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

 

Day Five:

Sunday, July 6

By Larry Hodges

Sunday was a half day, with only seven events, and everything over by around 1:30 PM. Six of the events were junior events.

Yelena Karshtedt won the Dr. Michael Scott Award for Umpires, while son Misha Kazantsev won Under 18 Boys' Singles and Under 2350. Photo by Larry Hodges ©2003.

A red-hot 14-year-old Misha Kazantsev upset top-seeded Adam Hugh in the semifinals of Under 18 Boys' Singles, 9,4,-8,-7,8. It was a battle of Misha's footwork and forehand versus Adam's more all-around game - but Misha's forehand could do no wrong much of this match, and his blocking was greatly improved. Misha won the first two, then lost the next two. In the fifth, Misha went up 7-2, but Adam came racing back to 7-6. Misha called a timeout. When he returned, his forehand was clicking again as he pulled away to win 11-8. In the Final, Misha defeated Puerto Rico's Santiago Coste, 6,-9,8,7, in a battle of big forehands and forehand counterlooping. Of his match with Adam, Misha said, "I had to fight hard, and try to find ways to get my forehand into play. In the fifth game, when Adam dropped my serve short, I had to flip, not push."

Tony Chen won Under 12 Boys' Singles, Under 1650 and Under 1500, and made the final of Under 1800. Photo by Larry Hodges ©2003.

Tony Chen won Under 12 Boys' Singles over Preston Chin, -1,10,-5,7,6. Tony had already won Under 1500 and Under 1650 - and he had one more final coming up.

Top-seeded A.J. Brewer won Under 10 Boys' Singles over second-seeded Janiel Li, -7,12,-10,6,9. 

Jackie Lee won Under 18 Girls' Singles over Marisol Delzo Infante, 8,5,9. Only Judy Hugh in the semifinals was able to get a game off her in the event. Jackie was seeded second, a few points lower than Whitney Ping (they two flip back and forth in the seedings regularly), but Whitney had to leave early, and so dropped out of the event. 

Under 12 Girls' Singles Champion Alicia Wei. She and her brother Mark also made the final of Under 3700 Doubles. Photo by Larry Hodges ©2003.

Top-seeded Alicia Wei won Under 12 Girls' Singles over second-seeded Amy Huang, 7,9,-3,-7,5. (Parts of the match was taped by Fox News.) Amy had a scare in the semifinals, defeating Linden Li at 9,-8,-8,7,4.

Under 10 Girls' Singles was won by Carelyn Cordero over top-seeded Andrea Lin, 9,6,5.

Under 1800 was won by Bruno Ramirez over ... Tony Chen in his fourth final! Tony almost had a fourth title, but Bruno won, 8,8,-9,8. Bruno and Tony each had one very tough match to reach the final. Bruno defeated Rafael Valencia Tavares at 10,9,-10,-9,8 in the semifinals; Tony defeated William Ramos at 10,-7,-4,9,10 in the quarterfinals.

Back to 2003 U.S. Open Home Page