28 Nations, 700 players, 91 tables, 57 events, and 110 degrees.... That's the tale of the tape at the main event in Las Vegas this week --

Men's and Women's Singles Finals are schedules for tonight. Karakasevic and Sel won Men's Doubles. Shimada and Ishizuka won the all-Japanese Women's Doubles final

The photos, results and running commentary are provided by Steve Hopkins. *Special thanks to Bruce Liu for submitting two short articles. The full coverage of the Open as well as the Iran/US Friendship Tour will appear in the September Issue of USA Table Tennis Magazine.

Click Here for Event Winners To Date

Ariel Hsing - Photo by Steve Hopkins

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July 5 - Final Update (9:21p local time)

Weixing Chen Rolls

Weing began strong and picked up steam as he chopped and looped his way through Thomas Keinath. Final score: Weixing 4, Keinath 0.

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July 5 - Update (9:00p local time)

Gao Jun is Women's Champion

In a battle of classically trained, Chinese, right-handed, pips-out pen-holders, Gao Jun bested Xia Lian Ni 4-1. The pace of everything from serves to attacks to blocks was a near mirror-image as they traded fast serves, carefully placed blocks, and countered each other's smashes with their own. In the end, Gao Jun had more energy and better execution.

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July 5 - Update (8:15p local time)

Weixing Chen Advances over Rosskopf

Not exactly a chopper and not exactly an attacker, Weixing Chen balances components of both styles. In this match, his service returns were normally a flip with a little sidespin. He then either attacked (with lighting fast footwork and a long forehand stroke) or he backed up with the ball and played a chop. Rosskopf countered the loops with close to the table blocks and the chops with altering slow loops and soft chops (with a mix of smashes to finish points and soft, touch-loops to draw Weixing to the table). Each of the games were closely contested with the final game dominated by Rosskopf until a three-point run gave Weixing the advantage. Rosskopf tied the game at 10-10, then missed a loop, and then lost a point that featured two Weixing net balls. Weixing wins 4-1.

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July 5 - Update (7:30p local time)

Keinath over Kiho -- Onto the Finals

The final score was 4-1 with Keinath clearly the stronger player in every aspect of thhe game.

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July 5 - Update (6:45p local time)

Xia Lian Ni Into the Finals-- Over Ying Lu

Xia Lian Ni joins Gao Jun in the Finals as the top two seeds advance in Women's Singles. Ying Lu attacked Xia Lian Ni with a forehand loop that seemed to come from her whole body -- with two long steps beginning the loop and a follow through that brought her whole body forward several feet. Both players are left handed so much of the match centered on their footwork stepping around their backhand to finish points with their forehand. Ying Lu's forehand - an all-out loop drive... and Xia Lin's forehand a sharp cover of the ball immediately after the bounce. Early in the match, the Ying Lu loop worked well, trading points with Xia Lian Ni, the World's No. 40 player. After the fourth game, the players were tied 2-2 (and each had scored exactly 40 points). By the middle of the fifth game, Ying Lu began to look more sluggish on her forehand loops with her legs seeming to tire. As her body slowed, her loop slowed. At the same time, Xia Lian Ni became stronger and stronger winning the fifth game and then dominating the sixth and final game.

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July 5 - Update (5:45p local time)

Gao Jun Into the Finals-- Over FuQuan Li

Gao Jun won the first three games, lost the fourth, and then closed out the match in the fifth. FuQuan Li was the aggressor for the entire match mixing up her left-handed serves to Gao Jun's forehand. The styles and approach were very different with FuQuan taking the first long ball and hitting driving loops and Gao picking the ball up early and blocking sharply and deeply from corner to corner. Balls to FuQuan's backhand often resulted in a sharp flat hit. FuQuan's forehand continued to attack Gao's backhand, but were repeatedly blocked sharply. FuQuan lead late in both the first and second game but Gao seemed in control and always won the late points. 11-9, 11-9 were the first two game scores. The third game was all Gao with sharp strikes moving FuQuan left and right. In the fourth game, FuQuan clearly came out with the intent to move Gao left and right and she pulled out a close game. However, Gao was dominant in the final game and closed out the match.

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July 5 - Submitted Article

by Bruce Liu

The former Beijing player, JiaQu Zheng, who currently lives in San Jose, CA had a great tournament. She won the U21 Women's event by upsetting Yao Tongof China (2562) 4-2 in the final. She also upset another Chinese player, Liu Juan (2696), 4-3 in the 8's in the Women's Open. Her fantastic run was ended in the Semifinals by yet another Chinese player-- Lu Ying (2587) who currently lives in Philadelphia.

Lu Ying and JiqQi Zheng are both penholders. The difference is that Lu only uses smooth rubber on one side and JiaQi uses short-pips on the forehand side and smooth on the backhand side.

Lu Ying also had a good tournament In the U2600 semi-final, Lu beat California's Steven Wang (2572) but lost to Danny Seemiller deuce in the seventh in the final.

In the first two games, Lu was unstoppable. Although JiaQi's defense was also great, Lu's excellent footworks helped her chasing down everything that JiaQi put back on the table. It seemed that Lu was in command. However, JiaQi did not agree. She turned the table completely winning the next three games – one game was down 1:7! Now Lu was in trouble. However, she found her form back in the game six to avoid being eliminated. Lu maintained a comfortable lead in the 7th. At 6:1, Lu's leading, JiaQi mounted a tremendous comeback to tie the decisive game at deuce. Now, the match is up in the air for grasps. Lu was not going to let it happen though. She won the last two points and earned herself a ticket to the seme-final. Both JiaQi and Lu Ying earned lots of applauses. Great match! 

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July 5 - Update (3:15p local time)

Setting Up for the Finals

Center Court is now being set up for the Finals -- and for the Iran-USA friendship match that will occur just before the Finals.

The Women's matches will include Gao Jun v. FuQuan Li in one SemiFinal and Xia Lian Ni v. Ying Lu in the other. Gao won a seven-game nail-biter in the Quarterfinals over NingYang Dai. Gao had been down 2-1, and up 3-2 before trading the final two games in the seesawing match. FuQuan won her Quarterfinal match (over Japan's Satoko Kishida) in straight games.

In the other half of the draw, Xia Lian has won 12 games and lost only 3 on her way to the Semifinals. She will face Ying Lu who needed a 12-10 win in the seventh game of her match with Jiaqi Zheng to advance.

The Men's matches will be Shinnosuke Kiho v. Thomas Keinath and Weixing Chen v. Joerg Rosskopf. Weixing Chen is the top seed remaining and has managed a relatively easy run to the Semifinals. His opponent, Joerg Rosskopf has not yet been pushed to a seventh game either.

On the other half of the draw, both players have scrapped to get to the Semifinals. Keinath had a seven-game battle with Patrick Baum to advance and Kiho's path included wins over both Karakasevic and Filimon.

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July 5 - Update (3:00p local time)

Karakasevic Wins Another Title: Men's Doubles

Though clearly not the title the two-time defending Singles champion was seeking, Aleksandar Karakasevic teamed with Zolt Sel to defeat the team of Joerg Rosskopf and Thomas Keinath. The match was not marked by changing tactics or momentum changes. The teams were pretty evenly matched and both sides were very careful to play standard points with primarily short underspin serves followed by carefully placed flips and then a series of driving loops from both sides. Keinath was the only right handed player of the four -- though Karakasevic's dominating backhand often had him playing like a right handed player (moving to his right to set up his big shots). Most of the points were 4 to 6 shots. Both teams traded points througout. In the end, Karakasevic and Sel managed to avoid mistakes late in the games...winning 4 to 1.

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July 5 - Update (11:50a local time)

The Calm Before the Storm

The morning has been pretty relaxed at the venue. Half of the tables have been removed and the volume of both players and spectators is way down. It is quiet and many of the players on the tables are just practicing or playing the sport for fun.

It is almost noon and the pace and intensity of the day will change dramatically as we get closer to the Finals this evening. Mens Doubles is just getting underway in the center courts (two courts surrounded by stadium seating and separated from the rest of the room with large curtains). The semi-finals match Karakasevic/Sel against Canadians Zhen and Zhang and Zwickl/Jakab against Rosskopf/Keinath.

There will be an American/Iranian friendship match late in the afternoon followed by Men's and Women's Singles Semifinals and Finals.

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July 4 - Submitted Article

by Bruce Liu

Among the round of 16 players in the Men's Open, there is a relatively unknown player from India - probably the shortest (5'4”), the lightest (94lbs) and the youngest (15), too. His name is Sathiyna Ganasekaranand he is a member of the India cadet team.

Sathiyna may look small but his game is huge. Not only did he make it out of the preliminary round robin, but he upset Stefan Feth (2690) in the first round from down 1-3. Some people thought it might have been a fluke but he beat his next opponent Zolt Sel(2637) from Serbia 4-0!

The overall second seed Weixing Chen ended his incredible run. Chen was probably a bit surprised by Sathiyna's size and was trailing1:5 in the first game before coming back to win the game and the match. Nevertheless, Sathiyna's great performance has made him arguably the most appealling player in the tournament.

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July 4 Update (4:20p local time)

Karakasevic Upset in Quarters -- Baum Ousted by Keinath in Seven

On a day that began with all of the top seeds in place, the whole tournament has been turned upside down. Karakasevic was down 3-0 to Shinnosuke Kiho before fighting back to a 3-3 tie. Kiho pulled out the final game and ended the two year undefeated run of Karakasevic. The cinderella story of the day was cut short when Patrick Baum (who had earlier defeated top seed Crisan) lost to Thomas Keinath in their quarterfinal match. Kiho and Keinath will play in the Semifinals tomorrow.

Joining Kiho and Keinath are Weixing Chen (who defeated Eugene Wang Zhen 4-)1 and Joerg Rosskopf (who defeated Lin Ju 4-1).

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July 4 Update (4:20p local time)

Gao, Ni advance in Women's Singles -- Crystal Huang, Tonja Hain-Hofman did not make the round of 16

Gao Jun has only lost one game on her way to the Round of 16, defeating Tawny Banh and Soo Yeon Lee along the way. Gao Jun will face NingYang Dal in the next round.

FuQuan Li will face Satoko Kishida. Jiaqi Zheng will face Ying Lu. and Saori Sakamoto will face #2 Seed Xia Lian Ni.

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July 4 Update (4:00p local time)

Karakasevic, Zhang, Zwickl, and Keinath teams all advance in Doubles

The round of 16 has ended and some top teams did not advance. Stefan Feth and Patrick Baum (shortly after his upset of Top Seed, Crisan) lost to the Canadian team of Wilson Peng Zhang and Eugene Wang Zhen (4-2). Karakasevic and Zolt Sel defeated the Japanese team of Yuuta Morishita and Abe Zakuhiro (4-2). The two winners will face off in the Semi-finals tomorrow.

On the other side of the draw Daniel Zwickl and Janos Jakab upset Adrian Crisan and Andrei Filimon (4-2). They will face Joerg Rosskopf and Keinath Thomas who defeated 2007 semifinalists Takanori Shimoyama and Shinnosuke Kiho of Japan (4-2).

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July 4 Update (3:30p local time)

Filimon Out, Karakasevic Advances

The Round of 16 is half complete. Each of the winners in this round advance to the Quarterfinals. Baum advanced wiith an upset of top seed, Crisan. Keinath advanced by defeating Zwickl. Kiho upset fourth seed Filimon to advance. Karakasevic defeated Wilson Zhang 4-2. And Weixing Chen ended the upset run of Sathiyna Ganasekaran to advance.

Men's Singles Update (Round 3 Results:

Patrick Baum def Adrian Crisan (-9,8,3,*def*)

Thomas Keinath def Daniel Zwickl (8,-4,6,-7,8,8)

(Keinath to play Baum in round 4)

Shinnosuke Kiho def Andrei Filimon (-7,12,7,-8,10,3)

Aleksandar Karakasevic def Wilson Peng Zhang (4,-10,-9,8,8,10)

(Kiho to play Karakasevic in round 4)

Weixing Chen def. Sathiyna Ganasekaran (9,6,4,8)

*Other 3 places in the Quarter Finals are Not Yet Decided

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July 4 Update (12:45p local time)

The Top Seed Is Out

Adrian Crisan (Top Seed and World No. 21) lost in the fourth round today to German Patrick Baum. The match was tied 1-1 with Baum dominating the third game. As the game progressed, Crisan became more and more bothered with the performance of his paddle. He scraped the paddle on the corner of the table and then asked the Umpire for permission to change it. The damage was purposeful, so permission was denied. The damage made the paddle unplayable so Tournament Referee Wendell Dillon issued a red card and disqualified him from the match.

Baum has defeated Crisan in the past and the two players know each other well. And, to be fair, Baum was leading in the match and had momentum.

The entire episode is reminiscent of the Schlager/Boll European Championship match of 2003 where Schlager purposefully damaged his paddle on the table for the same reason and was disqualified. Boll went on to win the Championship.

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July 3 Update

Adrian Crisan advanced 4-1 over Steven Wang (Crisan def. Zaman Molla in round 1 and Steven Wang def. Homayoun Kamkar-Parsi in round 1)

Patrick Baum advanced 4-1 over Ernesto Ebuen Jr. (Ebuen def. Dany Lo in round 1 and Baum def. Bong Geun Kim in round 1)

(Crisan will face Baum in round 3)

Daniel Zwickl advanced 4-0 over Thilina Piyadasa (Zwickl def. Afshin Noroozi in round 1 and Piyadasa def. Michael Hyatt in round 1)

Thomas Keinath advanced over Hector Berrios 4-0 (Keinath def. Samson Dubina in round 1 and Berrios defeated Mark Hazinski in round 1)

(Zwickl will face Keinath in round 3)

Andri Filimon advanced 4-2 over Abe Kazuhiro (Filimon defeated Shubham Sharma in round 1 and Kazuhiro defeated Yu Shao in round 1)

Shinnosuke Kiho advanced 4-1 over Shen Qiang (Kiho defeated Soumyajit Ghosh in round 1 and Qiang def. Jose Ortalla Jr. in round 1)

(Filimon will face Kiho in round 3)

Wilson Peng Zhang advanced 4-1 over De Tran (In round 1 Tran def. Jiang Yang and Zhang def. Dan Seemiller)

Aleksandar Karakasevic advanced 4-3 over Steffen Mengel (In round 1 Karakasevic def. Raj Mondal and Mengel def. Cheng Yi Du)

(Zhang will face Karakasevic in round 3)

Joerg Rosskopf advanced 4-0 over Lin Jeff Huang (In round 1Rosskopf def. Aref Ahmadifar and Huang def. Nitim Vasanth Phillips)

Other round 2 action:

Ahadi Mehran def. Chao Fan

Luc Bobillier def joseph Cruz

Takonori Shimoyama def. Ryuzo Kubota

Mitsuo Tanaka def. Pierre-luc Hinse

Yong Ji Im def Jason Shim

Lin Ju def. Alfred Antoine Najem

Janos Jakab def Katsuhito Tanaka

Eugene Wang Zhen def Yan Jun Gao

Pathik Mehta def Hui Yu Chu

Muneaki Mitamura def Tuan Anh Tran

Sathiyna Ganasekaran def Stefan Feth

Zolt Sel def Yuuta Morishita

Peter-Paul Pradeeban def Cheng Yinghua

Weixing Chen def Mohammadreza Akhlaghpassand

Weixing Chen -Photo by Steve Hopkins

Gao Jun - Photo by Steve Hopkins

Thomas Keinath - Photo by Steve Hopkins

Xia Lian Ni - Photo by Steve Hopkins

FuQuan Li - Photo by Steve Hopkins

Karakasevic and Sel - Photo by Steve Hopkins

Thomas Keinath -Photo by Steve Hopkins

Patrick Baum -Photo by Steve Hopkins

Patrick Baum and Adrian Crisan in their match this morning -Photo by Steve Hopkins