By Larry Hodges
David Zhuang wins his Photos by Kingston Gee ©2006 |
 |
 |
It was a wild day, as the top seeds in singles won all but one match in Men's and Women's Singles, while the top seed lost in Men's and Women's Doubles and Mixed Doubles.
1971 World Champion Stellan Bengsston, now living and coaching in San Diego, pointed out that the U.S. hasn't been able to develop a national champion in years. And he's right; for the 31st consecutive year (ever since the first USA Nationals in 1976), a foreign-born and foreign-developed player won Women's Singles: former Koreans He-Ja Lee three times and Insook Bhushan eleven times; former Yugoslavian Jasna Reed two times; former Chinese Julie Ou one time, Wei Wang one time, Amy Feng four times, Gao Jun eight times, and now Wang Chen one time. On the men's side, a foreign-born and foreign-trained player won Men's Singles for the 12th time in 13 years, with the lone exception Eric Owens in 2001, while former Yugoslavian Ilija Lupulesku won three times; former Chinese Cheng Yinghua won four times; and former Chinese David Zhuang won here for the fifth time. Nothing against these great players (with citizenship required since 1998), but when will the U.S. start developing players who can win these titles? Of course, even older star players from countries like China are nearly unbeatable almost anywhere else.
Currently, players such as Ilija Lupulesku (39, 2776), David Zhuang (43, 2673) and Cheng Yinghua (48, 2669) still mostly "rule the roost," with only Mark Hazinski (21, 2623) really challenging them, although youth stars Han Xiao (19, 2587) and Adam Hugh (18, 2510) are pretty close. Perhaps a team match could be set up, the seniors versus the up-and-comers, played over and over until the seniors lose?
Between matches in the various finals, the Swaythling Cup International Sportsmanship Award was given to Judy Hugh, while the Dr. Michael Scott Award for Excellence in Umpiring was given to Saul Weinstein.
After the excitement of the quarterfinals, the semifinals were a letdown, as Wang Chen downed Nan Li 6,7,1,2 (I talked to someone for a minute or so and missed the entire third game), and Jasna Reed, hungry for a win, ate and ate and ate and ate in defeating Tawny Banh, 8,8,8,8.
It was a classic match-up of the steady and yet powerful Wang Chen (#1 seed), with her powerful pips-out backhand and forehand looping & smashing, and Jasna Reed, #2 seed, with her spectacular loops and smashes from both wings. At times Jasna was on fire, smacking backhand smashes seemingly at will; however, most of the time Wang won with steady countering. "She seemed a bit out of practice, after three shots she usually missed," Wang said. Jasna was a bit out of practice as she had been focusing on her coaching duties at Texas Wesleyan University. Plus, since all the tables outside the arena had been picked up already, "I didn't have a table to warm up on!" Jasna said.
Wang led game one 8-6, then it was 8-all, then 11-8 for Wang. In game two, Jasna led 6-4, then it was 6-10 as Wang won 11-7. In game three, Wang jumped to a 6-0 lead. Jasna smacked a ball out of the court and was yellow carded. On the very next point, she smacked a ball off the edge of her racket, and it smacked into the umpire's head! (No, it couldn't have been intentional, not off the racket edge. Jasna's not THAT good, is she?) Jasna walked over and apologized. (Someone claimed she kissed him on the spot where the ball hit, but I didn't see that.)
Down 0-2 in games and 0-7 in the third, Jasna found some new life, and began smacking in winners, and suddenly it was 4-7. Then it was 4-10, 5-11 as Wang won game three. Wang led 5-4 in the fourth, and ran off six in a row. (Jasna tried chopping at 9-4, and intentionally missed a wild backhand kill at 10-4). Match and Championship to Wang Chen, 8,7,5,4. "She's a top player in the world, and I'm just a recreational player," Jasna said, rather modestly. "What can I expect?"
"I played Jasna once, in 1997, where I won," Wang said. "Here she took a lot of risky shots. She also had trouble with some of my serves." Wang, who was ranked #4 in the world a few years ago while playing for China (but was now a USA citizen), had basically stopped playing for a couple of years as she focused on coaching, but was now training regularly in New York City, mostly with Paul David, sometimes with chopper Kazuyuki Yokoyama. She said she plans to train full-time for the Olympics. She recently trained and played some in Germany, and expects to train in China or Europe some next year.
Would the 48-year-old Cheng, four-time champion here, have a chance against the top-seeded 39-year-old Lupulesku? Both age and styles was against Cheng, who generally is best against players who stay at the table, and isn't normally as good against lefties. Lupulesku is a lefty who plays almost exclusively off the table topspin. He also has a very nice return of serve. Cheng is more all-around, able to stay at the table and block or loop from either wing.
In game one, Lupi almost ran away with it, leading 6-1. Then it was 9-8, with Cheng mixing in blocks and loops to keep Lupi on the defensive and off-balance, often looping soft when Lupi was off the table to bring him. At the end, Lupi forced Cheng to do what Lupi does best - counterloop - and he won the last two points and game one, 11-8.
But Cheng quickly showed he knew how to play Lupi, keeping him close to the table until he saw a ball to rip, and he led 10-8 in the pivotal moment of the match. Cheng missed a flip, a loop, and twice Lupi got him into counterlooping points - and Lupi took a 2-0 lead as he won 12-10.
Cheng's attack and counterlooping picked up in game three as he won 11-8. However, at this point, you could almost see Lupi getting more comfortable against Cheng's two-winged loops, and his spins began to take their toll as he ran away with game four, 11-6. Game five was more of the same as Lupi completely dominated as Cheng missed, while Lupi began attacking more. Up 10-2, Lupi moves into the final, 8,10,-8,6,4.
Would it be a "passing of the torch," with the 21-year-old Mark against the 43-year-old David? Not this time.
You could almost see the confidence rising in David Zhuang as the match went on, with his blocks and sudden attacks getting steadier and more crisp. He used nearly an arsenal of serves, constantly varying his motions and tosses. Mark often attacked David's short serves with over-the-table wristy backhand loops, similar to the technique USA Men's Coach Dan Seemiller spoke about at the USATT Coaching Seminar the day before. While David served mostly short, with mixed in deep serves, Mark often challenged David with deep serves. David has extremely good touch and a good flip off short serves, but against long serves his short pips is a disadvantage. The rallies are difficult to describe as David constantly changed things up, so every rally seemed different.
In the first, Mark had served off at 9-8 and 12-all, yet had managed to win, 15-13. But this wasn't the Mark from last year who'd overpowered the field in making it to the final against Lupulesku. His shots seemed more erratic, unable to win the long rallies or consistently put the ball away. At 8-all in the second, David won three in a row, with Mark missing a series of backhand loops at the end as David varied the pace. In the third, David led 10-8, but Mark loop killed one, and won a long rally when David smashed off, and it was 10-all. But David won a blocking rally, and Mark backhand looped off again as David went up 2-1 in what was probably the pivotal game of the match.
Game four was an easy 5-3, 9-3, 11-6 win for David. In game five, Mark led 8-6. David won both points on his serve, 8-all; Mark won both points on his serve to go up 10-8. At 10-9, Mark smacked a ball to David's wide forehand, a seeming game-winner, but David somehow lunged and made a miracle return, which a seemingly surprised Mark missed - 10-all! David then leads 11-10, 12-11, 13-12 and 14-13. Strangely, the receiver has won all seven points after deuce, and now Mark is receiving. He misses a backhand kill, and David is in the final, -13,8,10,6,13.
David had upset Lupi in the semifinals here two years ago, but didn't have to play him last year as Zhuang lost to Cheng Yinghua. Lupi's won here in 2002, 2003 and 2005, while David's won five times, the last time in 2000. He's now 43 - can he still win? Of course, Cheng won at age 46 two years ago - so age doesn't matter? Not if David has any say, and say he does!
David is very comfortable against Lupi's style, and has a long history of beating lefties, often with angled cross-court blocks to the forehand followed by down-the-line blocks to the backhand. "He loves to play Lupi," said coach and wife Joannie Fu. "I don't think Lupi likes to play David, with all the tricky shots David does." David's arm is bothering him, yet this is a "good" thing, since David's been bothered with injuries all year, and this is about the healthiest he's been. When asked about David's various muscle injuries, Joannie just shook her head, saying, "Too much." Because of the injuries, he hasn't really trained much this year, mostly just coaching.
As in his semifinal match, David is constantly varying his serve, from super-high toss forehand serves to quick, short-toss backhand serves, and seemingly everything in between. Lupi serves forehand pendulum serves over and over, with constant variation in spin and depth. He likes to toss the ball backwards when he serves, and some think his service toss is not "near vertical," as the rules require, but it's a subjective decision.
The match starts out almost a rout, with David going up 5-0 in the first, winning 11-5. David leads 10-7 in the second, and Lupi's looking sluggish. Then it's 10-all, and we have a match. Lupi has his chance, leading 11-10 when David blocks off, but David dribbles Lupi's serve over the net, an unreturnable ace, 11-all. David blocks a few, then smashes, 12-11. Then Lupi serves, and David catches him with a quick shot to the backhand, and Lupi, stepping around too slowly, awkwardly loops it off, 13-11.
Game three is the best game as both are at their best. The rallies are long, with David blocking and smashing point after point, with Lupi running everything down. He gets to just about everything, and wins the game with some of the most incredible points, 11-8, but the game may have cost him the match - Lupi is noticeably exhausted now.
David goes up 4-0 in the fourth against a very tired Lupi. Yet Lupi's not through, slowly comes back and ties it at 8-all. Three points later, and David has won again, 11-8, to go up 3-1. Is it over? 6-0 for Lupi in the fifth says no as he romps to an 11-6 win.
In the sixth, once again David pulls away, leading 6-3. Lupi is obviously tired, and David is "punishing" him, blocking fast and quick, side to side, making Lupi move. Lupi is running everything down and attacking when he can, and ties it at 6-all. Then it's 9-6 for David, then 10-7, and when Lupi loops David's serve off, David, arms raised, is sprinting toward his wife, where they embrace. The 43-year-old David Zhuang has won his fifth Men's Singles National title (tying Dan Seemiller and Sean O'Neill), 5,11,-8,8,-6,7.
On paper, the top-seeded Wang Chen/Jasna Reed were the favorites, with ratings of 2605/2477, to second-seeded Tawny Banh/Crystal Huang at 2424/2384. Wang and Jasna were also very good doubles players with Wang Chen a two-time ITTF Pro Tour Women's Doubles Champion (including the 2004 U.S. Open ITTF Pro Tour), and Jasna a former Olympic Bronze Medalist for Yugoslavia and a three-time U.S. National Women's Doubles Champion. However, Tawny and Crystal were experienced together, were a righty/lefty team (Crystal a lefty pips-out penholder with an inverted reverse penhold backhand), plus had a perfect combo with Crystal the control/set-up person while Tawny attacked all-out with close-to-the-table forehand loops and quick pips-out backhands. Wang and Jasna also had a good combo, with Wang playing control while Jasna attacked, especially with her dominating backhand. While Jasna and Tawny made the more impressive attacking shots, Wang and Crystal's short receives and steady play were equally impressive. Crystal had won the event the year before, with Whitney Ping, defeating Tawny and Jasna Reed in the final. (Crystal had also made the final of women's singles the year before, losing to Jasna in the final.)
In the semifinals, Wang/Reed had defeated Jackie Lee/Nan Li at 6,6,10, while Banh/Huang had defeated Whitney Ping/Simone Yang, 5,5,3.
In the final, Wang/Reed quickly jumped to a 7-3 lead and 11-8 win in game one, and led game two, 10-8. Then it was 10-11, 11-12, 12-13 and 13-14, all for Banh/Huang, before they finally won the game, 15-13. Game three was an 11-4 rout for Wang/Reed, while Banh/Huang returned the favor in game four, also 11-4, to force the fifth and deciding game.
Inevitably, it went to 9-all. Tawny, who'd missed an easy backhand smash a few points before, this time backhand creamed Wang's loop to go up 10-9 match point. Crystal missed a backhand loop, but so did Wang, and it was 11-10 match point again for Banh/Huang. Crystal serve & Tawny ripped a forehand - just off! But she immediately redeemed herself with a spectacular counterloop for match point #3, 12-11. Wang looped, Tawny smashed, and the match was over, with Tawny Banh/Crystal Huang the champions, -8,13,-4,4,11.
Once again a team looked to be a big favorite on paper, with Lupulesku (2776) teamed with Wang Chen (2605), against Mark Hazinski (2623) and Crystal Huang (2384). Lupulesku has countless doubles titles (including a silver medal at the Olympics and second at the Worlds, both for Men's Doubles; three-time U.S. Men's Doubles Champion; and ten-times Men's and Mixed Doubles Champion for Yugoslavia). Wang was a two-time ITTF Pro Tour Women's Doubles Champion. They were also a lefty-righty combo, with Lupi the lefty. They were, of course, the huge favorites. They were the top seeds (defeating Khoa Nguyen/Whitney Ping in the semifinals, 4,4,7), while Mark Hazinski/Crystal Huang, seeded third, had had to come from behind 0-2 to defeat the second seeds in the semifinals, Barney J. Reed/Tawny Banh, -9,-8,4,7,7.
Match to Mark Hazinski/Crystal Huang, 7,-7,-3,8,8!
So . . . how did they do it? Besides being a lefty/righty combo as well (Crystal the lefty pips-out penholder), they are a seemingly perfect combo, with Crystal setting balls up for Mark to rip with his powerful loops from both wings. As good as Lupi and Wang were on paper, both tend to be more steady than powerful, and so didn't end the points nearly as effectively as Mark. Hazinski/Huang started off well, winning game one 11-7, but they were basically shellacked the next two games, 11-7, 11-3. After being outscored 22-10 against the much higher rated opponents, some wrote them off. But when they jumped to a 5-1 lead in the fourth, it got interesting again. It became even more interesting when Lupulesku/Wang gradually pulled closer and closer, finally tying it at 8-all. The rallies were often spectacular, with Lupi, Wang and Crystal extremely consistent, but the points were often ended by Mark's rips hitting the mark. At 8-all, that's what happened as Mark smashes a loop (usually he counterloops), and then loop kills another, and they lead 10-8. Wang misses a loop (a rarity), and the match was into the fifth.
Hazinski/Huang seemed to get better and better, with Crystal's precise control giving Mark shot after unerring shot as they led 3-0. Up 6-5, Mark missed a forehand flip (6-6) and kicked the ball, and was yellow carded. Four quick points later, and Mark and Crystal led 10-6 quadruple match point.
Lupulesku counterlooped a winner, and Mark missed his own counterloop, and Wang served at 10-8. Right into the net! And so Mark Hazinski/Crystal Wang (who had lost in the final last year to Adam Hugh/Lily Yip) won the title, 7,-7,-3,8,8.
Once again the top-seeded team seemed the favorites, with Lupulesku/Hazinski the defending champions from 2004 and 2005. David is a seven-time U.S. Men's Doubles Champion, but he and Han Xiao were not experienced together - Han usually played with Adam Hugh, while David usually played with Eric Owens, but Adam and Eric were not here. Han had won Men's Doubles with Cheng Yinghua in 2002 at the age of 15.
Yet David and Han seemed to click together. After the match, David said, "Han is so mature! I worried that he wouldn't handle the pressure, but he handled it very well." Han hadn't played well in close matches in singles, and said, "Doubles is much easier, more systematic, you know exactly what you have to do." As to what David told him to do, he said, "Keep the ball on the table!" Tactically, David, a pips-out penholder, is the perfect control player, able to drop the ball short and keep the ball in play seemingly forever, never giving an easy shot. Han's a two-winged looper, very good at looping winners off the bounce, and with David keeping Lupi/Hazinski off balance, Han was able to do this over and over.
Zhuang/Xiao won the first, 11-8, lost the second, 7-11. In the third, they led 10-7, and then it was 10-all. This was the key game - if they blew this, it would be difficult to come back. Lupi/Hazinski went up 11-10, then Zhuang/Xiao led 12-11 and 13-12 before winning, 14-12. In the fourth, it was 4-4, then 7-4 for Zhuang/Xiao as Lupi/Hazinski called a timeout, but to no avail as Zhuang/Xiao won the match and title, 8,-7,12,8.
The new USA Junior Girls' Team played off for position on the team and for the junior singles championship, with top seed Judy Hugh coming in first, as expected. Congrats to all!
USA Girls' Team and Junior Girls' Singles
While it was not for the USA Team, the top four in the Boys' Singles event also played off for position:
Junior Boys' Singles
Without a doubt, the most watched match in the tournament, other than the feature matches at the end in the arena (Men's Singles final and semifinal, Women's Singles final) was a semifinal and final of Boys' Elementary Singles (10&Under). In one semifinals, a new player from China, Feng Yijun (in the U.S. for a year, with a green card) easily won against Andrew Chen, 4,3,4. It was the other semifinal became the show-stopping match of the tournament.
Battling it out were Christopher Brewer (age 9, rated 1332 in the tournament ratings, but 1520 in current ratings, from Indiana, younger brother of Junior Boys' Champion A.J. Brewer) and Ethan Chua (age 8, rated 1384, son of regular USATT Magazine photographer Gerry Chua, soon to be teary-eyed as his son's performance). "They are both so cute, can't they both win?" asked Jasna Reed. No, they could not, and so the two had a monumental battle. Christopher plays all-around, but spent much of the match blocking as Ethan relentlessly looped, even though his head seemed barely over the table. Chris won the first two, and was up 10-5 match point in the third - but Ethan's relentless, almost impossible looping (shouldn't there be a rule you must be at least "this tall" to loop like that?) won that game (I came over to watch just after so didn't see that comeback), and game four. In the fifth, Chris went up 6-1. And then, the impossible (again). Ethan simply looped every ball he could touch. Chris blocked most of them, but Ethan would loop one, two, three whatever it took to win the point or get an easy smash. Ethan wins ten straight points and the match, -9,-11,13,10,6.
However, that's only the semifinals. Ethan now faces Feng - and Feng, with a rating of 2044, is just too 5,6,6 strong as he takes the title.
Lily Zhang wins Girls' Elementary School Singles (10&U), with a bye in the first round, and winning in the semis and finals, 3,0,1 and 2,4,1, against Kailyn Kong and Lisa Divita, respectively.
While his brother didn't quite win his event, A.J. Brewer won Boys' Primary Singles (13&U) without losing a game, winning by scores of, in order, 1,5,2,5,3,5,3,4,4,5,6,9,4,1,5, winning the last against Alexander Yao in the final.
Ariel Hsing, already the Cadet Girls' Champion, easily wins Girls' Primary Singles (13&U), also not losing a game. Her march to victory? 2,7,6,3,1,9,3,6,6,5,12,6, the last over Willa Tammy Gu in the final.