By Larry Hodges
Men's Singles: Round One
Giant-Killer
Sakda Timsuwan. Photo by Gerry Chua ©2003.
There were two "interesting" matches this round. The first was 2184-rated Sakda Timsuwan's win over 2574-rated Razvan Cretu, the #8 seed in Men's Singles, -6,8,8,8. Timsuwan is basically a forehand looper, but uses long pips on the backhand. On the backhand, he chop-blocks, chops, and often flips to the inverted to counter-hit. Against Cretu, he said his forehand was on, and that Cretu made a lot of mistakes against the long pips.
The other interesting match was 2183-rated Konstantin Chernomorskiy's comeback upset win against 2309-rated Barry Dattel, -1,-9,8,6,9. Interesting scores: #1 and #3 seeds Ilija Lupulesku, headed for a possible semifinal showdown, both won their first round matches by the devilish scores of 6,6,6.
Men's Singles: Round Two
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| Alexis Perez Photo by Gerry Chua ©2003 |
Rudy Miranda Photo by Gerry Chua ©2003 |
The 2447-rated Alexis Perez ended Timsuwan's run, but in a match where the players mistakenly played best of five when it was best of seven starting this round. Perez won, -9,3,9,3. However, the big upset this round was Rudy Miranda (2202) over Brian Pace (2476), 7,8,9,-7,-8,-7,8. Down 3-0, Pace fought back to win the next three, but couldn't pull out the seventh. (Note - earlier it was reported that 2183-rated Lloyd McQueen had won the first game against 2648-rated Mark Hazinski 11-0 - and then lost the next four - but it turns out to have been a "hoax"! Hazinski won at 8,9,10,2)
So far, a 2202-rated player has beaten a 2476; a 2184 has beaten a 2574; and a 2183 has beaten a 2309. !
Women's Singles: Round One
The top seeds all had byes, so there were only three matches played this round. Two were routine, as Mahin Roufeh defeated Rebecca Le, 8,8,3,2, and Charlene Liu defeated Lynn Schumer, 3,2,3,6. The third match was a battle of youth against experience, with youth winning 4-3 this time as Atha Fong (14), the #4 seed in Under 15 Girls, defeated the #2 seed in Over 60 Women, Barbara Kaminsky, -4,5,7,-7,4,-10,6.
Women's Doubles
"Supermom"
Lily Yip and "superdaughter" Judy Hugh, in the Women's Doubles Final.
Photo by Gerry Chua ©2003.
The first sign that something might be happening was when Lily Yip and Judy Hugh upset #2 seeds Simone Yang and Michelle Do, -11,1,4,7. But in the final, they faced Tawny Banh and Jasna Reed, easily the top seeds. Banh/Reed won the first two games easily, but then found themselves down 9-7 in the fifth! Banh/Reed scored three in a row to go up 10-9 match point. Lily said, "We'd most been returning serves short, but Judy said she was confident she could flip the serve in." Judy flipped but it went just off to the side, and Banh/Reed went on to win, 5,2,-8,-11,10.
Junior and Cadet Team Trials
The USA Junior Boys (under 18) and Cadet Boys (under 15) and Girls Team Trials were held today. (The Junior Girls Trials were held previously.) Results (including round robin and crossover matches) are with the other tournament results. The order of finish (top four make the team; others are alternates) were as follows, including the Junior Girls results:
Junior Boys: 1st Adam Hugh; 2nd Misha Kazantsev; 3rd Han Xiao; 4th Auria Malek; 5th Khaleel Asgarali; 6th Pan Lin; 7th Kevin Phung; 8th Derrick Poon
Junior Girls: 1st Whitney Ping; 2nd Katherine Wu; 3rd Sophia Yi; 4th Lani Lei; 5th Barbara Wei; 6th Elaine Kwok; 7th Atha Fong; 8th Laura Xiao
Cadet Boys: 1st John Leach; 2nd Mark Wei; 3rd Steven Chan; 4th Jeff Huang; 5th Alden Fan; 6th Preston Chin; 7th Joseph Cochran; 8th Danny Ho
Cadet Girls: 1st Chun Yi Wang; 2nd Judy Hugh; 3rd Barbara Wei; 4th Rita Wu; 5th Stephanie Shih; 6th Sarah Zheng; 7th Jennifer Mast; 8th Atha Fong
Under 18 Girls' Singles
Things went exactly as seeded, as top seed Laura Xiao (who had already won Under 22 Women the day before) defeated Wendy Eav in the final, -11,5,6,9. Wendy had barely gotten by Judy Hugh in the semifinals, -6,9,-10,8,10. (The USA Junior Girls' Team - Whitney Ping, Jackie Lee, Katherine Wu and Laura Leach - are missing the USA Nationals so they can attend the World Junior Championships, currently taking place in Chile.)
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Under 18 Girls Finalist Laura Xiao (above) and Wendy
Eav (below) demonstrate the forehand loop. Mirror images? |
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Over 50 Men's Singles
How many times have they played over the years? Has anybody kept track of their lifetime record? In the final, it was Lim Ming Chui over George Brathwaite, 8,-14,2,6. Chui had survived a close one in the semifinals against Richard Hicks, winning 6,-7,-5,7,9. These three players play about as contrasting styles as is possible - Chui, the lefty pips-out penholder hitter/blocker; Brathwaite, the two-winged topspinning machine; and Hicks, the chopper with long pips on the backhand.
Over 70
Grady Gordon had lost in the final last year to Marty Reisman. However, this was Gordon's year, as he defeated Reisman in the semifinals (-9,8,12,9), and Dick Peregrine in the final, 4,8,-9,6.
Over 80
How many years has it been since George Hendry was on a Wheaties box? The legend (and former World Over 70 Champion) won again, over Frank Dwelly - but barely, as Dwelly offered a spirited comeback, 4,3,-9,-6,8.
Over 40 Doubles
As expected, and just as last year, the final was between #1 seeds Cheng Yinghua/Dave Sakai and #2 seeds Barry Dattel/De Tran. (Cheng/Sakai were in the final for the fifth year in a row - they had won in three straight times, 1999-2001.) Dattel/Tran defeated Hank McCoullum/Richard Hicks in the semifinals - just as they had last year - with a "goose egg" game stuck in. For the second year in a row, Dattel/Tran "upset" the top seeds, this time 11,9,-4,6.
Under 2000 Hardbat
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| Scott Gordon Photo by Gerry Chua ©2003 |
Marty Reisman Photo by Gerry Chua ©2003 |
Who would have believed it? The Hardbat Chair over the Hardbat Legend? "He let me off the hook in game two, and I made him pay for it," said Scott Gordon of his upset win over Marty Reisman in the final, -14,21,16. "He led 20-18, but played very soft the rest of the way. I got the ad with an edge. The last point we were pushing, and I surprised him by stepping around and killing his push." Both players had had scares in the semifinals, as each lost the first game: Reisman over Ralph Stadelman, -19,13,14, and Gordon over Al Papp, -8,14,14.
Rating Events (just the results)
Under 2400 - Final: Tuan Le d. Shuja Jafar-Ali, -14,4,16,7; SF: Jafar-Ali d. Clark Yeh, -8,-3,11,8,10; Le d. Courtney Roberts, -10,12,3,-2,9; QF: Yeh d. Mark Nordby, 3,6,-6,9; Jarar-Ali d. Tung Phan, 5,4,9; Le d. John Wetzler, 6,6,-10,6; Roberts d. Lily Yip, 9,8,4.
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| Under 2400 Champion Tuan Le Photo by Gerry Chua ©2003 |
Under 2300 Champion Courtney Roberts Photo by Gerry Chua ©2003 |
Under 2300 - Final: Courtney Roberts d. Rudy Miranda, 8,4,11; SF: Roberts d. Thor Truelson, 4,4,7; Miranda d. Patrick Mualem, 1,9,-11,-7,13; QF: Miranda . Shuja Jafar-Ali, 6,-6,-6,10,7; Mualem d. David Umel Jr., 6,-9,10,-8,6; Roberts d. Sakda Timsuwan, 12,3,9; Truelson d. Tung Phan, 10,7,-10,8.
Under 2000 - Final: Brent Swanson d. Steven Chan, -6,-11,6,6,5; SF: Swanson d. Jim McQueen, -11,4,5,5; Chan d. Ronald Spencer, 8,-8,9,-6,6; QF: Chan d. Atha Fong, 8,8,6; Spencer d. Viktor Sidorov, 7,-9,8,8; Jim McQueen d. Barney D. Reed, -9,7,9,7; Swanson d. Mark Wei, -5,10,9,-7,8.
Under 1400 - Final: John Curd d. Leon Hodges, 6,9,8; SF: Curd d. Kristian Morell, 6,4,5; Hodges d. Sarkis Boukhanian, 9,15,6.
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