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Osaka, Japan · April 23 - May 6, 2001
By Larry Hodges
Today featured mostly early round matches, and so the main coverage is of USA players. There’s a listing of early-round upsets and quotes from the players involved near the end.
Jasna Reed (USA) vs. Chen Tong Fei-Ming (TPE)
Chen,
#41 in the world, scored eight in a row from down 4-3 in the first, and easily
swept the first two games. Except for a decent third game, Jasna simply didn’t
play as well as she can and has played. To do so, as even she admits, she’s
simply going to have to practice more. Match to Chen, 6,13,17.
Jasna
does have an interesting statistic that no others can match. She has played in
three Olympics for three countries under three names. She won a bronze medal for
Women’s Doubles at the 1988 Olympics, representing Yugoslavia as Jasna Fazlic;
she represented Croatia at the 1992 Olympics as Jasna Lupulesku; and she
represented USA at the 2000 Olympics as Jasna Reed.
This
was one that got away. Up 2-0 in games, by commanding scores of 17 & 11,
Virginia (world #191) looked like the winner over Stafanska (world #185) in this
best of five. She was both chopping and attacking well. However, Stefanska’s
attack became stronger, and Virginia seemed to attack less as the match
continued. “Virginia attacked well the first two games,” said USA Coach Dan
Seemiller (who normally coaches the men, but was coaching Virginia while Coach
Doru coached Jasna Reed in her match). “In the last three games, she didn’t
attack as well and was too defensive.” Stefanska had a very strong attack, and
didn’t waste time pushing much, except drop shots to move Virginia around. The
result were great points as Stefanska struggled to get past Virginia’s
defense. In the third, Virginia fell behind 0-6, and wasn’t able to come back.
In the fourth, at 15-all, she lost five in a row. In the fifth, she quickly was
behind 8-3. She did a mini-comeback at the end, getting five in a row from down
12-20, but the match was lost, -17,-11,16,16,17.
Chang Gao Jun (USA) vs. Agnes Lelannic (FRA)
The
score mounted rapidly … 5-0, 10-0, 15-0, 21-0!
Gao
came, she saw, she sat around a while, she wandered off with a default. Lelanic,
world #117 (to Gao’s #35) didn’t show. On to the round of 64!
Tawny
Banh (USA) vs. Pan Li-Chun (TPE)
This
was another excellent match-up between the world #144 (Tawny) and #162 (Pan).
Both played similar styles – looping forehands and pips-out hitting backhands.
Tawny won the first at 17, and was insurmountably behind 15-20 in the second. On
to the third – but not until seven points later, all won by Tawny! Game two to
Tawny, 22-20! This would become even more important when she lost game three
21-10. But Tawny took control again in the fourth, going up 14-6 and 16-9. Pan
mounted a comeback, getting three straight to 16-12. Tawny called a timeout, and
it seemed to work, as she pulled to 20-14 afterwards. But Pan mounts another
comeback – 20-15 … 20-16 … 20-17 … 20-18! This was getting serious -
after Tawny’s comeback in game one, could Pan turn the tables? No she could
not, as Tawny’s serve and loop ended the match, 17,20,-10,18. On to the round
of 64!
Gao
Jun Chang (USA) vs. Lu Yun-Feng (TPE)
It’s true that Gao is ranked #35 in the world to Lefty Lu’s #80. It’s true that Gao was ranked as high as #3 in the world just four years ago. But this match should have been somewhat competitive. Instead, all I could write in my notes was “This is too easy!” Gao, as usual, didn’t seem to be doing anything – she’s almost Waldneresque in this. Also as usual, her opponent was twisted into a pretzel, and (as we all know) pretzels don’t play good table tennis. Match to Gao, 17,11,11. On to the round of 32!
There
was one scare. On the last point of game one, Lu wildly swung at a ball, and
creamed it directly into Gao’s face. It didn’t look intentional, but Gao
looked like it might have really hurt her.
In
the round of 32, Gao will play Kim Moo Kyo (world #17). The winner would most
likely play Mihaela Steff of Romania (world #9) in the round of 16 (the
eighths).
Tawny
Banh (USA) vs. Jie Schoepp (GER)
Can
the 144th ranked player in the world (Banh) challenge the 26th?
(Check out the Teams results if you aren’t sure about this!) Actually, for a
while, the question was whether chopper/pick-hitter Schoepp would challenge
Tawny! Tawny went up 18-13 in the first with an all-out looping and smashing
onslaught – no tentativeness here! However, it was here that Schoepp mounted
her own challenge – and challenge she did, going up 20-19, mostly with a
series of pick-hits. The two dueled at deuce, with the USA crowd (all eight of
us) praying for this miracle to take place. Part one of the miracle happened –
Tawny pulled out game one, 24-22.
Tawny’s
onslaught continued, as she took an 8-3 lead in the second, then 9-5, 11-9,
13-12. But the lead was becoming narrower and narrower, and Schoepp now took the
lead, 15-13, 17-14. Tawny go the next two, 16-17. But Schoepp won the next two
– the second when Tawny served into the net to fall behind 19-16. Schoep went
on to win the game, 21-17. Over the next two games, Schoepp’s defense became
better and better, and Tawny gradually fell behind each game. Match to Schoepp,
-22,17,10,14.
David Zhuang (USA)
vs. He Zhi Wen (ESP)
It started out a rout, and finished looking like both a great comeback and great upset. Wen, ranked #34 in the world, pretty much hit David (world #109) right off the table the first two games, at 14 & 10. The two are both pips-out penholders, but while David is more a blocker than hitter, the left-handed Wen is more of a hitter. In the third, David’s steady side-to-side blocking, with pick-hits from both sides mixed in, wore Wen down. David led almost the entire way, but could never pull away. Up 15-13, David lost three in a row (15-16), but then won the last five in a row to win 21-16. In the fourth, they played dead even to 13-all. Then David pulled away, going up 18-14. Wen tied it at 18-all, but David went up 20-18 game point with the serve. He served and looped off, and then served and smashed off – deuce! David got the ad against at 21-20, but Wen smashed to deuce it. Wen goes up 22-21, only to lose a vicious exchange. But Wen serve, loops and smashes to get the ad, and David serve and smashes – and stares off into space in disbelief. Match to Wen, 14,10,-16,22.
USA
started the day with five players, but ended with only one, Chang Gao Jun. USA
had its chances – Tawny’s battle with Jie Schoepp, and David’s
near-comeback against He Zhi Wen – but in the end, only Gao was left standing.
The future happiness of 270 million Americans – about 20 million tons -
rests on her shoulders.