2004 USA Olympic Doubles Trials

Day One: Friday, March 19, 2004

By Larry Hodges

Results/Standings

Junior star Marcus Jackson gives some tips to Washington D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams. Photos by Larry Hodges ©2004. 

The Mayor: Washington D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams made an appearance, and hit with local junior Marcus Jackson, who gave him some tips. ("I'm the Mayor - you have to go easy on me!" he told Marcus.) He then held a press conference, and about a zillion photographers and reporters closed in. 

Media: The first thing you notice if you spent some time at the Trials today was all the media coverage. Which media came? How about which didn't?!!! ABC News, NBC News, CBS News, Fox News, News 8, The Sports Network, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, and the Hot 99-5 Morning Show were all there - and more are expected tomorrow, when the Top Three will be win their spots. (See listing of media, with links to known online articles, on the home page.)

Barbara Wei (far left and far right) and Katherine Wu on the set of Fox News. Photos by Larry Hodges ©2004. 

The Stakes: The top three men's and women's teams will qualify for the North American Doubles Trials in Atlanta, April 3-4. At the NA Trials, USA and Canada will play off for the two men's and two women's spots open for doubles players. Here's the way it works: There are openings for two men and two women for doubles. Note that that's two men and two women, not two men's teams or women's teams. For example, if at the NA Trials, the top finishing team is made up of two players who did not qualify for the Olympics in singles, then they take up the two spots left, and so no others will go. If, however, the winning team is made up of one player who qualified for the Olympics in Singles, and one who did not, then that leaves one more spot open.  In this case, the next highest finishing team with one player who did not qualify in singles goes. If the next highest finishing team is made up of two players who did not qualify for singles, they cannot go - they would take up more than the two spots open. So they would be passed over, and the highest finishing team with one player who did not qualify would go. (If the winning team is made up of two players who both qualified in singles, then they wouldn't count toward either of the open spots.)

Got that?

Officiating: Early on, there were several service faults: Tahl Leibovitz was faulted twice, and Simone Yang once (and possibly others). After that, there were few problems with serves. Thanks goes to Referee Larry Kesler, and to umpires Patrick Collins, Roman Tinyszin, Ennan Guan and Jinhai Wang. (Also Marcus Jackson, who filled in for one match.) 

Women's Trials - Day One

There are five teams, with three going to the North American Trials. At the end of the day, the #5 seeds, Katherine Wu (18) and Barbara Wei (15), were out of it at 0-3. They'd only won one game in their four matches (all best of seven), but they were at deuce four times (winning one) and lost another 11-9. 

Also almost out of it were Michelle Do and Jackie Lee at 1-2. They won 4-0 over Wu/Wei, but had lost 0-4 to both Tawny Banh/Simone Yang and to Lily Yip/Judy Hugh. To have any chance of getting back into it, they're going to have to win against top-seeded Jasna Reed/Whitney Ping, hope that team also loses to Tawny Banh/Simone Yang, and then hope to come win in a tie. 

Looking very strong to make the top three were "Super Mom" Lily Yip and "Super Daughter" Judy Hugh. They are only 1-1, but they won 4-0 against Michelle Do/Jackie Lee, their main competition for the #3 spot. They will have to play Tawny Banh/Simone Yang and Katherine Wu/Barbara Wei. 

Near locks for the top three were the top two seeded teams, Jasna Reed/Whitney Ping and Tawny Banh/Simone Yang, both at 2-0. However, these two teams have to play each other, and whichever loses that could lose their other match, and end up at 2-2, and possibly lose out in a tie.  

Probably the most interesting match of the day for the women was the Jasna Reed/Whitney Ping vs. Lily Yip/Judy Hugh match, with Reed/Ping winning at 9,-9,11,12,-8,10. Five of the six games were 9 or deuce, with the sixth game a "lopsided" 11-8! Either team could have won this; Yip/Hugh especially had their chances in game four, where they led 10-9, and lost two points near the end on net balls, including one at 10-all. Lily and Judy do seem to be the best example of a team that seems much better than their seeding, and may be the second strongest team - but tomorrow will tell that story. (A Washington Post reporter, upon hearing that Jasna Reed had played in three Olympics with three different last names, should make her next name change to "Pong" - so she and her partner, Whitney Ping, could be known as Ping/Pong!)

In the other women's matches, one was 4-1 and the rest were 4-0. The only upset was the Yip/Hugh 4-0 win over Do/Lee. 

Men's Trials - Day One

The playing site as the players warm up: that's Tahl Leibovitz and Sean O'Neill on the first table, Khoa Nguyen and De Tran on the second table, and (if you squint), Michelle Do and Razvan Cretu on the third table. Photo by Larry Hodges ©2004. 

Ohioans Samson Dubina and Nick Snider saw their nomadic trek to the Olympics come to an end with an 0-4 record for the day. However, not before they threw a "scare" into the two top USA juniors, the somewhat downhearted Han Xiao and Adam Hugh who had lost their first two matches. Xiao/Hugh won the first two, but Dubina/Snider won the next two in squeakers. The juniors (age 17 & 16) slammed the door shut, however, winning 7,6,-10,9,2,4.

While not eliminated, Han and Adam finished the day at 1-3. The real heartbreaker for them was the "blown" match with righty Khoa Nguyen/lefty De Tran. They split the first four games, and then Han & Adam led 5-1 in the fifth. Khoa & De called a timeout; after returning, they dug the hole even deeper, 6-1. But something happened, and suddenly the score was 6-8 - perhaps somewhere along the way toward losing those seven in a row they should have called a timeout? Instead of 3-2, it was 2-3. In the sixth, at 6-6, they lost four in a row, and the match, 8,-10,5,-9,7,8. It was a battle of four great topspinners, but in the end Khoa's and De's two-winged looping (Khoa with great power, De with relentless sidespin) came out on top. Later, I was told that the night before, Khoa and De had considered this match the most "worrisome" match. Han and Adam also had their chances against Zhuang/Owens, leading 10-9 in the first game, and at 9-9 in the fifth game, but losing both. 

Khoa Nguyen/De Tran won their first two matches (against Xiao/Hugh and Reed/Cretu), and to clinch a top three finish, "only" needed to win against the two "weakest" teams, Dubina/Snider on Saturday, and O'Neill/Leibovitz in the final match on Friday. Unfortunately, Sean O'Neill and Tahl Leibovitz didn't cooperate, as they pulled off the upset, -6,7,-5,8,9,6. Before the match, it was looking like the top three teams were nearly set - but now the gates were open again. Khoa and De were still in the driver's seat for the #3 spot, however, at 2-1. Their main worry is if O'Neill/Leibovitz, 1-2, were to work their way back into the pack, where they could beat them out in a tie, due to their head-to-head win. 

Sean O'Neill/Tahl Leibovitz, with their win over Nguyen/Tran, despite their 0-2 start, were still  in the running at 1-2. They will have to overcome their loss to Barney Reed/Razvan Cretu (4,11,-6,6,6, with a 10-8, 11-10 lead in the second game), and do well in their upcoming matches against Zhuang/Owens, Xiao/Hugh and Dubina/Snider. Two wins could force a tie for the #3 spot, while a sweep of all three would probably put them on the team. 

Barney J. Reed and Razvan Cretu practice doubles serves. Photo by Larry Hodges ©2004. 

Barney J. Reed/Razvan Cretu were not looking happy about their 2-2 record, especially with their close loss to Nguyen/Tran (10,-10,-3,6,11,7). They had led 11-10 in the fifth game. You could see the frustration late in the sixth game as Barney slammed his paddle on the table after missing a shot, getting the only yellow card given out today. It was an interesting team - two left-handed loopers. (If they'd split up and gone with righties, there could have been four lefty/righty teams out of the seven teams, instead of just two - Lupulesku/Hazinski and Nguyen/Tran.) Near the end of the day, it looked like they would be eliminated as Nguyen/Tran looked about to nearly clinch the #3 spot - until O'Neill/Leibovitz broke things open again. However, Reed/Cretu still have to play the #1 team, Lupulesku/Hazinski, and very likely need to win that match and their match with Xiao/Hugh to finish in the top three. 

The top two teams - Ilija Lupulesku/Mark Hazinski and David Zhuang/Eric Owens - were coasting along, both 3-0 and both near locks to finish in the top three. Only Xiao/Hugh had gotten a game against Lupulesku/Hazinski, and Zhuang/Owens had won all three of their matches 4-1.