2003 U.S.Nationals

Day One: Wednesday, Dec. 17 By Larry Hodges Results It was a day of flu and fire ants (which invaded table 78 for a time). Tournament Director Fong Hsu came down with the flu, but continued to work on. Mark Hazinski, top seed in Under 22 Men and #5 seed in Men's Singles, also came down with flu. So did U.S. #1 10-year-old Peter Li, who spent the day in bed in hopes of continuing the next day. I'm sure there were others - anyone reading the news knows about the flu epidemic running the country. With the return to Hall C4, the floors - while still not perfect, being concrete - were far better than the year before. The tables were basically individually barriered, with one barrier on each side of each player (jutting out from the row of barriers behind the player) to stop balls, and another in the middle to stop balls that roll off the net. Over 40 Men: It was a 3,5,5,5,5,6,2,3,4,7,3,8,6,-9,1,4 romp for easily-top-seed Cheng Yinghua. OK, second-seeded De Tran did get a game off him in the final - but see the last two game scores in the 6,-9,1,4 match. With Men's Singles coming up, the question about Cheng, now 45 years old, was this: Would an "Old" Cheng show up, or the "Old" Cheng? So far, it was the "Old" Cheng, circa 1980s and 90s. Over 40 Women: In the all-Chinese Final Four, it was Lily Yip 5,9,7 over Simone Yang in one semifinal, and Hong Zhao (playing in her first Nationals as a new USA citizen) 3,3,4 over Wan Yee Cheung in the other semifinal. In the final, it was all Lily, 6,6,4. Over 60 Doubles: Howard Grossman and Richard Hicks successfully chopped and pick hit their way to defending their title from last year ... and the year before ... and the year before. It was their four straight Over 60 Doubles title at the Nationals. They were never really challenged, never giving up more than 7 in a game except for one lost game in the final (-9,7,3,3) in the final against George Brathwaite and Graham Gear. Under 22 Men: Mark Hazinski had to drop out due to the flu, leaving things wide open for others. The next to fall was second-seeded Han Xiao, who couldn't hold a 5-2 fifth game lead in losing to Auria Malek, 7,-13,-9,11,9. Third and fourth seeds Adam Hugh and Misha Kazantsev mostly romped in the final ... whereupon Adam continued to romp, winning 8,5,2 against Misha, who'd upset him at the U.S. Open.  Under 22 Women: The first big upset came in the quarters, when Jennifer Mast, rated only 1676, upset #3 seeded Judy Hugh, rated 2028, 6,-7,-11,9,8. However, Jennifer went down in the semifinals to top-seeded Michelle Do (2209), 10,6,9. On the other half, Wendy Eav - co-seeded #3 since she too was rated 2028, lost to second-seeded Laura Xiao (2083). In the final, major upset #2 took place, as Laura came out on top, 9,-2,-9,7,7. Over 40 Hardbat Singles: With leads of 19-6 and 19-8 in the first two games (leading to 21-9, 21-13 wins, since hardbat games are to 21), the eventual winner seemed to be coasting. In the third, he led 19-16 - and then was down 19-20 to Ray Mack, who had upset Steve Berger in the semifinals for the second year in a row. However, the eventual winner managed to hang on with a few snap kills and key chops, and won the final at 9,13,22. Yay, me!!!     Hardbat Doubles: Steve Berger and his partner won this event for the third straight year, defeating Ashu Jain and John Jarema in the final, 18,13. It was an interesting match-up of Steve's chopping & pick-hitting, his partner's forehand (yay, me!), Ashu's athleticism, and John's backhand. Interestingly, most didn't think either of these teams would win - the dark horse entry was Cheng Yinghua - yes, THAT Cheng Yinghua, partnered with Julian Waters. While some were wondering what Cheng was doing in this event (it's trophies only!), Rudy Miranda and Bernard Savitz were doing something about it, taking them out in the quarterfinals, -13,17,18. Under 4200 Doubles: Larry Bavly and Judy Hugh of New Jersey struggled in the early rounds, winning in five in the first two rounds. In fact, in the round of 32, they were down 2-0 to Scott Preiss and David Edwards before winning at -11,-4,11,7,2. In the next round, they went up 2-0, and had to go five - 11-9 in the fifth, in fact! - to win against Allison Seibel and Angela Sun, 8,8,-5,-9,9. Then they started getting in gear, winning 3-1 in the quarterfinals, then 3-0 in the semifinals and in the final, where they won 9,9,5 against Masuru Hashimoto and John Schneider. Under 3700 Doubles: Another New Jersey team, Alden Fan and Matthew Lee, struck again, winning the final over Daniel Sie and Thomas Veatch, 8,-7,9,2. (What do they do in New Jersey, actually practice doubles?)  Their close call was in the semifinals, where they barely won at -6,9,7,-9,10 over Christian Solomon and Alex Voronin. Under 3200 Doubles: You can't do much better than come in top seed, and win four straight 3-0 matches in winning the event! That's what Kenneth Tananan and Ken Trinh did. In the final, they defeated David Gringaus and Mike Mostovetsky, 9,10,6. Day Two: Thursday, Dec. 18 By Larry Hodges Men's Singles: Round One There were two "interesting" matches this round. The first was  2184-rated Sakda Timsuwan's win over 2574-rated Razvan Cretu, the #8 seed in Men's Singles, -6,8,8,8. Timsuwan is basically a forehand looper, but uses long pips on the backhand. On the backhand, he chop-blocks, chops, and often flips to the inverted to counter-hit. Against Cretu, he said his forehand was on, and that Cretu made a lot of mistakes against the long pips. The other interesting match was 2183-rated Konstantin Chernomorskiy's comeback upset win against 2309-rated Barry Dattel, -1,-9,8,6,9. Interesting scores: #1 and #3 seeds Ilija Lupulesku, headed for a possible semifinal showdown, both won their first round matches by the devilish scores of 6,6,6. Men's Singles: Round Two     The 2447-rated Alexis Perez ended Timsuwan's run, but in a match where the players mistakenly played best of five when it was best of seven starting this round. Perez won, -9,3,9,3. However, the big upset this round was Rudy Miranda (2202) over Brian Pace (2476), 7,8,9,-7,-8,-7,8. Down 3-0, Pace fought back to win the next three, but couldn't pull out the seventh. (Note - earlier it was reported that 2183-rated Lloyd McQueen had won the first game against 2648-rated Mark Hazinski 11-0 - and then lost the next four - but it turns out to have been a "hoax"! Hazinski won at 8,9,10,2) So far, a 2202-rated player has beaten a 2476; a 2184 has beaten a 2574; and a 2183 has beaten a 2309. ! Women's Singles: Round One The top seeds all had byes, so there were only three matches played this round. Two were routine, as Mahin Roufeh defeated Rebecca Le, 8,8,3,2, and Charlene Liu defeated Lynn Schumer, 3,2,3,6. The third match was a battle of youth against experience, with youth winning 4-3 this time as Atha Fong (14), the #4 seed in Under 15 Girls, defeated the #2 seed in Over 60 Women, Barbara Kaminsky, -4,5,7,-7,4,-10,6. Women's Double The first sign that something might be happening was when Lily Yip and Judy Hugh upset #2 seeds Simone Yang and Michelle Do, -11,1,4,7. But in the final, they faced Tawny Banh and Jasna Reed, easily the top seeds. Banh/Reed won the first two games easily, but then found themselves down 9-7 in the fifth! Banh/Reed scored three in a row to go up 10-9 match point. Lily said, "We'd most been returning serves short, but Judy said she was confident she could flip the serve in." Judy flipped but it went just off to the side, and Banh/Reed went on to win, 5,2,-8,-11,10. Junior and Cadet Team Trials The USA Junior Boys (under 18) and Cadet Boys (under 15) and Girls Team Trials were held today. (The Junior Girls Trials were held previously.) Results (including round robin and crossover matches) are with the other tournament results. The order of finish (top four make the team; others are alternates) were as follows, including the Junior Girls results:     Junior Boys: 1st Adam Hugh; 2nd Misha Kazantsev; 3rd Han Xiao; 4th Auria Malek; 5th Khaleel Asgarali; 6th Pan Lin; 7th Kevin Phung; 8th Derrick Poon     Junior Girls: 1st Whitney Ping; 2nd Katherine Wu; 3rd Sophia Yi; 4th Lani Lei; 5th Barbara Wei; 6th Elaine Kwok; 7th Atha Fong; 8th Laura Xiao     Cadet Boys: 1st John Leach; 2nd Mark Wei; 3rd Steven Chan; 4th Jeff Huang; 5th Alden Fan; 6th Preston Chin; 7th Joseph Cochran; 8th Danny Ho     Cadet Girls: 1st Chun Yi Wang; 2nd Judy Hugh; 3rd Barbara Wei; 4th Rita Wu; 5th Stephanie Shih; 6th Sarah Zheng; 7th Jennifer Mast; 8th Atha Fong Under 18 Girls' Singles Things went exactly as seeded, as top seed Laura Xiao (who had already won Under 22 Women the day before) defeated Wendy Eav in the final, -11,5,6,9. Wendy had barely gotten by Judy Hugh in the semifinals, -6,9,-10,8,10. (The USA Junior Girls' Team - Whitney Ping, Jackie Lee, Katherine Wu and Laura Leach - are missing the USA Nationals so they can attend the World Junior Championships, currently taking place in Chile.)        Over 50 Men's Singles How many times have they played over the years? Has anybody kept track of their lifetime record? In the final, it was Lim Ming Chui over George Brathwaite, 8,-14,2,6. Chui had survived a close one in the semifinals against Richard Hicks, winning 6,-7,-5,7,9. These three players play about as contrasting styles as is possible - Chui, the lefty pips-out penholder hitter/blocker; Brathwaite, the two-winged topspinning machine; and Hicks, the chopper with long pips on the backhand. Over 70 Grady Gordon had lost in the final last year to Marty Reisman. However, this was Gordon's year, as he defeated Reisman in the semifinals (-9,8,12,9), and Dick Peregrine in the final, 4,8,-9,6. Over 80 How many years has it been since George Hendry was on a Wheaties box? The legend (and former World Over 70 Champion) won again, over Frank Dwelly - but barely, as Dwelly offered a spirited comeback, 4,3,-9,-6,8. Over 40 Doubles As expected, and just as last year, the final was between #1 seeds Cheng Yinghua/Dave Sakai and #2 seeds Barry Dattel/De Tran. (Cheng/Sakai were in the final for the fifth year in a row - they had won in three straight times, 1999-2001.) Dattel/Tran defeated Hank McCoullum/Richard Hicks in the semifinals - just as they had last year - with a "goose egg" game stuck in. For the second year in a row, Dattel/Tran "upset" the top seeds, this time 11,9,-4,6. Under 2000 Hardbat Who would have believed it? The Hardbat Chair over the Hardbat Legend? "He let me off the hook in game two, and I made him pay for it," said Scott Gordon of his upset win over Marty Reisman in the final, -14,21,16. "He led 20-18, but played very soft the rest of the way. I got the ad with an edge. The last point we were pushing, and I surprised him by stepping around and killing his push." Both players had had scares in the semifinals, as each lost the first game: Reisman over Ralph Stadelman, -19,13,14, and Gordon over Al Papp, -8,14,14. Rating Events (just the results) Under 2400 - Final: Tuan Le d. Shuja Jafar-Ali, -14,4,16,7; SF: Jafar-Ali d. Clark Yeh, -8,-3,11,8,10; Le d. Courtney Roberts, -10,12,3,-2,9; QF: Yeh d. Mark Nordby, 3,6,-6,9; Jarar-Ali d. Tung Phan, 5,4,9; Le d. John Wetzler, 6,6,-10,6; Roberts d. Lily Yip, 9,8,4. Under 2300 - Final: Courtney Roberts d. Rudy Miranda, 8,4,11; SF: Roberts d. Thor Truelson, 4,4,7; Miranda d. Patrick Mualem, 1,9,-11,-7,13; QF: Miranda . Shuja Jafar-Ali, 6,-6,-6,10,7; Mualem d. David Umel Jr., 6,-9,10,-8,6; Roberts d. Sakda Timsuwan, 12,3,9; Truelson d. Tung Phan, 10,7,-10,8. Under 2000 - Final: Brent Swanson d. Steven Chan, -6,-11,6,6,5; SF: Swanson d. Jim McQueen, -11,4,5,5; Chan d. Ronald Spencer, 8,-8,9,-6,6; QF: Chan d. Atha Fong, 8,8,6; Spencer d. Viktor Sidorov, 7,-9,8,8; Jim McQueen d. Barney D. Reed, -9,7,9,7; Swanson d. Mark Wei, -5,10,9,-7,8. Under 1400 - Final: John Curd d. Leon Hodges, 6,9,8; SF: Curd d. Kristian Morell, 6,4,5; Hodges d. Sarkis Boukhanian, 9,15,6. Day Three: Friday, Dec. 19 By Larry Hodges Men's Singles: Round of 16     *Ilija Lupulesku d. De Tran, 7,6,2,6     *Khoa Nguyen d. Eric Owens, 7,8,7,4     *Adam Hugh d. Alexis Perez, 8,4,8,9     *Cheng Yinghua d. Chi-Sun Chui, 4,4,14,3     *Han Xiao d. Barney J. Reed, 5,-11,-12,-4,6,9,7     *Mark Hazinski d. Shuja Jafar-Ali, 5,2,3,5     *Todd Sweeris d. Ashu Jain, 3,-10,-8,9,6,7     *David Zhuang d. Rudy Miranda, 5,7,4,5 In the top half of the draw, all four matches were 4-0, as were two on the bottom. Three matches were of interest. First was Khoa Nguyen's 4-0 win over Eric Owens. Eric looked rusty, while Khoa was all over the court attacking. The points were great, but all too many ended with Khoa crushing a forehand. Eric had finished his finals a few days before - he's a Biochemistry Pre-Med major. Another match of interest was Han Xiao's 4-3 upset of Barney J. Reed. Xiao had upset Reed two weeks before at the North American Teams, but this time was down 3-1 before staging a comeback. Han's relentless backhand looping from over the table rushed Barney, forcing many mistakes. "I think some nets bothered him," Han said. "He got a little frustrated and tightened up." The final  match of interest was Todd Sweeris (recently Xiao's practice partner) against Ashu Jain. Jain led 2-1, but like Xiao, Sweeris came back to win the last three. Men's Singles: Quarterfinals     *Ilija Lupulesku d. Khoa Nguyen, 7,12,12,8     *Adam Hugh d. Cheng Yinghua, -9,-10,5,15,7,-7,2     *Mark Hazinski d. Han Xiao, 11,7,7,8     *David Zhuang d. Todd Sweeris, 3,-8,8,6,9 Of course, the match that JUMPS out above is 15-year-old Adam Hugh's upset over Cheng Yinghua. To some, this was astounding - a passing of the torch. To others, it was indeed a passing of the torch - but not so astounding, since Cheng, 45, hadn't played a tournament in a year, and the rust showed, and Adam - who was on fire this match! - was just the fearless type of player who wouldn't be intimidated by Cheng. On the forehand side, it sometimes looked like Cheng just couldn't find the table when he went for big shots - so Cheng went into a steady game, blocking and spinning. Adam came at him fearlessly, and made him pay for the lack of attack. Adam's backhand was especially effective. The key to the match was game four. Cheng was up 2-1 in games, and led 9-5. After a net-edge to reach 9-7, Cheng serve & ripped a forehand - off. He then served and started to rip a forehand - but Adam caught him with a short push, which Cheng pushed in the next, 9-9. Cheng looped again, again it goes off, 9-10 Adam, but then Adam hits a backhand into the net, 10-all. Cheng serve & rips a forehand - but it's off again, 10-11. Adam has a chance to win the game a serve & rip that seems to catch Cheng going the wrong way, but it goes into the net. Cheng leads 12-11, 13-12, and 14-13 - but Adam gets two nets in a row to lead 15-14. Finally, Adam backhand hits a winner to win that game, 17-15, and the match is tied up, 2-2. Worse, Cheng is exhausted, while Adam still looks fresh - and Adam goes up 5-0 in the next game in winning 11-7. Cheng isn't through, however, and dominates the sixth, 11-7. Up 9-7, Cheng suddenly plays like the "old" Cheng, and rips a series of backhand and forehand loops, which Adam manages to block until Cheng does an acrobatic forehand rip from the backhand corner. But he looks out of breath after the point. So it's into the seventh, with a huge crowd watching here in the main arena. But the seventh is over quickly - it's all Adam, as all Cheng can do is exchange backhands, missing nearly any forehand, while Adam comes at him relentlessly from both sides - 11-2. Tactically, Adam has played a very nice strategy of opening soft with either forehand or backhand loops to Cheng's wide backhand, then following up with backhand hitting or forehand loops. Many rallies became backhand to backhand, with Adam coming at Cheng very aggressively, Cheng playing a steady, close-to-the-table spinning backhand. Both players played the other's middle well, but most point-winners were to the wide forehand. Khoa Nguyen had his chances with Ilija Lupulesku, but couldn't quite convert. Khoa led 9-5 in the second, but lost 5 in a row. He deuced it, but missed a counterloop from up 11-10. Up 13-12, Lupi was off the table half-lobbing, half fishing, while Khoa looped over and over - and then missed. Game four was almost a replay. Again Khoa led 9-5. At 9-8, Lupi missed an easy forehand, and looks up in disgust, 10-8 Khoa. But now, in his attempt to serve short so Lupi can't Loop his serve, Khoa overdoes it - and serves into the net twice in a row!!! 10-10. From there on, they have great rallies, but Khoa never has an ad in losing 14-12. Lupi then wins game four easily. Tactically, Lupi often turned Khoa into a blocker, with Khoa hesitant to counterloop with Lupi, the best counterlooper in the country. When Khoa did counterloop, he'd often get Lupi to spin soft, defensively, but after a few loops, Khoa would usually miss one awkwardly, as if not expecting still another return. Most rallies started with Lupi serve and looping, or getting the first loop even on Khoa's serve.  "I felt really good in that match," Lupulesku said afterwards. "He had no solution to returning my serve." Which meant that the master looper was able to serve and loop over and over and over and over. Mark Hazinski dominated much of his match with Han Xiao with his backhand punch block. Both Mark and Han have excellent backhand loops, but Han plays his closer to the table. So when he backhand looped, Mark would punch-block it hard, rushing Han into missing. Once they got into rallies, Mark is a slightly better counterlooper, and has more power. Han had his chances in the first game - but at 9-all he served a net-ticker off the end, and down 11-12, he served still another net-ticker off the end to lose. ("That was very annoying," he said later of the net-tickers.") The rallies were short as both players ended the point very quickly and efficiently from both wings. After losing the first, Todd Sweeris led 4-0 in the second, 5-0 in the third against David Zhuang. He converted the first, and went up 7-1 in the second - then lost 8 in a row, 7-9. After losing that game 11-8, it was mostly over, although he did fight from down 8-3 in the fifth to reach 9-all - but then hit two backhands into the net. The Semifinal matches (which start at 5:00 PM on Saturday) are Ilija Lupulesku vs. Adam Hugh, and David Zhuang vs. Mark Hazinski. Women's Singles: Round of 16     *Jasna Reed d. Wendy Eav, 8,5,7,7     *Judy Hugh d. Anzhelika Tyan, 7,6,6,-9,6     *Simone Yang d. Mahin Roufeh, 1,4,6,2     *Hong Zhao d. Barbara Wei, 10,-12,6,-8,7,3     *Lily Yip d. Toni Gresham, 1,4,5,10     *Michelle Do d. Charlene Liu, 7,3,12,12     *Li Ai d. Atha Fong, 6,5,11,6     *Tawny Banh d. Laura Xiao, 8,3,5,10 The only upset this round was 14-year-old Judy Hugh's win over Anzhelika Tyan. Tyan (also known as Angela Tian) has been rated as high as 2291, but is currently 2182 to Judy's 2028. Another 14-year-old, Barbara Wei (rated 2003), also had a nice performance, losing 4-2 to the #4 seeded woman, Hong Zhao, rated 2266. The other six matches were all 4-0.     Women's Singles: Quarterfinals     *Jasna Reed d. Judy Hugh, 5,7,6,6     *Hong Zhao d. Simone Yang, -3,-7,12,11,-9,3,7     * Lily Yip d. Michelle Do, 9,4,-9,10,3     *Tawny Banh d. Li Ai, 7,13,5,5 There were no upsets, and the top four seeds are now into the semifinals. The only close one was Hong Zhao's 4-3 battle with U.S. team member Simone Yang. The two are rated 2266 and 2242, respectively, so it was no surprise the closeness of the match. Hong plays a unique game, a penholder who uses inverted and long pips, and regularly flips in the rally. Simone is basically a blocker, and the two played long countering rallies.     Men's Doubles It was no surprise that Ilija Lupulesku and David Zhuang, probably the two best doubles players in the U.S. and the top two seeds here, coasted into the final (and yes, won the final easily). The big battle in the semifinals was between the #2 seeds, Mark Hazinski and Barney J. Reed, and the veterans (and #3 seeds) Todd Sweeris and Brian Pace. Hazinski/Reed had the advantage of being left/righty, and pretty much dominated the first two games at 5 & 4. "In the last three games, I focused on controlling the table, and told Brian to just loop everything steady." The tactic seemed to work as they won the next three and the match, -5,-4,7,8,4. In the final, however, as good as Todd is at controlling the table, David is better; and as good as Brian is at looping, nobody can match Lupulesku in steady looping. The final went to Lupi & David, 3,7,8. Mixed Doubles Like Men's Doubles, it came as no surprise nobody could get a game off of Ilija Lupulesku and Jasna Reed. And also like men's doubles, the big battle was in the semifinals. Adam Hugh and mom Lily Yip had upset in the quarterfinals the slightly higher rated (and #4 seeded team) of Khoa Nguyen and Li Ai (yes, she's back in action!), 8,5,8. In the semis, Hugh/Yip played the #2 seeded team of Eric Owens and Tawny Banh. After losing the first 15-13, Hugh/Yip won the next three and the match, -13,7,7,11, with "Mother of the Year" Lily (who'd also made the final of Women's Doubles with daughter Judy) smashing in the final match-winning point. In the final, every game was nail-bitingly close, with Lupi & Jasna winning 9,10,9. Senior Events For the second year in a row it was George Brathwaite vs. Richard Hicks in the Over 60 Men's Singles final, and for the second year in a row, Brathwaite won, this year at 10,7,3. (Of course, the year before that Hicks won over Nick Mintsiveris, who had upset George in the semifinals. Last year, Bella Livshin had lost to Charlene Liu in the semifinals of Over 50 Women, and Mahin Roufeh had won the final over Liu. This year, it was Livshin over Roufeh in the semifinals (4,9,3), and over Liu in the final (-7,7,6,6). Barbara Kaminsky successfully defended her Over 60 Women's Singles crown, winning over Danuta Andrzejewska, 7,9,9. George Hendry added Over 75 to his Over 80 crown, winning the final over Grady Gordon, 6,11,9. Hendry had played Frank Dwelly in the Over 80 Final, and again here in the semifinals - and won both 11-8 in the fifth. Ironically, Gordon had won Over 70, but couldn't take Over 75. George Brathwaite/Dave Sakai won Over 50 Doubles over defending champions Lim Ming Chui/Jiri Hlava, 6,7,-9,-11,3. In Over 70 Doubles, Tim Boggan/Frank Dwelly won for the fourth year in a row, defeating Grady Gordon/George Hendry, 5,6,9. It was the seventh straight time the two have won the event at the U.S. Nationals and U.S. Open.  Other Results Under 2200 - Final: Sakda Timsuwan d. Steve Berger, 7,5,4; SF: Timsuwan d. Michael Hadsell Jr., 6,-9,8,-9,6; Berger d. Santos Shih, 5,6,3; QF: Hadsell d. Chong Keng Tay, 5,9,-8,-9,9; Timsuwan d. Aleksandr Mikhlin, -8,8,-4,5,5; Shih d. Pan Lin, -6,6,9,9; Berger d. Judy Hugh, 6,-9,3,6. Under 1900 Women - Final: Cheung Wan Yee d. Rita Wu, -8,11,8,-10,9; SF: Cheung d. Yevgeniya Kotlerman, 5,10,12; Wu d. Donna Sakai, -10,9,11,7. Under 1800 - Final: Sean C. Lee d. Gene Chiu, 7,4,7; SF: Lee d. Ralph Guillory, -9,5,7,9; Chiu d. Edric Lewis, 7,5,1. Under 1600 - Final: Wes Wolfe d. David Phoong, 4,6,-9,-7,6; SF: Wolfe d. Gregory Turner, 6,-6,7,8; Phoong d. Colin Hwang, 8,6,14. Under 1500 - Final: Peter Ho d. Willy Castillo Jr., -7,-8,8,10,8; SF: Ho d. Colin Hwang, -9,1,9,5; Castillo d. Richard Yoshimoto, 6,5,-9,-5,4. Under 1500 Hardbat - Final: Bob Mahler d. Bob Reising, -18,18,15; SF: Mahler d. Andrew Wai, 7,10; Reising d. John Curd, -17,16,13. Under 1300 - Final: Colin Hwang d. Kim Mnuskin, 8,5,9; SF: Hwang d. Anthon Plake, 7,12,-4,6; Mnuskin d. Kristian Morell, 6,10,-8,12. Under 1000 - Final: Joseph Wang d. Dave Sterner, 5,10,5; SF: Wang d. Ariel Hsing, 6,4,-9,7; Sterner d. Patrick Yuan, 7,8,-10,7. Unrated - Final: Frank Correa d. George Brace, 7,-8,7,7; SF: Correa d. Vladimir Altman, 8,4,10; Brace d. Paul Ishimitsy, 9,5,-7,-4,6. Day Four By Larry Hodges At the start of the "showcase" matches - men's semis and final, and women's final - the Star Spangled banner was played. About one line before the end, the tape or CD player broke down - and the crowd spontaneously sang the final line together. The Men's and Women's singles matches below are in the order they were played. Women's Singles - Semifinals     * Jasna Reed d. Hong Zhao, 7,6,9,2 Jasna had little trouble with Hong's penhold flipping game. Hong, who uses inverted and short pips, would flip throughout the rally, while always looking for a chance to smash a forehand. But Jasna basically looped her down, ending many points with a flat smash. Jasna ran away with the first, and scored five in a row from 6-all in the second. In the third, Hong had her chance, leading 7-3, but Jasna tied it at 8-all and won 11-9. The fourth was all Jasna.     * Tawny Banh d. Lily Yip, 9,7,3,-4,9 Tawny's match with Lily was expected to be closer, but it too began to look like a route as Tawny went up 3-0 with progressively better scores. Tawny is one of the few shakehanders who can stay right up at the table against the jab-blocking and hitting pips-out penholder Lily. Tawny, who also uses pips on the backhand, hits the backhand right off the bounce, and usually loops the forehand at the top of the bounce. Lily romped in the third, 11-4, and the possibility of a comeback was on the radar screen. The third went to 6-6; when Tawny scored the next two, Lily took a timeout. Up 10-7 match point, Tawny gets a net - but Lily returns it, the rally continues - and Lily gets an unreturnable net dribbler. Tawny serve and flipped off, 10-9. But Tawny's scream was only preceded by a fraction of a second by Lily's looping off.  Men's Singles - Semifinals     * Ilija Lupulesku d. Adam Hugh, 6,7,6,5 Ilija is the best in the country at taking control of a point by looping, and Adam had no way of stopping him this match. Lupi's loops were either too strong or too steady, depending on how Lupi played them. His placement was an experience to watch as he'd put the ball always either to a wide corner or right at Adam's elbow - and he always seemed to find the place that would give the most trouble.  Adam, 15, doesn't yet have the power to get through someone who can counterspin and fish like Lupi, and Lupi could serve & loop at will - but then he does that against just about anybody. Adam, of course, has already had a great tournament - beating Cheng Yinghua in the quarterfinals, winning Under 22 Men, coming in first in the Junior Boys' Team Trials, and making the final of Mixed Doubles. He said he prepared for the tournament mostly by playing lots of practice matches with his family (Barry Dattel, Lily Yip and Judy Hugh), and with Patrick Mualem. He lamented that he didn't have enough practice time as he'd like because of school.     * Mark Hazinski d. David Zhuang, 7,6,9,3 Wow! Talk about the "changing of the guard" at this tournament. First, Han Xiao (on his 17th birthday) takes out #4 seed Barney J. Reed (25); then Adam Hugh (15) takes out #3 seed Cheng Yinghua (45); now Mark (18) doesn't just take out #2 seed David Zhuang (40), he wins easily, often seeming to loop winners at will from either wing - although in reality, half his loops were steady loops, the other half rips. "Mark's much better at covering the middle with his forehand than before," David would say afterwards - and it was obvious that despite his great blocking, David had no safe place to block to. In the first game, David led 6-4 - and lost six in a row. The second game was all Mark's from start to finish. In the third, Mark led almost the entire way by one to three points, and won it at 9 - helped by David serving off at 6-7, and serving off the end at 9-all. In the fourth, at 2-all, Zhuang misses an easy smash - and he'd only score one more point the rest of the way as Mark literally ripped winner after winner the rest of the way.  "He played much better than before," David said. "He deserved to win." Mark has been training in Sweden at the Angby club for nearly three months - no wonder. He said he'd been practicing with players like Mikael Appelgren, and even practiced with Jan-Ove Waldner a few times. Of his match with David, Mark said, "My serves worked well, and I was confident against his serve. My shots also felt very good, so I was basically able to overpower him." Exhibition and Awards Eric Owens and Marty Reisman gave an exhibition using a 44mm Nittaku ball after the Men's semifinals. (In Japan, the 44mm ball is very commonly used, and there are many 44mm leagues.) It was well-done and entertaining, with Eric spending much of the match lobbing, and Marty ad-libbing for the crowd. When Marty hit a ball well off the end to lose 11-6, Eric insisted it hit the edge, so the score reverted to 10-7 - and Marty deuced it before Eric won with a backhand counterkill, 12-10. At various times before and after the exhibition, exhibition balls were hit into the audience, with some of them coded as "winners" so that whoever caught it won a prize. Interestingly, not only was the ball different, but a special net was put on the table, one that was about .7 inches taller than a normal net, but the one used in Japan in 44mm leagues. Also during this and other breaks, a number of people were honored. The U.S. Pan Am Women's Team and the U.S. Junior Team were honored for their medal-winning performances at the Pan Ams and at the Canadian Junior Open. USATT Executive Director and Women's Coach Doru Gheorghe was given the President's Award by USATT President Sheri Pittman for his success in coaching Gao Jun at the Worlds and the U.S. Women's team at the Pan Ams, and for his work on the USATT Strategic Plan. And Allen Barth was given the Dr. Michael J. Scott award for excellence in umpiring. Women's Singles - Final Jasna Reed d. Tawny Banh, 9,4,5,-11,4 In recent years, Jasna's usually been #2 on the U.S. team (behind Gao Jun), with Tawny #3. However, Tawny had won twice against Jasna this year, at the U.S. Team Trials and at the Pan Am Games, so many thought the match would be dead even - except that it was obvious in previous rounds that Jasna was playing much, much better than before. It turns out she's been playing in Germany for several months, and so getting the match practice she rarely gets regularly in the U.S.  "Thank you, Gao!" Jasna said of Gao's absence from the tournament due to a contract to play in a Chinese League. (Gao would also get to play in the Women's World Cup during the Nationals, and would beat reigning world champion and world #2 Wang Nan and world #8 Tamara Boros in reaching the quarterfinals. Boros is the one she had lost to in the quarterfinals of the last Worlds, 4-3. Gao would lose in the quarterfinals to Mihaela Steff of Romania, world #15, and Wang Nan would recover from her loss to Gao in the preliminaries to win the World Cup.)  Jasna did beat Gao once - back in 1991. "I'm actually more comfortable with Gao's style [steady pips-out penhold blocker] then Lily's [aggressive hitting/jab blocking pips-out penholder]," she said, thankful that Lily was on the other side of the draw, and so Tawny's problem. But Jasna, and her much better play, became Tawny's problem. Tawny's strength is her close-to-the-table attack, both with her pips-out backhand hitting and her nearly off-the-bounce forehand looping. But Jasna seems comfortable against this, and over and over pulls off spectacular shots, including a number of incredible backhand kills off Tawny's best shots. After reaching 9-all in the first, Tawny promptly went downhill, losing that game at 9, and the next two badly at 4 & 5. In the fourth, Tawny went up 7-3 - and then lost six in a row to 7-9, and in immediate danger of losing 4-0. But fighting off a match point at 10-11, she pulls this game out, 13-11. In the sixth, it's close at 5-4 for Jasna - but Tawny doesn't score another point. Throughout the match, Tawny has had strings where she was simply too erratic. However, even when Tawny's played well, Jasna has raised her game a notch, and seemed to match everything Tawny could throw at her in this match. Men's Singles - Final     * Ilija Lupulesku d. Mark Hazinski, 6,6,-10,-8,8,4 This match didn't really start until the third game as Lupi basically ran away with the first two 6 & 6, even going up 5-0 in the first. The match might have been an easy 4-0 for Lupi, who led 9-7 in the third and 7-4 in the fourth. But from up 9-7 he lost three in a row, and from up 7-4 he only scored one more point, losing the last five in row as Mark  won the next two at 10 & 8 (helped by an edge at 10-all in the third). The two were having spectacular counterlooping rallies - Mark has a little more power, and tends to loop from closer to the table, while Lupi would loop from all over, sometimes wandering nearly to the barriers. Lupi can do something few others can do - loop the ball up in the air and challenge opponents to try to overpower him. Few can, but Mark was often able to. However, Mark's most consistent winners came when he was able to catch Lupi too close to the table to counterloop consistently off Mark's power shots. Unlike David's blocks, Lupi was scoring well with loops to the middle. In the fifth, Mark went up 5-2 - and promptly lost six in a row to 5-8. However, in winning the last point here, Lupi accidentally tore both his thumb and racket against the edge of the table. His thumb was bleeding, and his racket had a two-inch gash, making it an illegal racket. At the same time, he was given an injury timeout to see if he could get the bleeding to stop, since he didn't want to wear a band-aid as it would affect his feel. So while the very large crowd tried to figure out what was going on, the umpire and Referee Azmy Ibrahim conferred. Meanwhile, Lupi brought out to rackets to the table, and Mark agreed to let him try both out before choosing which one to use. (Mark had spent most of the break lying down in a corner.) One of the racket was Jasna Reed's, the very one she'd use to win the Women's title a short time before - and that was the one Lupi liked. It turned out that 20 years before, Jasna had had two racket special made, and one of those racket was the one she was still using, 20 years later - obviously, she doesn't take things out on her racket! But ten years before, when she had been married to Lupulesku (how many knew that? It was a very friendly parting when they divorced), he had tried out her racket, liked it, and so she'd given him her only spare. Later he'd stopped using it, and gave it to a local junior player. And so Jasna had gone ten years without a spare - and now, after giving away her only spare, he was "taking" the other one as well! During all of this, Hazinski's coach, Mark Nordby, was getting increasingly aggravated at the delays and the bringing out of two rackets - and was yellow carded for his to-no-avail protests. Finally, Lupi got the bleeding under control (he'd kept it wrapped in a towel during much of the injury time-out), and with Jasna's racket in hand, was now ready to continue. From 8-5, Lupi wins 11-8 to go up 3-2. In the sixth, it's 3-all - and Mark only scores one more point as Lupi looped up a storm, and Mark kept getting caught out of position. At 10-4, Lupi yells to the crowd, "C'mon!," and waves his arms for the crowd to get into it. The crowd, which had been overwhelmingly favoring Mark, applauded. "I went up 2-0, and nobody was cheering," Lupi said afterwards, clearly bothered by this, and said he thought it affected him somewhat when he blew leads in the next two games. And so we ended up with Men's and Women's Singles Champions who won with the same racket; are both from Yugoslavia; are both 1988 Olympic medalists (Lupi a silver in men's doubles, Jasna a bronze in women's doubles), were previously married to each other; and were both coached in their matches by Sasa Drinic. Lupi and Jasna haven't just won at the Nationals - they've dominated. Jasna swept Women's Singles, Doubles and Mixed Doubles. Lupi did one better, sweeping Men's Singles, Doubles and Mixed doubles - and adding Over 30 as well. Hardbat Singles For the third year in a row, Lily Yip won Hardbat Singles - and she didn't even drop a game. Only one player got more than 15 points. In the quarterfinals, the pips-out hitting/blocking Lily defeated Loc Ngo, 15,20,11; in the semifinals, Angela Sun, 15,15,10; and in the final, Alexis Perez, 15,15,13. (Alexis also didn't lose a game in the event, until he reached the final.) The final featured many long rallies, mostly countering, but Alexis would also drop back and chop sometimes. As usual, it was one of the most watched finals. Over 30 Singles For the second year in a row, Ilija Lupulesku romped through the Over 30 field - but at least this year he lost a game, in the final to #3 seed De Tran. The scores in his march to victory? 4,7,9,3,4,6,5,5,5,5,1,8,3,4,-11,3. #2 seed Todd Sweeris defaulted out; #4 seed Brian Pace lost in the quarterfinals to (we keep hearing this name!) Lily Yip, who went down in the semis to Lupi. Boys' Primary School Singles (Under 13) "Now you have to give him coverage - he's won a national title!" So said Scott Lane, Shelby Lane's father, after Shelby took the event, 4,5,7 in the final over Lin Jeff Huang. It was a tough march to the final, however; in the quarterfinals, he'd barely eked out a 9,9,-6,-7,9 win over Marcus Jackson, and in the semifinals he'd had to go five again (and come from behind) against Sean C. Lee, 9,-8,-9,7,5. Girls' Primary School Singles (Under 13) Stephanie Shih continued her dominance of her age group. She'd won Under 14 Girls' Singles at both the Junior Olympics and Junior Nationals, and now she won here, over Colleen Lee, -11,7,10,7. Other than the final, she didn't give up a game. Boys' Elementary School Singles (Under 10) Peter Li lost only one game in the event, in the semifinals to Austin Preiss (9,-10,5,4), and won the final over A.J. Brewer, 4,5,5. Girls' Elementary School Singles (Under 10) Ariel Hsing also only lost one game in the event, to Serena Banh in the semifinals (9,6,-6,6), and won the final over Willa Tammy Gu, 10,3,8. Other Results Under 2100 - Final: Judy Hugh d. Sung Yang, 5,5,-7,-9,11; SF: Hugh d. Randall Ly, -8,7,5,-8,8; Yang d. Panno Dok, 10,12,10; QF: Hugh d. Nicholas Snider, -8,4,7,-10,9; Ly d. David Rudesill, 11,8,-8,4; Yang d. Barbara Wei, 7,14,-11,11; Dok d. Trieu Chieu, -6,12,8,-10,10. Under 1900 - Final: Hong-Zhong Zhang d. Don James Alto, 5,11,6; SF: Zhang d. Ngai-Chi Chung, -3,-8,9,6,5; Alto d. Michael Mast, 5,4,4. Under 1700 - Final: Matthew Lee d. Ilya Bushkanets, 7,6,4; SF: Lee d. Alex Voronin, 7,6,-6,8; Bushkanets d. David Yundt, 5,-8,-2,8,1. Under 1600/Over 40: Final: Jose Bulatao d. Wes Wolfe, -6,4,-3,6,10; SF: Bulatao d. Bard Brenner, -10,-3,6,7,7; Wolfe d. Peter Ho, -6,-9,5,5,8.Under 1200 - Final: Joseph Wang d. Aaron Choi, -11,9,10,6; SF: Wang d. Xin Jiang, 8,-6,10,5; Choi d. Daniel Koscielski, 9,5,-5,6. Under 1100 - Final: Jessica Yick d. Kristian Morell, 6,7,-10,10; SF: Yick d. Dave Sterner, -5,5,9,-8,9; Morell d. Ivan Yip, 7,-5,-7,8,7. Under 1000 - Final: Joseph Wang d. Dave Sterner, 5,10,5; SF: Wang d. Ariel Hsing, 6,4,-9,7; Sterner d. Patrick Yuan, 7,8,-10,7. Unrated - Final: Frank Correa d. George Brace, 7,-8,7,7; SF: Correa d. Vladimir Altman, 8,4,10; Brace d. Paul Ishimitsy, 9,5,-7,-4,6. Wheelchair Singles - Final RR: 1st Andre Scott, 2-0 (d. Redman, 8,-9,9,4; d. Nir-Kistler, 2,8,4); 2nd Noga Nir-Kistler, 1-1 (d. Redman, 6,9,-8,9); 3rd Jon Redman, 0-2. Standing Disabled - Final: Ashraf Mostafa Ali d. Mitch Seidenfeld, 4,-1,7,5; SF: Ali d. Norman Bass, def.; Seidenfeld d. Gene Chiu, 8,3,7.

 

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