2000 USA Table Tennis Nationals
Men's Singles Semifinals #1

Las Vegas, Nevada
Saturday, December 16, 2000
4:00 PM USA Pacific Time
By Larry Hodges

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Cheng Yinghua vs. Eric Owens

It's 3:50 PM, 10 minutes to the start of this match. The stands are filling up, with a long line of people at the entrance.

Cheng and Eric are off on a side table spinning balls to choose ones for the match.

The announcer is now announcing the match, and Cheng and Eric have just walked out to the table to warm up.

Cheng Yinghua of Gaithersburg, Maryland, is 3-time and defending U.S. Men's Singles Champion, and a member of the U.S. Olympic Team.  Eric Owens of Houston, Texas, was a member of the gold medal winning U.S. Pan Am Team in 1999. The two are warming up now, and play is almost ready to begin.

Both players are inverted shakehand players. Cheng is an all-around player, who loops from both sides, with a very steady block. Eric is primarily a forehand power looper. 

Play has just begun with Eric serving first.

Game One: Eric starts off with two forehand rip loops and a backhand loop, but misses all three, 3-0 Cheng. Cheng goes up 4-1 on Eric's serve.

Cheng goes up 7-2, 7-3 on his serve.

At 4-8, Eric serves into the net. 4-9, 6-9. Cheng to serve.

Cheng goes up 11-6. Eric soft spins a ball on the net for a winner, 11-7 Cheng. Cheng goes up 12-8.

Eric's serve: Cheng makes a nice flip to Eric's backhand, Eric misses, 13-8. Eric is playing forehand from all over, but is missing too many. 15-8, 15-9. A vicious backhand rally, Eric gets a net, 15-10 Cheng.

Cheng's serve: Cheng takes the attack, 17-10. Eric misses loop, 18-10.19-11 Cheng.

Eric's serve: Serve & backhand loop off, 20-11 Cheng. Cheng wins first, 21-11.

Between games, Eric talks with his coach for the match, Christian Lillieroos. Cheng doesn't have a coach for the match.

Game Two: Cheng's serve: Cheng goes up 3-1. Eric steps around and loops to Cheng's middle, 3-2.

Eric's serve: In the middle of a rally, Cheng pulls off a nice down the line forehand loop to Eric's backhand, 4-3 Cheng.

Eric gets a net-edge, but Cheng fishes it off the ground, Eric can't return ball that nearly rolls on the table! 5-3 Cheng. Cheng goes up 6-3, 6-4.

Cheng's serve: Cheng is serving long a lot, and blocking Eric out of position. If Eric loops back soft, Cheng counterloops a winner. Cheng just loop killed off the bounce, 9-5 Cheng. Another nice down-the-line forehand loop by Cheng to Eric's backhand, 10-5.

Eric's serve: Cheng is going after Eric's backhand over and over. 12-5 Cheng. Cheng misses a loop, then rip loops a clean winner off Eric's serve, 13-6. Eric misses backhand loop, 14-6.

Cheng's serve: Eric is just taking pot shots, 16-6, 17-6. Cheng misses a pop-up! 17-7, 17-8.

Eric's serve: 18-8, 18-9, Cheng whiffs a loop, 18-10. Eric loops two off, 20-10 Cheng. Eric backhand loops off halfheartedly, 21-10 Cheng. Cheng is now up 2-0 in games.

Commentary: Eric has a great forehand loop and great footwork, but Cheng is moving him around and mixing up shots so much that Eric never looks comfortable, and either has to go for crazy forehand loops - which Cheng usually returns - or play backhand. But his backhand isn't nearly as good as Cheng's, and Cheng is going after Eric's backhand over and over.

Game Three: Eric serves, goes behind 1-3, but then pulls off a great forehand loop, 3-2 Cheng.

Cheng's serve: Eric rips in Cheng's serve, Cheng watches it go by, 4-3 Eric - his first lead in the match. Cheng scores next two, then misses a backhand, 5-5.

Eric's serve: Eric serve and backhand off. Then he gets blocked out of position looping, and misses another backhand. Cheng then loops a winner to Eric's backhand - that's three straight points Cheng has scored on Eric's backhand, 8-5 Cheng. Eric rips a winner, 8-6. Then, a great rally! Eric is all over the court, playing all forehand, Cheng blocks him everywhere, but Eric runs them all down. Finally, Cheng blocks into the net, 8-7 Cheng.

Cheng's serve: Four  more backhand errors by Eric, 11-7 Cheng. Eric's coach calls a one-minute timeout. Eric can't win if he doesn't find a way to stop Cheng from wearing him down on his backhand side. Cheng is winning both by blocking and by looping, mostly to Eric's backhand, or clean winners to the forehand.

After the timeout, Cheng scores the first point, 12-7. Then 12-8.

Someone videotaping the match is talking into a microphone, and umpire stops play, walks over and asks him to stop.

Eric's serve: 15-9 Cheng. Cheng loops to Eric's wide forehand, Eric counterloops a winner off the bounce to Cheng's forehand, 15-10. The crowd cheers very loudly.

Cheng's serve: A great counterlooping point! They are all over, but Eric finally misses, 16-10 Cheng. Eric misses a backhand, then flips off, 18-10 Cheng. Cheng kills a backhand down the line - but Eric quick blocks a clean winner to Cheng's forehand! 18-11, then 18-12.

Eric's serve: 18-13, Eric rips a winner, 18-14. Eric rips again, off, 19-14. Eric rips another clean winner - he's going for everything. 19-15 Cheng. Eric blocks off, 20-15.

Cheng's serve: Eric flips the serve off the end, 21-15. Cheng advances to the final, 21-11, 21-10, 21-15.

It's now 4:38 PM. The second semifinal, between David Zhuang and Khoa Nguyen, will start at 5:00 PM. Go to

mens_singles_SF2_reload.shtml

for coverage of this match.