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2002
U.S. Nationals
By Larry Hodges
Women's Quarterfinals
Chang
Gao Jun. Photo by Gerry Chua, ©2002.
Chang Jun Gao has a history of winning her matches very quickly - if you arrive a little late, the match is often already over. She outdid herself this time. At 7:30, the time for her match, she was already putting on her warm-ups, a 4,4,3,3 win over Whitney Ping - they had started their match early. Chang is now just two matches away from her seventh straight women's singles title. There just doesn't seem to be anyone who can really compete with her pips-out penhold blocking and pick hitting.
Tawny Banh "defeated" Simone Yang, 8,6,8,9, but there's some question to that. Both Tawny and Simone agree it's really 10-9 in the fourth, that the last serve was a let - but the umpire said no, flipped the scoreboard to 11-9, filled in the score sheet, and returned it to the desk. Tawny flipped the score back to 10-9 to no avail. Both players stayed at the table for a time for the match that would "never" end, but Tawny advanced to the semifinals. In the match, Tawny's all-out attack - pips out hitting on the backhand, close-to-the-table looping on the forehand - kept Simone on the defensive the whole match, blocking and countering.
Pips-out penholder Lily Yip had her hands full with the shakehand looping and countering Michelle Do for a time. Michelle had pulled off the big upset last year, upsetting Jasna Reed, and with the match 1-1, it looked like a long one. Lily won the third 11-2, and battled to win the last two as well, winning the match 6,-8,2,9,8.
Jackie
Lee. Photo by Gerry Chua, ©2002.
Jasna Reed had been upset by Michelle Do last year, and for a time it looked like another up-and-coming junior might take her out. The two split the first two games, as Jackie's close-to-the-table attack often overpowered Jasna's more all-around game. But at the end, it was all Jasna, looping and keeping the ball going until the right shot. Match to Jasna, 8,-11,5,-8,6,6.
Semifinal match-ups:
Chang Jun Gao vs. Lily Yip
Tawny Banh vs. Jasna Reed
Men's Round of 16
Ilija
Lupulesku. Photo by Gerry Chua, ©2002.
Just when it looked like top-seed Ilija Lupulesku would coast, Sean O'Neill dug in and with a mixture of looping and steadiness, combined with "Loopy's" tendency to back up and soft-spin (giving Sean the attack), O'Neill started to come back. Loopy won the first two. In the third, O'Neill led 9-6, but Loopy won five straight to go up 3-0. O'Neill won the fourth, and was up 10-9 in the fifth. But Loopy pulls back, and the score goes to 11-all. O'Neill serves short to Loopy's backhand, and the lefty Loopy does what he's done several times already in the match - he steps around, and does an inside-out, relatively soft flip to O'Neill's wide forehand, catching him completely. A point later, and Loopy has won, 5,6,9,-8,11.
Han
Xiao. Photo by Gerry Chua, ©2002.
Han Xiao had already won his first "Major" (i.e. non-junior) title by winning Men's Doubles with Cheng Yinghua. In a match where he just lets himself go, and rips loop after loop from both wings, he is an easy winner, 12,6,-9,6,1. The turning point might have been the very first game, where Han led 10-8, but then fell behind 10-11 and 11-12 before pulling it out, 14-12.
Todd Sweeris is a relatively easy winner over Jared Lynch, 7,-9,7,7,3. Lynch had gotten this far by defeating Tahl Leibovitz (2499) 3-2 in the round of 64, and coming back from down 3-0 to win in the round of 32 against Young Ren.
Defending Men's Singles Champion (but seeded third) Eric Owens mostly coasts against Adam Hugh - but Adam almost wins the third, and does win the fourth (and you could hear him from the whole arena!), before going down, 4,4,9,-10,6.
David
Zhuang. Photo by Gerry Chua, ©2002.
David Zhuang has a tougher battle with Chi-Sun Chui then the scores would indicate. Chi-Sun's and brother are both pips-out penholders like David, and Chi-Sun is able to loop both hard and steadily from both wings against David's blocks. Zhuang wins the first, but Chi-Sun goes up 6-0 in the second - only to lose 11-9 in a heartbreaker. But then Chi-Sun does it again - he goes up 5-0 in the third. Again David comes back, scores four in a row, but this time Chi-Sun holds on to win 11-6. David wins the next relatively easily, 11-7, but then it's 7-all in the fifth. Chi-Sun misses a big loop, grimaces - and loses the next three as well to lose 11-7 again. Match to David, 5,9,-6,7,7.
Khoa Nguyen and Brian Pace both play a similar power-looping games, but Khoa's backhand is a bit steadier, and he is more consistent in his serve returns. Match to Khoa, 8,6,-8,3,3.
Jim
Butler. Photo by Gerry Chua, ©2002.
The Jim Butler - Mark Hazinski match is one of the most anticipated, but Jim's serves, backhand hitting and over-all experience and steadiness are just too much for Mark. 5,9,6,3 for the Butler. According to USA Men's Coach Dan Seemiller, Jim controlled the match with his serves by serving to all parts of table with constant variety.
And as a spectator said, Cheng was just being Cheng as he defeated Ashu Jain, 3,8,7,5.
Quarterfinal match-ups:
Ilija Lupulesku vs. Han Xiao
Todd Sweeris vs. Eric Owens
David Zhuang vs. Khoa Nguyen
Cheng Yinghua vs. Jim Butler
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