2006 U.S. Nationals
Las Vegas, Nevada • December 13-16, 2006

Day One: Wednesday, Dec. 13

By Larry Hodges

A record turnout of 888 players congregated here in Las Vegas for the USA Nationals. An additional 86 were in the U.S. Paralympics, for a total of 974 players. A special thanks goes to the players and staff for this great turnout, which ran right on time throughout day one.

Men's and Women's Singles, Doubles and Mixed Doubles

These events start Thursday afternoon.

Senior Play

Cheng and Chen dominated the over 40 events without losing a game. Diane Chen 2287 had the easier task. Only three entries in Over 40 Women? Diane had a bye. Simone Yang 2238 defeated Gina Dole 2048 in the other semifinal 9,9,5, before losing to Diane in the final, 8,3,4.

Cheng Yinghua had the harder job, winning his first four matches all 3-0 with only chopper Richard Hicks getting more than 7 points with his 4,5,10 8ths match. In the final he faced Dan Seemiller. Dan had been having trouble with a crick in his neck for several weeks, and after playing two points won by Cheng, Dan retired. "If I'd played that match, I'd have probably had to drop out of my other events," Dan said.

Perhaps a bigger story were Richard McAfee and Stephen Hochman. Richard 2079, now using long pips on his backhand and using a cane to get about when not at the table, in order knocked off Dave Sakai 2188, Sung Yang 2069, and Barry Dattel 2277 before reaching the end of the line against Dan Seemiller in the semifinals. Steve 1918 had wins against Masaru Hashimoto 2128 and Michael Leshinsky 2225 before he too reached the end of the line in the 8ths - also against Seemiller, the giant-killer-killer.

In Over 60 Doubles, it was the second-seeded team of Richard Hicks and Ron VonSchimmelmann over the top-seeded team of George Brathwaite and Daniel Green in a nail-biting 8,-12,-10,10,8.

Youth Play

The top two seeds in Under 22 Men, Mark Hazinski and Han Xiao, were not challenged in reaching the final where they faced off in a best of five. It started as a near rout for the blitzing Han, whose over-the-table backhand loop dominated. Game one to Han, 11-5, and a 6-0 lead in game two. Then it was 7-3 and 7-5. Mark missed an easy pop-up, says "Oh my God," and from there on, except for a Han rip off of Mark's serve at 8-all, it's all Mark, ripping from both wings while Han's missing, 11-9. Mark continues his run, going up 9-4 in the third that's a 20-7 run, then holds off Han's comeback, 11-8. In the fourth, Han's hot again, takes the lead and holds it to 11-8. In the fifth, Han's on the attack, ripping forehand after forehand - but all miss as Mark leads 9-3,11-6 in winning, -5,9,8,-8,6.

In Under 22 Women, it was Jackie Lee over Judy Hugh in the final, 11,11,-7,9. Jackie was down 0-2 in the semifinals to Whitney Ping before pulling it out, -9,-3,9,5,9. In the other semifinal, it was Judy over Alicia Wei. Alicia 1811 had found the right way in the battle of the Wei's in the quarters, upsetting Barbara Wei 2074, but 2172 in new ratings, 10,-6,-3,8,7.

In the Cadet preliminaries, played out to the Final Twelve for boys and girls, the only serious upset was Derrick Poon 1876, but 1943 in new ratings over Charlie Sun 1999, but 2132 in new ratings. In the Final Twelve, there will be two groups of six, with crossovers at the end to determine the top four for boys and girls. The Final Twelve, starting at 3PM on Thursday, are:

Hardbat Events

Donald Brazzell, playing all-around blocking, hitting and chopping, battled his way through the Over 40 Hardbat events, but every match went three in these best of three to 21 matches.  After a bye in the first round, it was -17,8,6 over Robert Palgon in round one; 8,-12,14 over James Rautis in round two; 14,-17,17 over Ray Mack in the semifinals; and -11,21,11 over Steve Berger in the final. Steve still got a title, winning Hardbat Doubles with Lim Ming Chui over Timothy Kelly and Ray Mack, 15,-15,19 in the final.

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