2003 U.S. Open
Fort Lauderdale, Florida • July 2-6, 2003

Day Four:

Saturday, July 5

By Larry Hodges

Men's Singles - Semifinals

Aleksandar Karakasevic (YUG) vs. Ryusuke Sakamoto (JPN)

In this match-up of lefties, top-seeded Karakasevic had the shot-making advantage, with his ability to rip winners from both wings from anywhere on the court, while Sakamoto had slightly faster footwork. However, it was Karakasevic's ability to score the big points that made the difference. In the first game, Sakamoto led 9-7, and didn't score another point. In the second game, Sakamoto was down 5-6 and didn't score another point. However, in the next three games, Sakamoto's great counterlooping, and Karakasevic's tendency to back up and lob and fish, turned the tide for Sakamoto as he won them at 8 & 7. (In the game four, Karakasevic led 4-1.) Down 3-2 in games, and down 6-8 in the sixth, Karakasevic was in danger of being eliminated - but again he rose to the occasion, as Sakamoto didn't score another point. In fact, after scoring the last five points in a row in game six, he won the first six in the deciding seventh game! But Sakamoto wasn't out of it yet - he made it to 6-3, then 8-6, and suddenly it was a match again. Once again, Karakasevic rose to the occasion - this time with a net ball that Sakamoto pops up, 9-6. Then, in a series of counterlooping points, it's 9-7, 11-7 for Karakasevic, who holds on to win 9,5,-8,-7,-6,8,7.

Olivier Marmurek (FRA) vs. Koji Sanada (JPN)

Sanada is a great attacker, but too erratic. The lefty Marmurek is steadier both on offense and defense, and the result was an easy 7,7,4,8 win for the Frenchman. Interestingly, both players seemed to be hiding their serves, as several spectators pointed out.

"I stopped playing for a year because of a ruptured hamstring," Marmurek said. "I slipped on a slippery floor in 2000 while playing, and had to have surgery." He showed the back of his right hamstring, and there was a major scar there. "I was in bed for three months, with the leg in traction. I started playing again in September of 2001, but it's been a long comeback. This is my first major final ever!" While he makes a very good living as a professional table tennis player, he also said that he owns a company - one that exports women's bikinis from France to South Africa!

Men's Singles - Final

Aleksandar Karakasevic (YUG) vs. Olivier Marmurek (FRA)

It started out as a rout, as Karakasevic won the first two games in another all-lefty match 11-2 and 11-4. When his shots are hitting, there's almost no stopping him.

In the third, at 9-all, Karakasevic served into the net! He's down 9-10, 10-11, 11-12 and 12-13 before Marmurek drops Karakasevic's serve short, Karakasevic flips it, and Marmurek loops a winner, 14-12.Karakasevic has seemed irritated for a while, and is carrying on what sound like an agitated conversation with someone in the stands. "He's too angry. How can he play good table tennis?" commented USATT Hall of Famer George Brathwaite.

In the fourth, Marmurek's attack becomes stronger, and he leads early on stays ahead to win, 11-8. But no Karakasevic goes up 5-0 in winning the fifth 11-3. It looks like a seven-gamer as Marmurek leads 8-2 in the sixth - only to lose seven in a row to fall behind 8-9! Once again, Karakasevic has won the points when he needed them. Marmurek ties it up 9-9, with Karakasevic to serve. Marmurek pops the first serve up, and puts the second serve (fast to his backhand) into the net, and Karakasevic has won, 2,4,-12,-8,3,9.

"When I saw Lundqvist had dropped out, I thought the tournament would be a little easier to win," Karakasevic said. "However, it was harder than I thought! I haven't practiced much since the World Championships," he added. When asked by a reported if he made a living at table tennis, he said, "I live very well off table tennis!" He explained to the reporters that he and others play in leagues in Germany, where there is very good money. Later, one of the reporters was heard to remark, "Can you imagine that - making a living at table tennis!"

Women's Singles - Semifinals

Aya Umemura (JPN) d. Wu Xue (DOM), 9,12,12,10
Wang Chen (USA) d. Satoko Kishida (JPN), 7,-8,3,7,-4,12

Either of these matches could have gone the other way, but in each case, the higher-ranked player won the "big" points to win the match. Umemura may have beaten Wu Xue 4-0, but the scores tell a story themselves. Sandwiched between losing the first 11-9 and the fourth 12-10 (no game points there), Wu Xue led the second 10-8 and 12-11, and led the third 10-7 and 11-10. Wu had a huge cheering section from the Dominican Republic, who cheered and clapped in rhythm throughout the match. The key to Umemura's win (besides going 7-0 when down game point!) was her two-winged looping game, especially her backhand loop, which she'd often loop right off the bounce for a winner. Also key was her not being bothered by a service fault (for throwing the ball backwards) at 12-11 in the third. She followed it up with a brilliantly angled backhand block to the lefty Wu's wide forehand that Wu could only look at, and then a fast serve that Wu backhanded off. Into the semifinals went the #1 seed, 9,12,12,10.

The other semifinal was a match-up of super-high toss serves, between the lefty penhold looping Kishida and the tall, close-to-table Wang, with pips on the backhand. #2 seeded Wang Chen at one point seemed to be running away with her match, but Kishida worked her way back into it. In the first, down 6-7, Wang scored five in a row. After losing the second at 8, Wang romped in the next two games (leading 8-0 in the third), winning at 3 & 7. However, Kishida lefty penhold loops (especially following up her serves) were on fire in the fifth as she won 11-4. In the sixth, Wang was up 8-5 and on the verge of winning. Kishida took a one-minute timeout - and it was an effective one. When she returned, she won three in a row (8-all), leading Wang to take a timeout. It went to deuce, and Kishida had her chances to force a decisive seventh game, getting the ad three straight times at 10-9, 11-10 and 12-11. At 12-all, Wang served fast to Kishida's forehand, and Kishida whiffed an attempted off-the-bounce loop. Wang then looped Kishida's serve, and Kishida blocked it off. Match to Wang, 7,-8,3,7,-4,12.

Women's Singles - Final

Going into the Final, most people seemed to consider Wang Chen the favorite. After all, she used to be #4 in the world before she came to the U.S. and stopped training seriously - and she was back to serious training again. Umemura, on the other hand, had jumped from #26 to #16 in the world at the Brazil Open by making the final, and seemed to be playing very well. That, as it would turn out, would be an understatement.

In the Final, Wang played her usual lightning fast backhand hitting/forehand looping game. Most games deteriorate under the stress of such a pace. But in this match, Umemura simply raised her level of play far beyond what was expected. No matter how hard Wang hit the ball, Umemura seemed able to take a full swing.

The contrast in styles was obvious. While both looped on the forehand, Wang has short pips on the backhand, and hits from over the table. Umemura has inverted, and loops just about everything on the backhand. In this match, when Wang smacked a "winning" backhand, Umemura would loop it right back, without even backing up from the table much. Umemura's backhand loops off the bounce off Wang's backhand hits was absolutely spectacular.

Umemura won the first two games easily at 7 & 4, dominating the rallies with her two-winged looping. In the third, Wang went up 5-1, then 9-6, 9-8, 10-8, 11-9. But in the fourth, Umemura was back to dominating, and won the match, 7,4,-9,6,4. It was Umemura's second U.S. Open Women's Singles Final - she had lost in the Final in 2001 to Nia Jianfeng of China.

"I feel I played very well," Umemura, 27, said afterwards. "I played my style, which is topspin, topspin, topspin!" When asked about Wang's high toss serve, she said, "I have had trouble with it before, but today was no problem."

"She played very well today," Wang, 29, said. "She hit everything. I need to practice more - I've only been practicing again for three months. I need more international matches." Of her strategy against Umemura, she said, "I tried different serves - high-toss serves, backhand serves, serves to the forehand, but it didn't work."

Men's Doubles - Final

The Killerspin team of Aleksandar Karakasevic/Johnny Huang had an early round scare against the Japanese team of Yuji Taniguchi/Yuji Kawahara (where they'd been down 2-1 before winning -2,10,-8,8,5 in the round of 16). They also had difficulties in the semifinals against another Japanese team (Ryusuke Sakamoto/Seiva Kishikawa), winning 7,-9,6,11. But in the final, facing still another Japanese team, they romped, winning 5,4,1 over Koji Sanada/Yousuke Kurashima. When the two get going, they are dangerous. Huang, a shakehander with short pips on both sides (a rare style) can equally control play with his returns (setting his partner up) or end points with sudden kills. Karakasevic, with his two-winged power-looping game, can almost loop at will. But since both play a lot of high-risk shots, they can also run into trouble, as they did before the Final ... but not in the Final.

Women's Doubles - Final

USA's Wang Chen and the Japanese chopper Naoko Taniguchi dominated Women's Doubles from start to finish. Before the Final, no one had scored more than 8 in a game against them. In the final, they faced the Japanese team of Aya Umemura/Satoko Kishida. The Japanese team won the first at 6, and did challenge Wang/Taniguchi the next two games before folding in the fourth. Match to the USA/Japanese team, -6,9,8,1.

Other Events

Dan Seemiller dominated Over 40 Men, defeating Carlton Sealy of Barbados in the final, 2,2,3. It was somewhat obvious that Sealy wasn't particularly familiar with the "Seemiller" grip (named after ... Dan Seemiller!), or the antispin that Dan has on one side of the racket.

George Brathwaite and Dave Sakai dominated Over 50 Doubles this year, defeating the defending champions and top seeds Hank McCoullum/Richard Hicks in the semifinals (6,9,3), and Lim Ming Chui/Changping Duan in the final (6,6,-3,14). The two are simply two steady, with George spinning and Dave blocking, and they have played together many times.

Frank Dwelly had already won Over 70 Singles and Doubles, and made the final of Over 75 (where he'd lost Grady Gordon, who he'd won against in the Over 70 singles final). He added Over 80 Singles to his collection, defeating Harry Deschamps in the final, 4,3,7. Deschamps had defeated defending champion Louis Radzeli in the semifinals, 10,4,6.

Under 14 Boys' Singles was won by Juan Vila Jr. of the Dominican Republic, -7,8,7,10 over Jade Padmore of Barbados.

Under 16 Doubles had two girls' teams and two boys' teams in the semifinals, and a boys' team and a girls' team in the final. In the semifinals, Judy Hugh and Atha Fong had upset the second seeds, Misha Kazantsev/Sergy Gutkin, -7,10,-12,8,5. In the other semifinals, Adam Hugh/John Leach won over Barbara Wei/Rita Wu, 5,8,-9,6. In the final, it was Hugh/Leach over Hugh/Fong, 4,5,7.

Under 14 Doubles featured a Barbados team of Jade Padmore/Ramon Husein versus a pair of 11-year-olds standing a head shorter, Preston Chin/Kevin Ma. The taller heads prevailed, 4,3,6.

In what will for certain be the longest match of the tournament, both in time and in total points played, chopper Steve Berger defended his Over 40 Hardbat Singles title from last year, -21,18,-14,19,25 (!) over penholder Lim Ming Chui. (Hardbat games are to 21.) Neither player lost a game in reaching the Final.

Under 2100 was won by Florida's Yamil Rivera, whose rating of 2099 made him the top seed. He defeated Donald Hayes in the final, 8,5,4.

Under 2100 Women was won by Marisol Delzo Infante, 7,9,12 over fellow Floridian Beata Wronska. Wronska had had to struggle in the semifinals against Svetlana Panich, 7,11,-5,-6,9.

Under 1900 was won by William Ramos, -8,9,7,5 over Kane Watson. Until the final, Ramos didn't lose a game in the event.

Under 1350 was won by Michael Hsing, 9,-8,6,9 over Manuel Adono Caraballo. But then Caraballo would go on to win Under 1000, 4,-9,-7,6,8 over Cynthia Gonzalez. Caraballo and Gonzalez are both juniors from Puerto Rico, both about 10.

Awards

Two awards were given out during breaks during the major finals. The first was the Dr. Michael Scott Award for Umpires, which went to Yelena Karshtedt. The second was the new Ironman Award for whoever plays the most USATT matches in a year - and the inaugural award went to Julian Waters, who played a record 347 singles matches in USATT sanctioned tournaments in 2002! Stats on this are available since 1994, and the previous record was 257 by Lee McCool in 1997.

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