$75,000
U.S. Open & ITTF Pro Tour
Fort Lauderdale, Florida • July 5-9, 2000
$75,000
U.S. Open Day Four: Saturday, July 8 Report
By Larry Hodges
After some of the poorly run U.S. Opens and Pro Tours in the U.S., it was pleasant - but not a surprise, with all the planning - that this one came off so free of problems. There were the usual minor problems, but the tournament came off right on time, and players seemed universally happy with it. When asked if the U.S. had improved from its past performances, Jean-Michel Saive nodded his head vigorously, and called it the best-run ever in the U.S. Congratulations to the staff on a great job!
Pro Tour Men's Singles - Semifinals
Yesterday had been a bloodbath in men's singles, with most of the top seeds falling to lower ranked players - so the semifinals were between the #2, 6, 11 and 26th seeds (ranked #2, 6, 11 and 41 in the world). Some semblance of order came back today, with the higher seed winning all three matches. Both semifinals featured Asian vs. European players, and had phenomenal rallies.
Semifinal #1:
Peng-Lung Chiang (TPE, world #6) vs. Werner Schlager (AUT, world #11)
This match had the look of a long five-gamer that suddenly ended in three. The two had contrasting styles. Chiang is a big, yet extremely fast penhold power looper, able to rip winners right off the bounce against anything, and with a powerful backhand jab block; Schlager with a fantastic backhand loop, and seemingly able to run down any ball and loop it. Chiang's forehand loops and Schlager's backhand loops were among the more spectacular sites in this tournament.
After Chiang won the first, 21-15, Schlager led the second 15-10 - but seemed to get careless, and let Chiang tie it at 17-all. Schlager turned it on again, and led 20-18 - only to play three careless points, including serving into the net at 20-all. At 22-all, Schlager whiffed a loop, and pushed a serve off, and what could have been 1-1 in games was suddenly a huge 2-0 lead for Chiang. Chiang seemed to gain confidence, and there was no stopping him in the third - 11-5 (where Schlager called a one-minute time-out), 12-9, 18-9, 21-10 - with Schlager twice serving under his leg near the end (missing one, serve & ripping a winner the second time!). Match to Chiang, 15, 22, 10.
Semifinal #2:
Wang Liqin (CHN, world #2) vs. Fredrik Hakansson (SWE, world #41)
Wang Liqin is basically a steady player who can pounce on anything and rip a winner - but steadiness is his strength. He uses his long arms to get to anything, and has great ball placement. Hakansson is more in the Persson mold - power from both sides that keeps coming at you. However, despite his wins here over Persson and Matsushita, he didn't seem to control play the way he could with the shots he has. Hakansson led most of the first game, including 20-19, but at the end made a number of unforced errors, with Wang winning 24-22. In the second, it was all Wang - 21-9. The third was tight all the way, but this time Hakansson pulled off a spectacular counterloop to win, 21-19. The fourth was also close much of the way, to 17-all. Wang then went up triple-match point, 20-17 - at which point Hakansson pulled off the "slow" shot of the tournament, a seemingly physics-defyng soft backhand sidespin block that curved crazily to Wang's backhand for a winner. But it was a short reprieve - Wang advanced to the all-Asian final, 22, 9, -19, 18.
Final: Wang Liqin vs. Peng-Lung Chiang
After Chiang completely dominated the first two games (21-16, 21-15), I had my opening paragraph for this article written: "China came, with Kong Linghui, Liu Guoliang, Wang Liqin, Ma Lin, Sen Yan and Liu Guozheng. Sweden came with Jan-Ove Waldner, Jorgen Persson and Peter Karlsson. The rest of Europe came, with Vladimir Samsonov, Zoran Primorac, Werner Schlager and Jean-Michel Saive. And when the ping pong balls settled, none of them had won: a man from the tiny island of Taiwan had outlasted them all." I would also be able to add that Chiang, the defending champion, was the first to successfully defend his title in a long, long time. But he didn't.
Instead, on one of the great comebacks in U.S. Open history, Wang won the third 21-18, came back from down double match point 20-18 in the fourth, and ran away with the fifth to win the title and $13,000, -16, -15, 18, 20, 11.
How did he do it? When he's playing well, Chiang can overpower nearly anyone. But when he begins to miss - and Wang's placement made him miss - he can lose points quickly. Another factor was Chiang's serving into the net six times in the last three games. According to Chiang's coach, Chiang jammed his thumb against the table during game two, and it made him uncomfortable serving the rest of the match. However, the specific cause of his losing could be four careless points from up 20-18 match point in the fourth - Chiang backhand jabbed a serve into the net, flipped the next serve off the end, missed an off-the-bounce counterloop, and then blocked into the net.
The points were shorter than any of the matches of the last few rounds - mostly because of Chiang's great power, and Wang's refusal to back up from the table to have more time to react, even when faced with Chiang's power. It was a tactic that seemed wrong at first, but one that paid off in the end.
Pro Tour Women's Singles - Semifinals
Semifinal #1: Wang Nan (CHN, world #1) vs. Chen Jing (TPE, world #3)
Chen is a former member of the Chinese National Team and an Olympic Gold Medalist in women's singles. However, Wang showed how she has dominated women's table tennis in recent years with a relatively easy 17, 17, 15 win. Her looping game was too much for Chen's lightning - but not as consistent - hitting & blocking.
Semifinal #2:
Li Ju (CHN, world #2) vs. Jin Sun (CHN, world #4)
Interestingly, Li Ju was the only right-hander in the women's semifinals. The first game here was a battle - a 54-point marathon, won by Li, 28-26. However, between games, the umpires conferred - and announced that since the game had taken over 15 minutes, the rest of the match would be played under the expedite rule. According to the rules, if a game goes over 15 minutes after the score reaches deuce, expedite will be called, but will not take effect until the next game. So starting with game two, the two alternated serves, and if the receiver returned 13 shots in a rally, she would win the point. Three games were played in this fashion, and it didn't happen once. Obviously, the rule was meant for players who played too slowly - and this was a match between two fast attackers, who simply played a long deuce game. Perhaps if the rule were amended to stop the clock once the score reaches deuce?
In game two, Jin led 20-18, but barely pulled it out, 22-20. From there on, it was all Jin Sun - who advanced to the finals with this minor "upset," -26, 20, 10, 12.
Final: Wang Nan vs. Jin Sun
The final between these two lefty shakehand loopers was relatively anticlimactic, with Wang taking leads of 16-6 and 17-11 in the first two games, winning them at 11 & 17. In the third, Jin jumped to an 8-2, 15-10 lead, and served from up 19-16. But Wang scored three in a row to tie it at 19-all. Jin had one game point, at 20-19, and seemed about to win when her loop hit the net, catching Wang off guard. But Wang recovered, and looped a winner off the net ball to deuce the game. Wang then serve & looped a winner; Jin serve and looped off, and Wang had won the event, 11, 17, 21, and $9,000 in prize money.
Pro Tour Doubles
The most interesting thing to watch in the Men's Doubles final between two Chinese teams - Liu Guoliang & Kong Linghui, and Wang Liqin & Yan Sen - was the way Liu would mix up his racket surfaces and shots. Liu is basically a pips-out penholder, but has a sheet of inverted on the back of his racket. In any given rally, he might suddenly switch and use the inverted. Or he might hit with the back of his racket on his backhand side, a modified penhold backhand. This constant change of pace - combined with Liu's all-out hitting and Kong's all-out looping - led to victory. It wasn't easy. Liu/Kong won the first game, and led 20-19 match point in the second. At 20-all, Kong first whiffed a loop, and then flipped a ball off, and the game was lost. However, in the third, it was all Liu/Kong, with a relentless attack and a 14-5 lead. Liu/Kong win the event, 14, -20, 16, and $4000.
Women's Doubles was won by the Taiwan team of Jing Xu and Chen Jing over China's #2 team, Sun Jin & Ying Yang. (China's #1 team, Wang Nan & Li Ju, had been upset in the quarters by the Singapore team, which in turn had lost to the Taiwan team in the semifinals.) In the final, it was all Taiwan, 18 & 15, for $2500.
Youth Events
USA's Mark Hazinski dominated Under 16 Boys' Singles, winning the final against Santiago Coste of Puerto Rico at 14 & 6. Hazinski lost only one game in the event, defeating Wei-Chin Huang of Taiwan at -17, 19, 10 in the semifinals.
USA's Whitney Ping did even better, winning Under 16 Girls' Singles without losing a game, defeating Laura Leach in the final, 15, 17.
Taiwan broke through in Under 12 Boys' Singles, with Chang-Chun Huang defeating USA's Mikhail Kazantsev in the final, 12 & 17. In the semifinals, Kazantsev defeated Taiwan's Kuang-Yu Fan, 21 & 7 - in that match, his loop was more consistent than in the final, which made the difference in the match, according to his coach, Masaaki Tajima.
Taiwan struck again in Under 12 Girls' Singles, this time with both finalists: Wan-Chi Kung defeating Wan-Hua Peng in the final in a curious 9, -14, 15 final: although the two were relatively an even match, Peng looked perhaps 7 or so, while Kung looked far older and was much, much bigger.
Sweden dominated the junior doubles events. Under 18 Boys' Doubles was won by Sweden's Illirian Krasniqi & Saeed Esbati over USA's Alphanso Murray/Mitchell, 13 & 10; Under 18 Girls' Doubles was won by Sweden's Malin Linderoth & Nora Khidir, over Barbado's Krystle Harvey & Sherice Felix, 14 & 17.
Senior Events
Juan Vila of the Dominican Republic defeated USA's Hui Yuan Liu in the Over 40 Men's Singles final, 17 & 20. Perhaps Liu was tired - he seemed to be in every other final today! (Three, to be exact.) He had a strange semifinal match with chopper Richard Hicks: after losing the first at 13, he won the next two at 2 & 11!
Dickie Fleisher (an attacker with long pips - no sponge - on the forehand) and Barry Dattel won Over 40 Doubles in a long battle with Hui Yuan Liu and Dave Sakai. Most of the "long" came in game one - the scores of the match were 27, -13, 16.
Richard Hicks (who already had made the semifinals of Over 40) teamed with Nick Mintsiveris to win Over 50 Doubles over Marvin Leff and Bohdan Dawidowicz, 12, 20. It was a strange set of pairings, as each team had an attacker and a chopper, with Hicks and Dawidowicz the two choppers.
Richard Hicks, the Over 50 Doubles champion and Over 40 Singles semifinalist, took home Over 60 Singles, over Bohdan Dawidowicz, 10 & 16, in a match-up of two choppers. Their doubles partners in Over 50 Doubles - Marvin Leff and Nick Mintsiveris - both made it to the semifinals.
Louis Radzeli won Over 80 Singles - not for the first time, and not for the last time - over Arthur B. Chase.
Rating Events
Hui Yuan Liu, in his third final, won Under 2450 Singles over Lee McCool in a battle of experience vs. youth & power. Liu, 46, relied on his deceptive serves and steady looping to down McCool, who's about 19. In the semifinals, Liu had relied on his serves to upset the Under 2600 Champion, Ashu Jain, -19, 10, 24. Until Liu soft spun a ball back at 25-24 (which Ashu looped off), the two had failed to return each other's serves six times in a row! McCool had defeated another experience player in the semifinals: many-time U.S. Team Member Lily Yip, 23 & 19. As for Ashu, he was entered in five events here, and won prize money in four: 1st in Under 2600, 2nd in Hardbat Doubles, semifinals in Under 2450, and quarterfinals in Hardbat Singles. In Under 22, where he was the top U.S. player, he got stuck with the eventual winner, Yongzhi Yang, in his first match. Winning checks in four of five events was a step down: a couple of weeks before, he'd won checks in all five events entered at the Macy Block Open in Pittsburgh!
14-year-old Howard Lamb won Under 2100 Singles without losing a match - winning 12 straight games, with only one game over 15. He defeated Xiaolei Hu - Amy Feng's husband - in the final, 15 & 12. Some of you may remember Howard's article "Growing Stronger" published in the March/April 2000 issue of USA Table Tennis Magazine. He's grown stronger....
Diana Casas defeated Under 16 Girls' Champion Whitney Ping in the Under 2100 Women's Singles final, 11, -18, 16.
Gavin Hylton defeated hardbat guru (and USATT Hardbat Committee Chair) Scott Gordon in the Under 1900 Singles final, 18,-17, 18. Hylton's consistent topspin and putaways were too strong for Gordon's blocking and sometimes diving returns. Hylton overcame Oliveir Mader in the first round, 18 in the third.
Danny Tran defeated Patricia Figueroa in the Under 1500 Singles final, 18, -18, 18. Until the finals, neither player had lost a game.
Paralympic Events
The international nature of the Paralympic events was quite evident as players from all over the world won various events - and USA, while gaining experience, was once again left winless.
Hans Ruep of Austria, the top seed, didn't lose a game in winning Men's Wheelchair Singles (Class 1-2), over Rudolf Hajek, also of Austria.Otto Vilsmeier of Germany defeated Gerhard Scharf of Austria for the bronze, -14, 19, 20.
Neil Robinson of England, like Han's Ruep (above), was the top seed, and didn't lose a game in winning Men's Wheelchair Singles (Class 3) over Peter Wolf of Austria, 15 & 15. England's James Rawson defeated Slovakia's Jan Kosco for the bronze medal, 10, -9, 13.
Yen Hung Lin of Taiwan defeated Toshihiko Oka of Japan, 13, -12, 18, to win Men's Wheelchair Singles (Class 4-5). Oka had defeated USA's Mike Dempsey in the quarters at 20 & 19, while USA's #1 seed, Andre Scott, had lost to top seeded Salvatore Caci in the first round, -24, 13, 14 - after which Caci lost to Oka (no scores available). Caci won the bronze over Kam Shing Kwong of Hong Kong, 19 & 19.
Alena Kanova of Slovakia joined several others as a top seed who won an event without losing a game, defeating Esther Stynes of Ireland in the final of Women's Wheelchair Singles (Class 1-3), at 12 & 11. Ireland's Kathleen Reynolds got the bronze, over Catherine Mitton of England, 13, -16, 17.
Cristina Hoffman of Mexico became still another top seed to win an event without losing a game, defeating Siu Ling Chan of Hong Kong in the Women's Wheelchair Singles (Class 4-5) final, 12 & 13. Pui Yi Wong defeated Maria Teresa Arenales Huerta of Mexico for the bronze, 15 & 19.
Zochen Wollmert of Germany defeated France's Stephane Messi in the final of Men's Standing Disabled (Class 6-7), 17 & 16. Daniel Arnold of Germany won the bronze over USA's Joshua Bartel, 3 & 6.
Ladislav Gaspar of Slovakia defeated Chih Shan Hsu of Taiwan in the final of Men's Standing Disabled (Class 8-10), 9, -14,14. Peter Faehnrich of Germany defeated Jose Luis Vivanco of Mexico for the bronze, 14, -12,18.
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