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Fort Lauderdale, Florida • July 3-7, 2002

 

Men's & Women's Finals: Ma and Zhang Dominate

By Larry Hodges

Women

Zhang Yining (CHN) d. Lau Sui Fei (HKG), 5,9,7,2

The seemed to be over almost as soon as it began. They played only 67 points, with Zhang winning the point battle 44-23 - nearly doubling Lau's score. For perspective, it's about the same number of points and dominance as winning 21-11, 21-11 in the old scoring system.

Zhang completely dominated with her backhand topspsins over the table. The tall Chinese player often seemed to have an extra joint in her wrist as she'd make seemingly last-second changes of directions, totally catching Lau off guard. Lau, a fast penholder with a big forehand, was rarely able to get her strong forehand into play, and spent most of the match struggling to keep the ball in play as Zhang relentlessly topspinned right off the bounce, shot after shot, to all parts of the table. Zhang won enough points with her down-the-line backhand topsin off-the-bounce to win a game by itself. "Lau needed to play Zhang's forehand more," said 5-time U.S. Men's Champion, U.S. Men's Coach and TV Commentator Dan Seemiller. "Zhang's backhand was brilliant." Zhang's backhand was especially effective in taking Lau's serves - the ones that had given so many other players trouble - right off the bounce with quick topspins. 

For complete women's results, see the Women's Singles Draw.

Men

Ma Lin d. Qin Zhijian (CHN), 8,7,7,-8,8

Ma got his revenge this match for losing to Qin at the China Open. (Interestingly, Qin, the world mixed doubles champion, played for China at the Worlds last year, but was "transferred" afterwards to the Hong Kong team.) In this battle of penholders, Ma (world #2) dominated with his serve & loop, and all-around rallying skills.  Qin (world #54, but much, much higher after this tournament) never seemed comfortable against his serve, especially in the first three games. Both players played similarly, despite the difference in builds - the short, stocky Ma versus the tall Qin. One interesting difference: both players have excellent reverse-side penhold backhand loops, but while Ma usually does his from off the table, Qin often does it right off the bounce for a winner. 

Ma went up 10-5 in the first, and 8-0 in the second, and neither game was really in doubt, although Qin staged minor comebacks each game, never giving up before losing them at 8 & 7. In the third, they played to 6-6, but from there it was all Ma, 11-7. Qin seemed to raise his level from here on, and the two actually were 19-19 in points the rest of the way - but up 3-0, a split of the last two games was all Ma needed in winning 4-1. 

Since Qin is left-handed and Ma right-handed, their natural serve motion made hidden serves more easy. In this match, both seemed to hide serves because of this. It brings out an interesting point - what are non-hidden serves against a righty (by a righty) become hidden serves when served to a lefty! (And vice versa.) So players will have to adjust for this after Sept. 1, when hidden serves become illegal. Qin had been using hidden serves throughout the tournament, while Ma had seemed to use borderline serves, where just before contact his body moved next to the ball, nearly hiding (but not quite hiding) contact. 

For complete men's results see the Men's Singles Draw. 

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