$92,000 U.S. Open 
& ITTF Pro Tour
Fort Lauderdale, Florida • July 3-8, 2001

Day One: Tuesday, July 3

By Larry Hodges

USA North American Qualifier

Every year, USA and Canada negotiates the format of the North American Championships. This year, the agreement was that there would be four USA players and four Canadian players, so the event would start with the quarterfinals. The USA’s thinking was that the top four players from the U.S. Team Trials would be the four USA players. However, since this was not made clear to players before or during the team trials, a number of players protested – with the result that a qualifier was held the day before the U.S. Open.

One result – instead of five days of play, we now have six!

The North American Men’s Championships would now have three parts:

Part 1: USA Men’s Qualifier. (Canada didn’t need one as they already had their players set.) This would be a round robin of four players (Jim Butler, Keith Alban, Brian Pace and Ashu Jain), with only the top finisher to advance to Part 2.

Part 2: The top USA man and top Canadian man (David Zhuang and Johnny Huang, respectively) were seeded out of this round. The #2, 3 and 4 players from USA and Canada, and the qualifier would play two round robins of four, with the top three from each group advancing to Part 3.

Part 3: This would be single elimination, with eight players – the six who advanced from Part 2, and the two who were seeded out (Zhuang and Huang).

USA Qualifier

Round One:

Jim Butler d. Ashu Jain, 14,15.
This was somewhat of a surprise – most thought it would be closer, since just two days before, at the Coral Springs Open, Jim had defeated Ashu at 19 & 23. Is Jim getting back in the tournament form before his three-year layoff?

Brian Pace d. Keith Alban, 18,13.
Like Jim, Keith is out of practice, as he "semi-retired" a year ago, and normally only plays local events. And lo and behold, the U.S. Open was right in his backyard, practically! But Brian’s footwork and overpowering forehand were too much to handle without more regular practice.

Round Two:

Brian Pace d. Jim Butler, 19,12.
This was probably the "big" one – out of practice or not, Jim was considered the favorite here, as he was still rated 100 points higher than his rivals. However, from the very start, Brian raced all over the court, sometimes spinning, but usually ripping forehands. Right now, Jim’s backhand simply isn’t as consistent as it used to be – and without the overpowering backhand to offset Brian’s overpowering forehand, Jim is at a huge disadvantage.

Ashu Jain d. Keith Alban, -16,9,18.
In the third, Keith led 16-14. Ashu ties it up 16-all, the Keith goes up 17-16. On the next point, Ashu stumbles, and has to lunge just to pop up a weak return – but Keith backhand kills it off! Instead of Keith leading 18-16, it’s 17-all. Keith serve and smashes off, and now Ashu’s serving, leading 18-17, and wins, 21-18. (The last point was a nice counterlooping duel, with Keith finally missing.)

Round Three:

Analysis: Brian is 2-0, Jim and Ashu are 1-1, and Keith is 0-2.

• If Brian beats Ashu, Brian advances.

• If Ashu beats Brian, and Keith beats Jim, then Ashu and Brian are both 2-1, Jim and Keith are both 1-2, and Ashu wins head to head with Brian, and he advances.

• If Ashu beats Brian 2-0, and Jim beats Keith, then Brian, Ashu and Jim are all 2-1. Ashu’s game record among the three tied would be 2-2; Brian would be 2-2; and Jim would be 2-2. It would go to points.

• If Ashu beats Brian 2-1, and Jim beats Keith, then Brian, Ashu and Jim are all 2-1. Ashu’s game record among the three tied would be 2-3; Brian would be 3-2; and Jim would be 2-2. Brian would then advance.

Jim Butler vs. Keith Alban
Leading 19-18 in the first, Jim misses two backhands (the second off the serve), and then Keith serve and backhand loop kills to win. In the second, Jim leads 12-5, 17-8, 21-13. In the third, Keith is serving from down 16-19 – and then leads 20-19 match point, with the serve. However, Keith misses a backhand loop, and it’s 20-all. The next four points are rather interesting – neither returns the other serve! (Were they each saving their best "trick" serves for the end?) So Jim leads 21-20 and 22-21, and then it’s 22-all. Jim finally pulls out the match, -19,13,22. (Was there some disinterest by the players late in this match? They both undoubtedly knew, early in their match, that neither could advance, due to what was happening in the other match….)

Brian Pace vs. Ashu Jain
Once again these two shot-making power players are in a titanic battle in an all-important match. Ashu had defeated Brian in a five-game thriller at the USA Team Trials, with the winner to take the final spot on the U.S. Team. Two days before, Ashu had defeated Brian in the Under 2500 final at the Coral Springs Open in two straight close games.

In the first, Brian simply overpowers Ashu, winning 21-16. In the second, from 15-all, Ashu pulls away to win 21-17. In the third, the fireworks begin. Ashu leads 18-13, with Brian serving. (At the Coral Springs Open, someone watching Brian play commented that he didn’t know a ball could be looped that hard. How does that apply here?) Brian serve and 100mph rips, 18-14. Then a rally, 18-15. Then a serve and flip kill (Ashu smartly keeping the ball short – but still loses the point), 18-16. Ashu then dangerously puts the ball to Brian’s wide forehand, and catches him – 19-16, with Ashu serving.

• Ashu serves, Brian 100mph loop kills it, 19-17!

• Ashu serve and loops, Brian 100mph counter-loop kills it, 19-18!

• Ashu serves short, Brian 100mph forehand flip kills it, 19-19!

• Ashu calls a timeout, and talks to coach John Jarema. How do I stop this???

• Ashu serves short to Brian’s backhand, Brian 70mph backhand kills it! (OK, he played it safe this time, and Ashu almost blocked it back!) 19-20!

• Ashu serve quick-pushes – and Brian 100mph loop kills it – off! 20-20!

• Brian serve and quick pushes, Ashu pushes, and Brian 100mph loop kills it, 20-21!

• Ashu serves – and Brian 100mph loop kills the serve! 20-22!

So Brian wins 16,-17, 20, and finishes 3-0; Jim finishes 2-1, Ashu 1-2 and Keith 0-3. Brian advances. (Brian won the first against Ashu, and when Jim beat Keith, Brian clinched first – and Brian’s third-game fireworks didn’t actually affect who advanced.)

"It’s fun to get to 21 first!" Brian said.

*Advances to second round of North American Championships

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