during the toss, literally twirls her racket like a baton, making it hard to follow. Jasna had her chances: she was at 9-all in the second (after winning the first), but lost the next two. She led 10-8 in the fourth, but lost 13-11. In the last game, she fell behind 2-7. From 3-7 an interesting pattern emerged: 3-7, 5-7, 5-9, 7-9, 7-11. The pattern not only each player alternating winning two points, but the receiver won every point from 3-7 on. Match to Kishida, -9,9,8,11,-8,7. One consolation to Jasna - she had been interviewed earlier in the day by the Palm Beach Post, who had then assigned two Associated Press photographers to take pictures of her during the match. They took literally hundreds of photos.  The best will not only be in the Saturday's Post, but will be sent on the Associated Press wire where the photo, along with a caption, can be run by any newspaper in the country. (But we'll never know about most of them.) The Dominican Republic's Wu Xue continued her unexpected run to the delight of her growing crowd of fans (helped by the 18 players from her country in the Open), defeating another Japanese player, Kou Itsuki, 9,-6,-9,11,8,3. The key was in the fifth game, when Itsuki led 6-0. Wu closed the lead to 8-6, then won the last five in a row. Japan's Aya Umemura overcame a comeback from lefty-looping penholder and teammate Motoko Sato to win 5,3,8,-13,-7,4. In tomorrow's match-ups, Aya Umemura (JPN) will play Wu Xue (DOM), and Satoko Kishida (JPN) will play Wang Chen (USA). Both matches will take place at 2:15 PM. The Final will be at 7PM. Men's Doubles The top-seeded team of Aleksandar Karakasevic/Johnny Huang had a struggle in the 8ths with Japan's Yuji Taniguchi/Yuji Kawahara, winning -2,10,-8,8,5. They also had some trouble in the semifinals with another Japanese team, defeating Ryusuke Sakamoto/Seiva Kishikawa, 7,-9,6,11. On the other side, the second-seeded team of Thomas Keinath/Stefan Feth wasn't so lucky, losing in the semifinals to still another Japanese team, Koji Sanada/Yousuke Kurashima, -9,5,9,11. Karakasevic/Huang will face Sanada/Kurashima in the final tomorrow at 2:15 PM. The top two seeded teams only lost one game in reaching the final. The top-seeded team from Japan of Aya Umemura/Satoko/Kishida lost a game in the semifinals to teammates Asami Suemasu/Yuka Nishii, 7,-6,7,8. The second-seeded team of Wang Chen (USA) and Naoko Taniguchi (who hadn't even met before they teamed up together) didn't give up more than 8 points in a game in reaching the final. The two finalists will play the Final tomorrow at 1:30 PM. Other Events Lily Yip and Simone Yang split the Over 30 and Over 40 Women's Singles titles, with Lily winning Over 30 (8,7,4), and Simone winning Over 40 (9,8,-6,7). Simone had been the defending champion in both, defeating Lily last year in the Over 30 final. (Lily was newly eligible for Over 40.) But Lily wasn't through - she also took Hardbat Singles over Alexis Perez, 11,12,11. (Hardbat games are to 21.) Lily had defeated Xin Peng (thought by most to be the favorite in this event), in the semifinals, 18,14,-16,18. On the other side, Perez defeated Lim Ming Chui, 9,16,13. Chui, who had reached the quarterfinals with a default from the top-seeded and defending champion Jim Butler, had won this event once before - in 1981! He's also won hardbat at the Nationals - in 1978! Sean O'Neill won his third event here - and quite a mixed bag of events he has won. He had already won the USA Mixed Doubles and Under 2500. Today he took Over 30 Men's Singles over Dan Seemiller in a battle of 5-time USA Men's Singles National Champions. But Sean, 35, had 12 years on the 47-year-old Seemiller, who will also be battling it out tomorrow in Over 40 Men's Singles. Xin Peng and Lim Ming Chui didn't quite win Hardbat, both losing in the semifinals, but they met in the Over 50 Men's Singles final in a battle of pips-out penholders, with Peng winning, 9,2,6. Peng only lost one game in the event (in the semifinals to George Brathwaite), winning his matches by the scores of 3,4,5,1,7,7,7,1,-7,6,9,2,6. Frank Dwelly won Over 70 over Grady Gordon (-5,6,5,-10,2) in a turnaround from last year, where Gordon had beaten him in the semifinals - but lost to Tim Boggan in the final. This time it was Gordon over Boggan in the semifinals, -8,7,12,-8,8. Dwelly has already won Over 70 Doubles for the second year in a row (with Boggan), and will also be defending his Over 75 title tomorrow. Richard Hicks/Marvin Leff won Over 60 Doubles over Alan Grambo/Jerry Marcum, 7,6,8, in the second year in a row in the final for Grambo/Marcum. Last year it had been Hicks with George Brathwaite over them in the final. USA's Mark Hazinski (world # 408) defeated Japan's Seiya Kishikawa (world #231) in the semifinals of Under 21 Men, -9,8,-8,7,11. However, in the final, it was Japan's Ryusuke Sakamoto (world #149) over Hazinski, -7,5,3,6. Jackie Lee and Sophia Dan Dan Yi took turns coming back in the fifth and final game of the Under 21 Women's Final. Sophia led 8-5 in the fifth, but Jackie scored five in a row to go up 10-8 match point. Sophia deuced it, but Jackie won the next two points and the match, 5,-9,3,-8,10. Another battle in this event was Jackie's -10,8,8,-9,8 win over USA's Whitney Ping in the semifinals. Top-seeded Judy Hugh added Under 14 Girls' Singles to her Under 16 Girls' title already won, winning this time over second-seeded Diana Li, 9,7,3. Judy did not lose a game in the event, winning by scores of 4,4,5,5,7,4,3,7,12,9,7,3. Under 1800/Over 40 was won by Alex Voronin over Paul Singh in a close 9,-7,10,9 battle. Under 1650 was won by Tony Chen over Evan Ng, 8,4,10. Tony, who had already won Under 1500,  lost only one game in the event, in the 8ths. Jean Carlos Escudero Berrios easily won the Unrated event without losing a game, winning the final over Pulak Goswami, 5,5,1. Day Four: Aleksandar Karakasevic (YUG) vs. Ryusuke Sakamoto (JPN) In this match-up of lefties, top-seeded Karakasevic had the shot-making advantage, with his ability to rip winners from both wings from anywhere on the court, while Sakamoto had slightly faster footwork. However, it was Karakasevic's ability to score the big points that made the difference. In the first game, Sakamoto led 9-7, and didn't score another point. In the second game, Sakamoto was down 5-6 and didn't score another point. However, in the next three games, Sakamoto's great counterlooping, and Karakasevic's tendency to back up and lob and fish, turned the tide for Sakamoto as he won them at 8 & 7. (In the game four, Karakasevic led 4-1.) Down 3-2 in games, and down 6-8 in the sixth, Karakasevic was in danger of being eliminated - but again he rose to the occasion, as Sakamoto didn't score another point. In fact, after scoring the last five points in a row in game six, he won the first six in the deciding seventh game! But Sakamoto wasn't out of it yet - he made it to 6-3, then 8-6, and suddenly it was a match again. Once again, Karakasevic rose to the occasion - this time with a net ball that Sakamoto pops up, 9-6. Then, in a series of counterlooping points, it's 9-7, 11-7 for Karakasevic, who holds on to win 9,5,-8,-7,-6,8,7. Olivier Marmurek (FRA) vs. Koji Sanada (JPN) Sanada is a great attacker, but too erratic. The lefty Marmurek is steadier both on offense and defense, and the result was an easy 7,7,4,8 win for the Frenchman. Interestingly, both players seemed to be hiding their serves, as several spectators pointed out. "I stopped playing for a year because of a ruptured hamstring," Marmurek said.  "I slipped on a slippery floor in 2000 while playing, and had to have surgery." He showed the back of his right hamstring, and there was a major scar there. "I was in bed for three months, with the leg in traction. I started playing again in September of 2001, but it's been a long comeback. This is my first major final ever!" While he makes a very good living as a professional table tennis player, he also said that he owns a company - one that exports women's bikinis from France to South Africa! Men's Singles - Final Aleksandar Karakasevic (YUG) vs. Olivier Marmurek (FRA) It started out as a rout, as Karakasevic won the first two games in another all-lefty match 11-2 and 11-4. When his shots are hitting, there's almost no stopping him. In the third, at 9-all, Karakasevic served into the net! He's down 9-10, 10-11, 11-12 and 12-13 before Marmurek drops Karakasevic's serve short, Karakasevic flips it, and Marmurek loops a winner, 14-12.Karakasevic has seemed irritated for a while, and is carrying on what sound like an agitated conversation with someone in the stands. "He's too angry. How can he play good table tennis?" commented USATT Hall of Famer George Brathwaite. In the fourth, Marmurek's attack becomes stronger, and he leads early on stays ahead to win, 11-8. But no Karakasevic goes up 5-0 in winning the fifth 11-3. It looks like a seven-gamer as Marmurek leads 8-2 in the sixth - only to lose seven in a row to fall behind 8-9! Once again, Karakasevic has won the points when he needed them. Marmurek ties it up 9-9, with Karakasevic to serve. Marmurek pops the first serve up, and puts the second serve (fast to his backhand) into the net, and Karakasevic has won, 2,4,-12,-8,3,9. "When I saw Lundqvist had dropped out, I thought the tournament would be a little easier to win," Karakasevic said. "However, it was harder than I thought! I haven't practiced much since the World Championships," he added. When asked by a reported if he made a living at table tennis, he said, "I live very well off table tennis!" He explained to the reporters that he and others play in leagues in Germany, where there is very good money. Later, one of the reporters was heard to remark, "Can you imagine that - making a living at table tennis!" Women's Singles - Semifinals     * Aya Umemura (JPN) d. Wu Xue (DOM), 9,12,12,10     * Wang Chen (USA) d. Satoko Kishida (JPN), 7,-8,3,7,-4,12 Either of these matches could have gone the other way, but in each case, the higher-ranked player won the "big" points to win the match. Umemura may have beaten Wu Xue 4-0, but the scores tell a story themselves. Sandwiched between losing the first 11-9 and the fourth 12-10 (no game points there), Wu Xue led the second 10-8 and 12-11, and led the third 10-7 and 11-10. Wu had a huge cheering section from the Dominican Republic, who cheered and clapped in rhythm throughout the match. The key to Umemura's win (besides going 7-0 when down game point!) was her two-winged looping game, especially her backhand loop, which she'd often loop right off the bounce for a winner. Also key was her not being bothered  by a service fault (for throwing the ball backwards) at 12-11 in the third. She followed it up with a brilliantly angled backhand block to the lefty Wu's wide forehand that Wu could only look at, and then a fast serve that Wu backhanded off.  Into the semifinals went the #1 seed, 9,12,12,10. The other semifinal was a match-up of super-high toss serves, between the lefty penhold looping Kishida and the tall, close-to-table Wang, with pips on the backhand. #2 seeded Wang Chen at one point seemed to be running away with her match, but Kishida worked her way back into it. In the first, down 6-7, Wang scored five in a row. After losing the second at 8, Wang romped in the next two games (leading 8-0 in the third), winning at 3 & 7. However, Kishida lefty penhold loops (especially following up her serves) were on fire in the fifth as she won 11-4. In the sixth, Wang was up 8-5 and on the verge of winning. Kishida took a one-minute timeout - and it was an effective one. When she returned, she won three in a row (8-all), leading Wang to take a timeout. It went to deuce, and Kishida had her chances to force a decisive seventh game, getting the ad three straight times at 10-9, 11-10 and 12-11. At 12-all, Wang served fast to Kishida's forehand, and Kishida whiffed an attempted off-the-bounce loop. Wang then looped Kishida's serve, and Kishida blocked it off. Match to Wang, 7,-8,3,7,-4,12. Women's Singles - Final Going into the Final, most people seemed to consider Wang Chen the favorite. After all, she used to be #4 in the world before she came to the U.S. and stopped training seriously - and she was back to serious training again. Umemura, on the other hand, had jumped from #26 to #16 in the world at the Brazil Open by making the final, and seemed to be playing very well. That, as it would turn out, would be an understatement. In the Final, Wang played her usual lightning fast backhand hitting/forehand looping game. Most games deteriorate under the stress of such a pace. But in this match, Umemura simply raised her level of play far beyond what was expected. No matter how hard Wang hit the ball, Umemura seemed able to take a full swing. The contrast in styles was obvious. While both looped on the forehand, Wang has short pips on the backhand, and hits from over the table. Umemura has inverted, and loops just about everything on the backhand. In this match, when Wang smacked a "winning" backhand, Umemura would loop it right back, without even backing up from the table much. Umemura's backhand loops off the bounce off Wang's backhand hits was absolutely spectacular. Umemura won the first two games easily at 7 & 4, dominating the rallies with her two-winged looping. In the third, Wang went up 5-1, then 9-6, 9-8, 10-8, 11-9. But in the fourth, Umemura was back to dominating, and won the match, 7,4,-9,6,4. It was Umemura's second U.S. Open Women's Singles Final - she had lost in the Final in 2001 to Nia Jianfeng of China. "I feel I played very well," Umemura, 27, said afterwards. "I played my style, which is topspin, topspin, topspin!" When asked about Wang's high toss serve, she said, "I have had trouble with it before, but today was no problem." "She played very well today," Wang, 29, said. "She hit everything. I need to practice more - I've only been practicing again for three months. I need more international matches." Of her strategy against Umemura, she said, "I tried different serves - high-toss serves, backhand serves, serves to the forehand, but it didn't work." Men's Doubles - Final The Killerspin team of Aleksandar Karakasevic/Johnny Huang had an early round scare against the Japanese team of Yuji Taniguchi/Yuji Kawahara (where they'd been down 2-1 before winning -2,10,-8,8,5 in the round of 16). They also had difficulties in the semifinals against another Japanese team (Ryusuke Sakamoto/Seiva Kishikawa), winning 7,-9,6,11. But in the final, facing still another Japanese team, they romped, winning 5,4,1 over Koji Sanada/Yousuke Kurashima. When the two get going, they are dangerous. Huang, a shakehander with short pips on both sides (a rare style) can equally control play with his returns (setting his partner up) or end points with sudden kills. Karakasevic, with his two-winged power-looping game, can almost loop at will. But since both play a lot of high-risk shots, they can also run into trouble, as they did before the Final ... but not in the Final. Women's Doubles - Final USA's Wang Chen and the Japanese chopper Naoko Taniguchi dominated Women's Doubles from start to finish. Before the Final, no one had scored more than 8 in a game against them. In the final, they faced the Japanese team of Aya Umemura/Satoko Kishida. The Japanese team won the first at 6, and did challenge Wang/Taniguchi the next two games before folding in the fourth. Match to the USA/Japanese team, -6,9,8,1. Other Events Dan Seemiller dominated Over 40 Men, defeating Carlton Sealy of Barbados in the final, 2,2,3. It was somewhat obvious that Sealy wasn't particularly familiar with the "Seemiller" grip (named after ... Dan Seemiller!), or the antispin that Dan has on one side of the racket. George Brathwaite and Dave Sakai dominated Over 50 Doubles this year, defeating the defending champions and top seeds Hank McCoullum/Richard Hicks in the semifinals (6,9,3), and Lim Ming Chui/Changping Duan in the final (6,6,-3,14). The two are simply two steady, with George spinning and Dave blocking, and they have played together many times. Frank Dwelly had already won Over 70 Singles and Doubles, and made the final of Over 75 (where he'd lost Grady Gordon, who he'd won against in the Over 70 singles final). He added Over 80 Singles to his collection, defeating Harry Deschamps in the final, 4,3,7. Deschamps had defeated defending champion Louis Radzeli in the semifinals, 10,4,6. Under 14 Boys' Singles Champion Juan Vila, Jr. Photo by Gerry Chua ©2003. Under 14 Boys' Singles was won by Juan Vila Jr. of the Dominican Republic, -7,8,7,10 over Jade Padmore of Barbados. Under 16 Doubles had two girls' teams and two boys' teams in the semifinals, and a boys' team and a girls' team in the final. In the semifinals, Judy Hugh and Atha Fong had upset the second seeds, Misha Kazantsev/Sergy Gutkin, -7,10,-12,8,5. In the other semifinals, Adam Hugh/John Leach won over Barbara Wei/Rita Wu, 5,8,-9,6. In the final, it was Hugh/Leach over Hugh/Fong, 4,5,7. Under 14 Doubles featured a Barbados team of Jade Padmore/Ramon Husein versus a pair of 11-year-olds standing a head shorter, Preston Chin/Kevin Ma. The taller heads prevailed, 4,3,6. In what will for certain be the longest match of the tournament, both in time and in total points played, chopper Steve Berger defended his Over 40 Hardbat Singles title from last year, -21,18,-14,19,25 (!) over penholder Lim Ming Chui. (Hardbat games are to 21.) Neither player lost a game in reaching the Final. Under 2100 was won by Florida's Yamil Rivera, whose rating of 2099 made him the top seed. He defeated Donald Hayes in the final, 8,5,4. Under 2100 Women was won by Marisol Delzo Infante, 7,9,12 over fellow Floridian Beata Wronska. Wronska had had to struggle in the semifinals against Svetlana Panich, 7,11,-5,-6,9. Under 1900 was won by William Ramos, -8,9,7,5 over Kane Watson. Until the final, Ramos didn't lose a game in the event. Under 1350 was won by Michael Hsing, 9,-8,6,9 over Manuel Adono Caraballo. But then Caraballo would go on to win Under 1000, 4,-9,-7,6,8 over Cynthia Gonzalez. Caraballo and Gonzalez are both juniors from Puerto Rico, both about 10. Awards Two awards were given out during breaks during the major finals. The first was the Dr. Michael Scott Award for Umpires, which went to Yelena Karshtedt. The second was the new Ironman Award for whoever plays the most USATT matches in a year - and the inaugural award went to Julian Waters, who played a record 347 singles matches in USATT sanctioned tournaments in 2002! Stats on this are available since 1994, and the previous record was 257 by Lee McCool in 1997.  Day Four Sunday was a half day, with only seven events, and everything over by around 1:30 PM. Six of the events were junior events. A red-hot 14-year-old Misha Kazantsev upset top-seeded Adam Hugh in the semifinals of Under 18 Boys' Singles, 9,4,-8,-7,8. It was a battle of Misha's footwork and forehand versus Adam's more all-around game - but Misha's forehand could do no wrong much of this match, and his blocking was greatly improved. Misha won the first two, then lost the next two. In the fifth, Misha went up 7-2, but Adam came racing back to 7-6. Misha called a timeout. When he returned, his forehand was clicking again as he pulled away to win 11-8. In the Final, Misha defeated Puerto Rico's Santiago Coste, 6,-9,8,7, in a battle of big forehands and forehand counterlooping. Of his match with Adam, Misha said, "I had to fight hard, and try to find ways to get my forehand into play. In the fifth game, when Adam dropped my serve short, I had to flip, not push." Tony Chen won Under 12 Boys' Singles over Preston Chin, -1,10,-5,7,6. Tony had already won Under 1500 and Under 1650 - and he had one more final coming up. Top-seeded A.J. Brewer won Under 10 Boys' Singles over second-seeded Janiel Li, -7,12,-10,6,9. Jackie Lee won Under 18 Girls' Singles over Marisol Delzo Infante, 8,5,9. Only Judy Hugh in the semifinals was able to get a game off her in the event. Jackie was seeded second, a few points lower than Whitney Ping (they two flip back and forth in the seedings regularly), but Whitney had to leave early, and so dropped out of the event. Top-seeded Alicia Wei won Under 12 Girls' Singles over second-seeded Amy Huang, 7,9,-3,-7,5. (Parts of the match was taped by Fox News.) Amy had a scare in the semifinals, defeating Linden Li at 9,-8,-8,7,4. Under 10 Girls' Singles was won by Carelyn Cordero over top-seeded Andrea Lin, 9,6,5. Under 1800 was won by Bruno Ramirez over ... Tony Chen in his fourth final! Tony almost had a fourth title, but Bruno won, 8,8,-9,8. Bruno and Tony each had one very tough match to reach the final. Bruno defeated Rafael Valencia Tavares at 10,9,-10,-9,8 in the semifinals; Tony defeated William Ramos at 10,-7,-4,9,10 in the quarterfinals.

 

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