2002 U.S. Nationals
Las Vegas, Nevada • December 18-21, 2002

Day Four - Saturday, Dec. 21

Men's Semifinals and Final, and Women's Singles Final

Ilija Lupulesku & Chang Jun Gao Win Men's and Women's Singles

By Larry Hodges

Women's Final

Chang Jun Gao vs. Jasna Reed

Chinese pips-out penholder blocker vs. European inverted shakehand all-around player ... a contrast in styles that makes the sport so interesting.

Gao was going for her seventh straight women's singles title (to go along with her seven straight women's doubles titles, and six straight mixed doubles titles before that event was cancelled. The odds were huge in her favor. Memo to Jasna: Gao's too good ... right? But Jasna came right at her, and led 9-5 in the first, then 10-7 game point. ("Choo!" Jasna yelled in a high-pitched voice as she go point #10.) Gao pulled to 10-9, but Jasna won the first, 11-9. Pandemonium! Gao's in trouble! It only got scarier for Gao, as Jasna led 7-6 in the second. And that's when Gao slammed the door shut. Gao scored five of the next six points to win that game 11-8, and in fact outscored Jasna 38-8 the rest of the way. (The last few points of the last two games were played pure exhibition for the crowd.) When Gao's blocking and constant change-of-pace get going, combined with her pick-hitting, just scoring a point becomes difficult. But for a time, it looked like it wasn't going to be a nail-biter. Match, and seventh straight women's singles title to Chang Jun Gao, -9,8,3,2,2. In her seven years at the Nationals, she has yet to lose a match in women's singles, women's doubles or mixed doubles, winning 20 titles.

Men's Semifinals

Ilija Lupulesku vs. Eric Owens

This was a spectacular match between two of the most acrobatic players around. Eric's forehand power often matched up well with "Loopy's" steady two-winged looping and fishing, and the games were close. Eric also has an interesting receive tactic. The left-handed Loopy mostly served short to Eric's forehand. Eric returned most of them with his backhand, where he'd either drop the ball short, or do a sudden "inside-out" flip to Loopy's wide backhand, which Eric would usually be able to follow up with a forehand. The tactic worked well.

But Loopy was just too looping good in the key points, and won a number of spectacular lob points. Loopy won the first 11-6, but Eric jumps to a 10-4 lead in the second, and wins 11-7, to the roar of the crowd, which strongly favored the native-son Eric of Texas over the Yugoslavian, who just recently became a citizen and so became eligible for the Nationals. But the crowd cheered for Loopy's great shots as well, even if they groaned when he pulled out the close games. And he would win the next three games, all close, 11-9, 11-9 and 11-8. In the third, down 9-10, Eric would fast-serve off the end of the table to lose. In the fourth, at 9-all, Loopy served short to Eric's forehand twice in a row, and Eric dropped both short with his backhand - short into the net to lose. In the fifth, down 5-7, someone would take a flash picture as Eric served, causing a let, but Eric would score the next two points to 7-all. But he'd lose the next two, and take a time-out. After the break, at 7-9, Loopy served long, Eric looped it hard, and could only watch Loopy's off-the-bounce counterloop whiz by to fall to 7-10. Eric would loop a winner off the next serve, and serve at 8-10. Eric serve and stepped around his backhand to loop with his forehand - but Loopy dropped the ball short to the forehand, and aced Eric with a double-bounced drop shot to win the match, 6,-7,9,9,8.

David Zhuang vs. Cheng Yinghua

These two veterans - aged 39 and 44 - have played each other so many times they know what the other can do in their sleep. Or normally they do. Two things happened in this match that was different from past matches. First, pips-out penholder David would use the inverted side of his racket over and over, especially to open with a "reverse penhold backhand loop," the new craze started by such Chinese players as Liu Guoliang and Ma Lin. (This is where they backhand loop - or hit - with the back of the penhold blade on the backhand side.) He would also forehand loop with the inverted, sometimes several times in a row. At times, these inverted shots seemed to throw Cheng off. The other thing that was different was that, for some reason - Age? Tactics? David's tactics? - Cheng never really seemed to attack hard, spending the whole match playing soft and steady. Normally, Cheng would constantly be looking for shots to attack, and go from steadiness to all-out attack as the situation called for it. But in this match, he probably didn't loop more than two or three all-out winners, if that many.

But the big turnover in the match may have been in the first game. Cheng leads 6-0 - and then it's 6-6! At 8-8, David surprises him with his first reverse penhold backhand loop (RPBL), and Cheng follows with one of his rare loop kills to make it 9-all. But a RPBL and a smash, and David wins the first, 11-9. But the second game is all Cheng, 11-5, playing steady, as David makes numerous mistakes.

Early in the third game, Cheng is lobbing, and David drop shots - and Cheng, returning it on the run, continues over to David's side. David sees this, and he also switches sides, but his own shot to Cheng hits the edge, and he just misses returning his own shot! The two laugh, the umpires smile, David gets the point, and they go back to business. David goes up 4-1, and wins 11-7.

The fourth is a long one. David goes up 4-1, then Cheng is up 8-6. David wins a point with a RPBL. Cheng is then forced back lobbing - and David does a drop shot. Cheng misses the return, but David returns it anyway, and they continue the point! But David has already scored the point, so it's 8-all. then 9-all. 10-all. 11-all. Finally, David loops one off, and flips a serve into the net, and Cheng wins the game 13-11.

But David runs away with the fifth, 5-1, 8-4, 9-5, 9-7, 11-7, and goes up 3-2 in games.

The sixth goes to 9-all, with Cheng playing a bit more aggressively than before, but still not really ripping the ball ever. But Cheng backhand loops off, and a moment later he's lost the game and match, 11-9. Final scores were 9,-5,7,-11,7,9.

Men's Final

Ilija Lupulesku vs. David Zhuang

These two had played once before - at the 1996 Eastern Open. That time, David had won, -17,16,19,20 (games to 21, of course!). It woudl be five years before Loopy would play another USA tournament, and finally Loopy would have his rematch. However, while David had his moments, it really wasn't a competitive match. David seemed unable to do anything other than block, and Loopy looped right through him with killer spin in winning four straight, 7,8,6,9. In the last game, Loopy led 5-1 when David took a time-out - and then quickly tied it at 6-all. It went to 8-all, then 10-8 Loopy, and finally 11-9 for Loopy. So Ilija Lupulesku, in his first time at the USA Nationals, wins Men's Singles, along with Over 30 Singles, which he had won earlier. (He had inadvertently not entered men's doubles until it was too late, or he would have played with Mark Hazinski, who ended up making the Final with Ashu Jain.)

Interestingly, it was obvious from the sidelines that neither player was serving legally. Both hid the ball with their arms, which became illegal on Sept. 1, 2002. It's an almost impossible rule to enforce, and in this case, it was not enforced, and neither player complained.

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2002 U.S. Nationals Las Vegas, Nevada • December 18-21, 2002