|
|
|
|
Atlanta, GA • March 17-22, 2003
By Larry Hodges
Coaching
action between games: Coach Jack Wu and Jackie Lee, and Coach Wang Fei and
Virginia Sung. Photo by Larry Hodges ©2003.
Jasna
Reed loops a forehand. Photo by Michael Wetzel ©2003
The two best matches this round were Jackie Lee versus Virginia Sung. Lee attacked very hard into Sung's chopping, but Sung was just too steady, and Lee too erratic on some high chops.
The best match of the round - played on table one - was Amanda Dubina versus hometown favorite Priscilla Umel. Dubina is a strong looper on both wings, and there were many long rallies where she'd loop over and over to Umel's steady blocks (short pips on the backhand). Dubina started out winning relatively easily, but Umel took off and won the third and fourth games easily. Dubina went up 3-2, but behind 9-10 in the sixth, missed a loop - and so into the seventh they went. Dubina dominated that game, winning 11-6.
Amanda
Dubina loops a backhand. Photo by Michael Wetzel ©2003
Whitney Ping still hadn't shown up, due to her flight problems with Denver airport closing down, and so she defaulted to Lily Yip. Word was that she would be in tonight, but would not make any of her matches today - but none of her matches would count toward the Trials, as noted in the Round One writeup, just for rating points, if they were played.
Adam
Hugh pulled off the first big upset, over Eric Owens. Photo by Ray
Swords Photography.
The HUGE upset this round was 15-year-old Adam Hugh's win over Eric Owens, -4,7,7,8,9. Hugh, who had led Hazinski in the previous round 3-0 before losing, led 3-1 this time. Owens led 9-7 in the fifth, but Hugh won the next four, looping in Owens' serve at 9-9, and Owens missing a serve & backhand kill to end it. The key to the match? When Owens served short or dropped Hugh's serve short, Hugh would attack it off the bounce, usually with his backhand wide to Owens' backhand. If Owens went long, Hugh would loop, again usually wide to the backhand. However, he went to the wide forehand enough to keep Owens from using his forehand from his backhand corner too often, and his shots, especially off short balls, were quick and aggressive enough that Owens - normally a big forehand looper - was basically a backhand player the entire match. When Owens did get the attack, Hugh turned into a wall with his quick and angled blocking.
Ashu Jain
eyes the ball while serving. Photo by Michael Wetzel ©2003
When Ashu Jain won the first game of his match against practice partner Ilija Lupulesku, all eyes were on that match. "I played really, really well that first game," Jain said. "But then I came back to reality, and realized I was playing Lupi, and wasn't supposed to win." The rest of the match was all Lupi, -8,5,3,7,4.
Mark Hazinski seemed to be coasting against Darko Rop after winning the first two at 8 & 6, but Rop's lefty loops began to wear him down, and Rop won the next two at 9. But Hazinski's power dominated the last two games as he won, 8,6,-9,-9,6,3.
Brian
Pace, focused and about to rip. Photo by Michael Wetzel ©2003
Khoa Nguyen versus Brian Pace was a shot-making match, but Nguyen's attack was steadier, and his backhand attack stronger and surer. After winning the first three games, Nguyen led 9-3 in the fourth - but Pace scored seven in a row! But up 10-9 and serving ... Pace served into the net! "I'm trying to serve legally and play at the same time, and it's throwing me off," Pace said, who acknowledged that he hadn't really mastered getting his arm out of the way while serving. However, Pace won that game 13-11, but missed a number of careless shots in the final game. Match to Khoa, 5,8,6,-11,7.
Shashin pulled out the close ones at the start against Jiachen "David" Wang to win a battle of spectacular shotmaking, 11,14,7,-8,-11,3.
2003 USA Team Trials Home Page
| |
| USA Table Tennis - Serving the Table Tennis Community |
| |
