$20,000 St. Joseph Valley Open

May 27-28, 2000
South Bend, Indiana
By Larry Hodges

Below: Virgil Miller, President of Sponsor Newmar Corporation, and $5000 Open Singles Winner David Zhuang. Photo by John Oros, copyright 2000.

It is my opinion that some of the matches from the dimly-lit, slippery-floored and poorly-scheduled tournaments of the 1980s are still waiting to be called. But to most players whose memories don’t go back that far, the recent glut of well-run tournaments probably seems the norm. It wasn’t until recently. Led by Dan Seemiller and Richard Lee, the current era of 4-star tournaments are levels better than the past.

What makes a 4-star tournament good? Good playing conditions – floors, lighting and spacious courts; timeliness; lots of events; and a friendly staff. The St. Joseph Valley Open had all of this – the playing conditions were fantastic – plus $20,000 in prize money, probably the most ever for a 4-star tournament. 271 players (one short of tying the record for the second largest 4-star ever) on 50 tables (34 individually barriered) enjoyed the experience. Many thanks to Director Dan Seemiller, Newmar Corporation and its president, Virgil Miller, and staff Brad Balmer, Jason Denman, Phil Schmucker, Jim Lynch, Matt & Pam Hazinski, Jerry Goeller, Mike & Kay Edgerton, Chris Williams, Lloyd Troyer, Dan & Mary Cochran, Val Seemiller, Paul George, and Carl & Kanta Kahn.

The Open had one early-round casualty. In the round of 32, Razvan Cretu, the left-handed two-winged power-looper from Texas, faced a looping and blocking Randy Seemiller. Too often Randy got easy third-ball loops when Razvan passively pushed the serve back, and Randy won in five, 15, -12, 14, -11, 10. This would be the only five-gamer until the semifinals.

The 8ths were mostly uncontested, with one surprising exception. Six of the matches were 3-0, with Randy Seemiller’s win over Tai Long Tey (16, -22, 18, 10) one of the exceptions. Emilia Ciosu’s 12, 19, 16 win over Shao Yu was a mild surprise – and the two would later pull off a larger upset to win Open Doubles over David Zhuang and Todd Sweeris.

The surprise? You’d think the U.S. National Champion would have little trouble with the U.S. Under 16 #1, Mark Hazinski. Granted, Cheng had just gotten over arm problems suffered at the Olympic Trials a few weeks before (with two recent cortisone shots), but he’d declared himself ready for this tournament – and Mark was obviously ready for him … almost. Mark’s two-winged attack, whenever it got into play, surprised Cheng over and over with its power. Often Mark seemed to barely stroke the ball, but the ball would explode past Cheng like a rocket. But Cheng’s consistency and years of experience came out in the end. Match to Cheng, 16, -18, 11, 22. Confidence and bright future to Hazinski.

The quarterfinals were 3-0, 3-0, 3-0, 3-0, with no game closer than 21-17. The losers still collected $500 each, while the four winners were guaranteed $1000, and the chance for the first- or second-place prizes of $5000 and $2500. Which brings us to…

If you’ve never seen a world-class player push against deep balls to the forehand (excluding choppers), here was your chance. Cheng, perhaps leery of re-injuring his arm, was playing every point either very, very passively, pushing and blocking, or attacking all-out with his forehand and ending the point quickly. It took a game for Cheng’s blocking to zero in on Canada’s Kurt Liu’s two-winged bullet loops, but after losing the first, Cheng built up and maintained leads the next three. Match to Cheng, -17, 15, 13, 17.

At the Olympic Trials, Todd had led 2-1 in games and 17-13 in the fourth, and lost. This time….

In the first game, Todd was down 11-4. In the third game, Todd was down 15-9. Todd came back to win both of these games (winning all five on David’s serve from down 15-10 in the third), but lost the middle game. In the fourth, he went up 16-10. Just as David had unsuccessfully done in the third game when leading 15-12, Todd, leading 16-13, called a two-minute break. At 16-14, he seemed to loop off the end – but both Todd and the umpire said they saw it hit the edge, although David obviously did not see this, and so Todd goes up 17-14. David then scored the next four in a row on his serve, the last two when Todd pushed two serves in a row into the net. David then scored a fifth in a row (19-17) before Todd finally wins one when David hits off. Down 18-19, after a great point, David fishes one back from well off the table – but Todd misses! 18-20. At 19-20, Todd serves and whiffs a forehand loop.

The fifth never seemed in doubt – Todd never recovered, and David led 12-8, 15-10, 17-13, 21-15. Match to Zhuang, -19, 14, -17, 19, 16.

This match seemed a reply of Cheng’s win over Kurt Liu in the semifinals, only Cheng was Kurt, David was Cheng. After Cheng won the first game, 25-23, David seemed to zone in on Cheng’s shots, and went up 19-15 in the second. Serving at 16-19, Cheng serve and ripped three straight winners – one of them a rare backhand loop kill (against David’s aggressive forehand flip), something Cheng had been holding back on throughout the tournament. At 19-all, David gets a net ball, Cheng gets a counter-net! David quick backhand-jab-blocks, and Cheng misses. At 19-20, Cheng loops over and over and over, but David really is zoned in – and Cheng finally misses to tie the match up at 1-1.

But David seems really tuned into whatever Cheng can do, and although Cheng brought his backhand loop out of "retirement," it just didn’t seem that effective. David won the third, 21-15, and led 20-15 quintuple championship point in the fourth.

"This is a $2500 point!" David yelled, referring to the difference between the first- and second-place prize money.

"That’s a mistake" said U.S. Men’s Coach Dan Seemiller. "Now he’s put pressure on himself." Sure enough, Cheng scored three in a row, and suddenly David seemed less an immovable object while Cheng’s an unstoppable force. Unstoppable? An edge at 18-20 proved he was stoppable. Match and Championship to David, -23, 19, 15, 18.

Emilia Ciosu may have won Open Doubles and made the quarterfinals of the Open, but she had her hands full in the final here with Mimi Bosika. Ciosu won, 13, -13, 15, while Bosika went on to make the final of U2400 against Srinivas Ramanathan.

Cheng’s consolation in losing the Open final was to win Over 40 Singles, by default over Abass Ekun. (Abass would, in turn, get a default win over fellow-New Yorker Shao Yu in the Under 2550 final.) Dave Sakai continued his exploits started in the North American Tour by splitting the Over 50 final with Paul Pashuka and winning Under 2300. Sakai and Pashuka both made the semifinals of Over 40 Singles as well.

Mark Hazinski easily dominated Under 18 Boys, defeating Arturo Shiu in the final, 15 & 18. Laura Xiao upset top-seeded Elaine Kwok to win Under 18 Girls, but Elaine went on to win Under 15 Girls over Laura Leach. Laura Leach’s brother, John Leach (namesake of the great English 2-time world champion) then won Under 12 Boys. Completing a sort of circuit, John Leach then teamed with Laura Xiao to win Under 3200 Doubles. Meanwhile, it was Mark Hazinski’s sister, Katie, who won Under 12 Girls over Esther Gusov. Then, while Terrence Kalicharan was making the semifinals of both Under 18 Boys and Under 2300, his brother Winston was making the semifinals of Under 12 Boys. Are you getting all of this?

Not to be forgotten: Howard Lamb made the trip from Houston to win Under 15 Boys over Joe Podvin. Lamb would also make the final of Under 2100, while Podvin would make the final of Under 1800.

The hometown Cochran brothers didn’t go home empty-handed. Andy won Under 1900; Joe was second in Under 1400; and Gordon was second in Under 12 Boys.

Don Brazzel showed his "upset" win over Dan Seemiller at the recent Buckeye Open was not a fluke, defeating Larry Hodges in the hardbat final. Hodges had defeated Seemiller in the semifinals, deuce-in-the-third, and the conventional-wisdom favorite for the event, Ashu Jain, in the quarterfinals. Let’s face it – Don, brace yourself. If you lined up the eight hardbat quarterfinalists and asked a not-in-the-know person to rank them, Brazzel would have come in about seventh. Yet Brazzel, barely moving his feet and looking all of his 46 years of age, just steadily topspins and topspins and topspins from both sides until the other guy misses.

If Brazzel would have come in seventh, who would have come in eighth? One of the best hardbat players in the country, and in fact one of the best players, period, 2274-rated and athletic-looking Mitch Seidenfeld, who also was the gold medalist at the 1993 and 1997 World Dwarf Games, and the gold medalist for Standing Disabled at the 1992 Paralympics.

Open Singles – Final: David Zhuang d. Cheng Yinghua, -23,19,15,18; SF: Zhuang d. Todd Sweeris, -19,14,-17,19,16; Cheng d. Kurt Liu, -17, 15,13,17; QF: Cheng d. Emilia Ciosu, 16,8,17; Liu d. Randy Seemiller, 17,12,16; Sweeris d. Dan Seemiller, 13,16,9; Zhuang d. Sean Lonergan, 10,12,14; 8ths: Cheng d. Mark Hazinski, 16,-18,11,22; Ciosu d. Shao Yu, 12,19,16; R. Seemiller d. Tai Long Tey, 16,-22, 18,10; Liu d. Ashu Jain, 21,13,12; Sweeris d. Barney J. Reed, 11,12,13; D. Seemiller d. Abass Ekun, 16,19,15; Lonergan d. Idan Levi, 11,17,6; Zhuang d. Srinivan Ramanathan, 11,15,16.

Open Doubles – Final: Emilia Ciosu/Kurt Liu d. David Zhuang/Todd Sweeris, 21,10; SF: Ciosu/Liu d. Cheng Yinghua/Mark Hazinski, 20,11; Zhuang/Sweeris d. Shao Yu/Abass Ekun, 16,16.

Women’s Singles – Final: Emilia Ciosu d. Mimi Bosika, 13,-13,15; SF: Ciosu d. Barbara Popiel, 8,11; Ciosu d. Sharlene Wilson, 11,5.

Hardbat – Final: Don Brazzel d. Larry Hodges, 13,-21,13; SF: Brazzel d. Mitch Seidenfeld, 14,15; Hodges d. Dan Seemiller, 18,-17,21; QF: Brazzel d. Roy Schlabach Jr., -17,22,17; Seidenfeld d. Engelbert Solis, -17,11,16; Seemiller d. Dylan Martis, 17,-14,11; Hodges d. Ashu Jain, 18,17.

Over 40 – Final: Cheng Yinghua d. Abass Ekun, def.; SF: Cheng d. Paul Pashuka, 5,13; Ekun d. Dave Sakai, 18,19.

Over 50 – Final: Dave Sakai & Paul Pashuka split; SF: Sakai d. Hank McCoullum, 17,17; Pashuka d. Morris Jackson, 17,14.

Under 18 Boys – Final: Mark Hazinski d. Arturo Shiu, 15,18; SF: Hazinski d. Jared Lynch, 12,5; Shiu d. Terence Kalicharan, 9,18.

Under 18 Girls – Final: Laura Xiao d. Elaine Kwok, n.s.; SF: Kwok d. Amanda Dubina, 6,20; Xiao d. Laura Leach, 17,15.

Under 15 Boys – Final: Howard Lamb d. Joe Podvin, 10,3; SF: Lamb d. John Leach, 10,15; Podvin d. Jordan Lynch, n.s.

Under 15 Girls – Final: Elaine Kwok d. Laura Leach, 22,12; SF: Kwok d. Janelle Hazinski, 12,12; Leach d. Jamie Blau, 5,8.

Under 12 Boys - Final: John Leach d. Gordon Cochran, 5,11; SF: Leach d. Joe Cochran, 11,3; G. Cochran d. Winston Kalicharan, 16,7.

Under 12 Girls: Katie Hazinski d. Esther Gusov, -16,5,14.

U2550 – Final: Abass Ekun d. Shao Yu, def.; SF: Ekun d. Razvan Cretu, 17,18; Shao d. Sean Lonergan, 10,14.

U2400 – Final: Srinivas Ramanathan d. Mimi Bosika, 19,-15,13; SF: Ramanathan d. Randy Seemiller, 15,18; Bosika d. Arvind Aemireddy, 16,-19,18.

U2300 – Final: Dave Sakai d. Mark Nordby, 18,19; SF: Sakai d. Nate Troyer, 18,20; Nordby d. Terence Kalicharan, 17,16.

U2200 – Final: Patrick Mualem d. Spenser Lam, 17,15; SF: Mualem d. Jason Miller, 13,15; Lam d. Soon Chian Lim, 13,15.

U2100 – Final: Adrien Rosa d. Howard Lamb, 12,12; SF: Rosa d. Chiang Pang, 17,-4,20; Lamb d. John He, 18,15.

U2000 – Final: Adam Jackovino d. Houshang Bozorgzadeh, -18,20,12; SF: Jackovino d. Chen Wong, 22,-16,16; Bozorgzadeh d. Donna Chen, 14,18.

U1900: Andy Cochran d. Harry Hawk, 18,17.

U1800: Chen Wong d. Joe Podvin, -19,23,17.

U1675: Sam Akula d. Sharlene Wilson, 8,-18,13.

U1550: Rebecca West d. Bruce Baker, 13,15.

U1400: Jerry Metzger d. Joe Cochran, 18,19.

U1200: Denis Yashirin d. James Hamilton, 21,18.

U1000: Steve Dawson d. Anton Marshall, 17,20.

U800: Winston Kalicharan d. Zenata Lakemska, 19,12.

U3800 Doubles: Donna Chen/Jason Denman d. Soon Chian Lim/Allyson Ellis, 17,-13,19.

U3200 Doubles: Laura Xiao/John Leach d. Kevin Rzhavtsev/Matthew Rustamov, 19,-16,9.