2000 USA Nationals

2000 USA Table Tennis Nationals
Saturday, December 16

Las Vegas, Nevada
December 13-17, 2000
By Larry Hodges

Day Four: Saturday, December 16, 2000

Men’s Singles

Quarterfinals

Three of the quarterfinal matches were pretty straightforward 3-0 wins. Cheng had no trouble with Sean O’Neill, 9,11,10; Eric Owens pulled out two close ones to defeat Barney J. Reed, 20,19,6; and Khoa Nguyen came from behind to win the middle game in defeating Brian Pace, 16,19,16. For his match with Sean, Cheng warmed up with Julian Waters, who's rated about 1900; when Sean saw this, he quipped, "Oh-oh - is this an indication of what level he thinks I am?"

The other quarterfinal was a battle between David Zhuang and Todd Sweeris – who just two years ago had played each other in the final here. This time, David wins the first easily at 15. In the second, David leads 17-15, and Todd calls a one-minute timeout. When he returns, he scores three in a row to go up 18-17, and then pulls it out, 21-19. In the third, they battle dead even to the end – with Todd helped by a lob on the edge, and a well-timed net. Todd goes up 20-19; David goes up 21-20; Todd goes up 23-21 and wins the game. Game four is all David, 21-14. In the fifth, David takes a small lead and holds it to 16-14 – and then he pulls away to win the game and match, 15,-19,-21,14,15.

Semifinals

The semifinals and final of Men’s Singles was covered nearly point by point on-line as they happened:

Men's Singles Semifinal #1: Cheng Yinghua vs. Eric Owens

Men's Singles Semifinal #2: David Zhuang vs. Khoa Nguyen

Men's Singles Final: Cheng Yinghua vs. David Zhuang

Semifinal #1: Cheng Yinghua vs. Eric Owens

Cheng went after Eric’s backhand relentlessly this match, and there wasn’t anything Eric could do to stop it. Eric has a great forehand and great footwork, but his backhand doesn’t match up to Cheng’s, and even when he gets his forehand into play, Cheng blocks or counterattacks. Match to Cheng, 11,10,15.

Semifinal #2: David Zhuang vs. Khoa Nguyen

Right: Khoa Nguyen. Photo copyright 2000 by kausphoto.com

Like the first semifinal, this turned into a quick 3-0, with David winning at 13,15,16. In the first game, Khoa had actually gone up 8-2 – and then fell behind 9-11! The key here was the David had no trouble with Khoa’s serves, while Khoa had great difficulty with David’s. The result was that Khoa started out every rally uncomfortable with David controlling the points.

Final

Cheng Yinghua vs. David Zhuang

(For the on-line near point-by-point coverage of this match, see above link.)

This was David’s eighth final in nine years, with him winning three times. Cheng had won all three times he’s been here – missing one year (1998) due to changed eligibility rules.

As to the match itself - Wow! It didn’t start out that way, however. For the first two games, Cheng seemed sluggish, almost clumsy, as David won both at 14 & 16. However, starting in game three, Cheng raised his level, and from there on we had great world-class play. Cheng won games three and four to force a fifth game. In the fifth, the play was rather incredible and dead even. In the end, Cheng was serving up 19-18. He makes a nice loop – but David kills it! 19-all in the fifth! (David yells, "Doubles or nothing!") There then followed two nearly identical rallies – identical, in fact, to many of the earlier rallies. Throughout the last three games, much of the match had been a duel between Cheng’s backhand loop and David’s blocking and pick-hitting. In the end, however, Cheng made several backhand loops, David blocked them, and twice Cheng missed a backhand loop. Match and a fourth Men’s Singles title to David Zhuang, 14,16,-18,-18,19!

Afterwards, Cheng said, "David played unbelievable! At the end, I pushed some. Usually he loops; this time he goes "Pow!"

Women’s Singles

Semifinals

Neither semifinal was contested. Chopper Virginia Sung played great rallies, but couldn’t seem to score against Jun Gao Chang, as Gao advanced to the final, 9,11,4. On the other side, Tawny Banh was all over the place attacking from both wings against Lily Yip. Match to Tawny, 14,14,15.

Final

Jun Gao Chang vs. Tawny Banh

For the on-line near point-by-point coverage of this match, go to

Women's Singles Final: Jun Gao Chang vs. Tawny Banh

Gao had swept women’s singles & doubles, and mixed doubles at the last four Nationals. She had already won women’s and mixed doubles, and was going for her fifth straight sweep. And let’s face it – to most knowledgeable spectators, this was just a coronation. Gao had defeated Tawny in the Women’s Singles final the last two years rather easily; why should this year be any different?

However, this time Tawny came out playing relentless offense, especially hitting in backhands, and she actually pulled away to win the first, 21-16. Few women in the U.S. (or even in the world) have ever made Gao look uncomfortable, but she did this game, and for much of the second game as well, with Tawny making it to 10-all in the second. However, from here on it was all Gao, who raised her game up a level and began to play very aggressively. Match, championship and fifth straight sweep to Gao, -16,14,7,16.

Mixed Doubles

As expected, the top two seeds easily made it to the final: Cheng Yinghua/Jun Gao Chang and Todd Sweeris/Tawny Banh. However, with Cheng and Gao on the same team, there are few teams that are going to beat them. Final to Cheng/Gao, 9 & 15. One interesting team: Lily Yip and son Adam Hugh in the semifinals.

Hardbat Singles

A new star twas born this day – the first chopper to win a major hardbat event in the modern era. Steve Berger chopped down defending champion Ty Hoff in the quarterfinals, 12,-16,15,-17,13. Then he chopped down Loc Ngo (who’d taken down this writer in the quarterfinals, 12,18,-16,-19,16) in the semifinals, 17,15,14. In the final, Steve defeated Lily Yip, 15,20,13. This was Lily’s fifth major final, and fifth second – some say she has the curse of something or other, but we haven’t figured it out. The betting odds before the final was probably 4-1 in favor of Lily, who had gone right through Steve in recent times. (She’d beaten Derek May in the semifinals, 20,16,14, and he’s primarily a chopper.) Steve, have you been practicing?

Over 30 Singles

Not too many players – if any – can claim to have been both a U.S. Junior Champion and a U.S. Over 30 Champion. One that can is Sean O’Neill, who came out of "retirement" to win this event. He may have been helped when the two Men’s Singles Finalists – Cheng Yinghua and David Zhuang, seeded #1 and #2 in both Men’s Singles and Over 30 - defaulted out to concentrate on Men’s Singles. David didn’t play a match; Cheng actually reached the Over 30 final, but with the final scheduled just before his Men’s Singles semifinal, he defaulted the final to Sean.

Over 50 Doubles

For at least the third year in a row, Dave Sakai and George Brathwaite won Over 50 Doubles, this year over Richard Hicks and Nick Mintsiveris, 16 & 19.

Over 60 Singles

How many senior titles has George Brathwaite won over the years? Add one more. In the final, George defeated top-seeded Richard Hicks, 19,-18,15, in a match featuring George’s consistent topspinning vs. Hicks’ steady chopping and pick-hitting. In the semifinals, George had to play still another chopper – Howard Grossman. (George also played chopper Derek May in Men’s Singles – that was the one he didn’t win….)

Over 70 Singles

Two legends had it out, with Tim Boggan taking a big first-game lead against Marty Reisman. Tim was smacking in his vintage "no-look" forehand over and over – until the tide changed. From down 8-1, Reisman – still using a hardbat - came back to win the match, 15 & 17. In the quarterfinals, Tim had beaten the top seed, George Hendry (2057), preventing Hendry from adding this event to the Over 75 and Over 80 singles titles he’d already won.

Over 70 Doubles

Tim Boggan and Frank Dwelly dominated the field, no losing a game and only once giving up more than 14 points in a game. In the final, they defeated Grady Gordon and Leon Ruderman, 13 & 19.

Under 2200

Adam Hugh, 12, didn’t lose a game in winning the event. In the final he defeated Howard Lamb, 15, at 19 & 16 in this youth-oriented final.

Under 2100

Samson Dubina, 16, was probably too strong for this event – he’d caused quite a bit of damage in some recent tournaments – but in the ratings used, he was 2099! In the final, he defeated John Schneider, 15 & 15. However, it was his semifinal match with Mikhail Kazantsev – the Under 2000 winner – that he was pushed to the limit in winning 26-24, 22-20.

Under 1500

Allan Rudesill defeated Douglas Hansen in the final, 14, & 19. Rudesill had mostly cruised through the event – except for his first-round 16ths match, where he’d defeated Robert Foss, 13,-18,19.

Under 1000

Roscoe Lock pretty much dominated the event, winning the final over Jack Yang, 11 & 12. In the semifinals, he lost his only game – to John Hervey – but he quickly recovered, winning at -19,13,9.

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