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2001 U.S. Team Trials
Las Vegas, Nevada • December 18-23, 2001

Day Two: USA Team Trials

By Larry Hodges

USA Men’s Team Trials: Final Eight

If there were only three spots on the USA Men’s Team, it would have been a relatively boring Trials, as three players ran away from the final field of eight. Early on, Cheng Yinghua was so dominating, giving up so few points per game, that he looked unstoppable. He was finally stopped, but not enough to stop him from coming in first, edging out David Zhuang (second) and Eric Owens in a three-way tie for first.

Let’s go over this three-way battle first, and then we’ll get to the battle for the fourth spot.

Early on, Cheng played Eric … and there was no indication of the dogfight to come. Cheng won easily, 6, 7, 6, 2.

However, in the best-played match of the Trials, the top two seeds – Cheng and David – faced off. Why were they playing early on, rather than playing last, as the top two seeds usually do? “I’m glad you asked,” said Trials Referee Wendell Dillon. It turns out that when there is a Trials for a team, the most important match is considered the match between the weakest player seeded to make the team, and the strongest seeded not to make it. So the matches between the fourth and fifth seeds (seeding based on results from the Qualifier round) are saved for last … except in this case, the fourth and fifth seeds, Ashu Jain and Razvan Cretu, have already played. But they rightly still go with the schedule, other than this match. With regard to making the team, this match is not important. However, with prize money for the team finishers at 1^st $2750, 2^nd $2000, 3^rd $1500 and 4^th $1250, it’s a $750 match (difference between first and second), right?

David starts off strong, Cheng weak, and after two games, it’s not a very good match. 4 and 5 for David. But then Cheng comes alive, winning the third 11-3, and pulling out the fourth a14-12. David wins the fifth, 11-7

Cheng is looping over and over from both sides, and absolutely creaming forehand loops every few shots. David is controlling play with his steady blocking and sudden smashes. When David pushes Cheng off the table, or starts hitting, he’s in control; when Cheng starts looping strong, he’s in control.

Cheng goes up 8-4 in the sixth … and then loses 6 in a row! David has match point at 10-8, but Cheng won’t let go. He rips a backhand loop, and absolutely pulverizes the block return, 10-9. When David smashes into the net, it’s 10-all. 11-10 Cheng. 11-11. 12-11 Cheng. Cheng wins it with a down-the-line backhand loop, and we’re into the seventh.

David runs away with it – 5-0, 7-2, 9-5. Then Cheng ties it 9-all with a series of all-out powerloops – he’s thrown control to the winds, but he’s making them all. Then Cheng rips two forehand loops, David blocks them, and Cheng misses a running backhand loop. When David loops his serve, and Cheng blocks in the net, David has held on to win, 11-9 in the seventh.

But will David come in first? He plays Eric Owens next – and Eric wins the first two at 9 & 8, with a relentless forehand looping blitz attack. This is Eric at his fastest and most powerful. David wins the next two, both at 7. Eric wins the fifth, 11-9, but loses the sixth … 11-1! But the momentum switches in the seventh, as Eric goes up 7-1. Then it’s 7-3, then 10-4 match point. A moment later, it’s 10-8, and Eric has called a time-out. After the break, Eric serves, rips a forehand winner, and the match is over.

In the three-way tie between the three (assuming all three win their final round matches – all three have long since clinched spots on the team, and are only playing for position and prize money), Cheng has defeated Eric 4-0, while losing to David 3-4, and so is 7-4. David defeated Cheng 4-3, lost to Eric 3-4, and so is 7-7. Eric defeated David 4-3, but lost to Cheng 0-4, and so is 4-7. It’s 1^st Cheng, 2^nd David, 3^rd Eric.

Or is it?

In the final round, David plays Razvan Cretu, Eric plays Ashu Jain, and Cheng plays Sean Lonergan. And we haven’t gotten to the story of the fourth spot yet.

13-year-old Adam Hugh won games off Lonergan, O’Neill and a playful Cheng, but finishes 0-7. He’s out of the running, and finishes eighth. But who would have expected him in the final eight?

5-time U.S. Men’s Champion Sean O’Neill is no longer in his past playing shape, and lost his first five matches before winning his last two against Ashu Jain and Adam. He finished seventh at 2-5 … but his 4-3 win over Ashu, in the sixth round, set up the nail-biting finish in the battle for the fourth spot.

After taking a year off after the 2000 Olympic Trials, Sean Lonergan is back, and playing pretty well … but not quite well enough. Losses to rivals Ashu Jain and Razvan Cretu knocked him out. Yet … if he’d beaten Ashu 4-2 or better (or 4-3, and win on points in a three-way tie), he’d have made the team. Coming in, he had a very strong record against Ashu, but this time he lost 4-1. Lonergan finished sixth at 2-5, finishing ahead of O’Neill by winning head-to-head, 4-0.

Which brings us to Ashu Jain and Razvan Cretu. Ashu had his carry-over 4-3 win over Razvan from the qualifier, so all he has to do is match Razvan, and he wins head-to-head. Only Lonergan can force a three-way tie, and Ashu beat him head-to-head as well, so he’d win any three-way tie. (And, to get into this three-way tie, Lonergan would have to beat Cheng in the final round – which Cheng wasn’t likely to allow easily, since it would drop him to third place, $1500 instead of $2750.)

After Ashu loses to O’Neill in round six, and Razvan comes from behind to beat Lonergan (-15, -5, 12, 10, -7, 1, 4), Razvan and Ashu are tied at 3-3, but with Ashu’s head-to-head win looming large. For Razvan to make the team, he’d have to beat David Zhuang in the final round, while Ashu would have to lose to Eric Owens. It won’t be easy – not only does he have to find a way to get through the great wall of Zhuang – something that few can do – but he’s having shoulder problems, taking an injury break after the fifth game against Lonergan, and getting shoulder massages between nearly every game he plays.

Eric quickly won against Ashu, 5, 8, 8, 8, and so all Ashu could do is watch to see what Razvan was doing with David.

Or more closely, what was Razvan doing to the “favored” David? Razvan played Goliath, and went up 3-0, at 7, 5, 7. Both David and Ashu are from the New Jersey TTC; would David let down his club-mate?

Enough melodrama. The rest of the way simply wasn’t close, with David winning all four, 5, 4, 5, 5. What a comeback! And Razvan – so close, four chances! But the team is set. Ashu and Razvan are tied at 3-4, but Ashu wins, head-to-head. The final order, with the top four making the USA Team:

1.	Cheng Yinghua	6-1
2.	David Zhuang	6-1
3.	Eric Owens	6-1
4.	Ashu Jain	3-4
5.	Razvan Cretu	3-4
6.	Sean Lonergan	2-5
7.	Sean O’Neill	2-5
8.	Adam Hugh	0-7

USA Women’s Team Trials: Final Six

As expected, Chang Jun Gao won all five of her matches. In fact, only sixth seed Simone Yang was able to get a game against her, as Gao finished 5-0, with a 20-1 game record.

Also as expected, Tawny Banh and Jasna Reed battled for the second and third spots. Tawny’s carry-over win from the qualification round – where she’d won a 4-3 battle (see previous day’s write-up) – was the turning factor. Tawny lost to Lily Yip in what might have been the most bang-bang match of the tournament between these two ultra-quick at the table players, but that only dropped her into a tie with Jasna, with both at 3-2. Tawny won head-to-head, and so came in second, Jasna third.

Tawny almost fell out of that tie in a long battle with chopper Virginia Sung. She just missed going seven, winning 3, 10, -7, 5, -4, 10. Jasna also had to work against Virginia, but was helped by a lob on the edge to win the first, 16-14, on her way to a 14, 7, -9, 8, 8 win.

With the top three spots taken, there was a battle for the fourth and final spot by Virginia, Lily and Simone Yang. Simone is one of those players that never seems to do much, often just pushing and blocking, sometimes picking out a shot, but nothing flashy. Yet, in a long, patient battle with Virginia, she finally prevailed 11-9 in the seventh in the loooongest match of the Trials, 9, -8, -10, 4, 7, -9, 9. That’s close!

Against the complete opposite style, the pips-out penholder hitting & blocking Lily, Simone also had to battle, but won in efficient fashion, -7, 8, 4, 8, 9. With those two wins, Simone clinched the fourth spot on the Team at 2-3 – taking the last spot on the team, just as she had done at the World Team Trials earlier this year.

Virginia came in fifth with a 6, -9, 7, 10, 4 over Lily. She and Lily both finished 1-4, with Virginia winning head-to-head. The final order, with the top four making the USA Team:

1.	Chang Jun Gao	5-0
2.	Tawny Banh	3-2
3.	Jasna Reed	3-2
4.	Simone Yang	2-3
5.	Virginia Sung	1-4
6.	Lily Yip	1-4

Other Events

Only four of the 58 events at the USA Nationals (not including the ten Disabled events, being run separately) completed on the first day. Results are at the Results page.

Back to 2001 Nationals Home Page

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