2007 US NATIONALS WOMEN'S MATCHES by Raymond Mack

Of the twenty women who entered the Open event, 16 of them played four-person round robins for a chance to meet up against top seeds Wang Chen, Jasna Reed, Jackie Lee, and Nan Li in quarterfinal matches. Round Robins First, Judy Hugh finished at 3-0 without dropping a game. Gina Dole was able to hold off Judy Chen to win (3-1) 11-9 in the fourth. Little Lily Zhang worked hard to knock off Dole (3-2), coming back from being down 1-2 in games, taking games four and five at 4,5. In another round robin Whitney Ping won, with her only difficulty being her victory over improving Stephanie Shih, 3-1. But either Ping found a glaring weakness or Shih lost heart and focus, because after splitting the first two games, the last two games were one sided for Ping. Another match of note in this group was Connie Chen’s (rating 1341) 18-16 fourth game victory over Ling Fan (rating 1789) to take the match 3-1. The round robin with Diane Chen (1-2 record), Olena Sowers (2-1), Atha Fong (2-1), and Shermaine Lam (1-2) was super close. Sowers advanced by virtue of her 3-1 victory over Fong. Lam has one of the sharpest backhands in the tournament, a great glued “pop” at laser speed. She gave many demonstrations of the backhand counter to Sowers, winning 11-3 in the fourth game. Later, witnesses had a chance to see Lam warm up Wang Chen, catching some real rapid fire practice. Chen is a smooth lefty attacker with short pips and no loop. In the match between Chen and Lam, Chen had already noticed Lam’s weapon, and stayed away from it as much as possible. This resulted in a hard fought (3-2) victory for Chen, 11-9 in the fifth. As Lam came into the tournament without a rating, one can only assume she has just received credentials to compete in the US Closed competitions and will be rated around hand loop. There were no medium paced attacks here! Goukasian was rated 1703 for this tournament and her play belied that rating. Dressed in a sharp grey and white checkered shirt and stylish sweatpants, Ovsanna did not appear to be suited up for national table tennis play, she looked more like she was ready for a mall shopping trip. But once her quick hands and tricky serves were on display, it was apparent that she was a serious sportswoman. Against Chun, Goukasian could return that laser beam loop, and often three, four, or five of them. Sometimes to prevent Chun’s attack, Goukasian would graze a backhand loop or two of her own. On serve return, she was content to chop quickly to change the pace. Very impressive stuff for someone rated almost 400 points below Chun.

In quarterfinals, all matches went to the seeds, except for Judy Hugh’s victory over Nan Li.

Semifinals/ Finals
First up was Wang Chen (2622) and Judy Hugh (2307). This was Hugh’s first ladies’ national semifinal, yet she did not appear nervous against the excellent and mature Wang. First game went 11-9 to Chen, and if Hugh had not made a couple poor decisions, she may have taken that game. The umpire faulted Chen for spinning the ball out of her hand during a high toss serve. As the second game got out of hand at 8-0 for Chen, Hugh at last got on the board, then Chen was faulted for a low toss. This seemed to give Chen a reason to try harder, as her shots were becoming harder and wider for Hugh to handle. (Chen’s down the line loop was never returned by anybody over the whole weekend.) Match to Wang Chen 4-0 over a happy Judy Hugh.
The next semifinal paired Jasna Reed (2440) and Jackie Lee (2380). This was a great match— First two games go to Lee as she seemed to be serving and returning Reed’s serves only to Reed’s middle. And when Lee attacks, it’s down the lines instead of cross court. Third game started well for Reed though, with a signature hard forehand hard shot to get to 6-3, and game to Reed 11-7. The fourth game went back to hard competition, Lee was not pounding the ball, but her loops and counters were forceful. Reed got out of the box quickly in the fifth game, leading 3-0 with a backhand block from her far forehand corner, soon it was over— 6-0. Reed became a bit more conservative, content to block a little bit more. Soon it’s 7-2, then 8-5 after Reed won a great volley. Lee fought hard though, and closed the gap to 10-8 despite missing a push. Game to Reed 11-8 as she closes the gap to 3-2 in games. Sixth game started out 3-0 Reed, with a backhand slam after Lee made a net return. On to 7-5, then 8-5 Reed, as Lee missed her own serves. Jasna Reed took the game 11-8. On into the seventh, it’s 3-3 as both ladies miss openings. Lee made the turn at 5-3. Reed looks down, circled back toward the coach and muttered something, but the umpires didn’t notice. At 5-4, Lee took her timeout. Then, it’s 6-5 for Lee as Jasna Reed wins a dynamite volley with a closing backhand down the line. Jackie Lee missed an easy loop, and it’s 6-6. Reed surged ahead 8-7, 9-7, then missed a short push/drop shot to make the score 9-8. Jackie Lee missed another push and it’s match point for Reed. It seemed they only pushed about six balls in the whole match. To finish the match, both women went toe to toe with another exciting looping and countering display that went to Reed, who won at 11-8 in the seventh.
In game one of the final, Chen took it at 11-3 with a forehand rip down the line at 5-2 and 7-2 to make a bit of a statement. After the game, Reed walked to her corner to find her coach wearing her jacket (with JASNA on it) and the crowd laughing. Second game, and Reed still wasn’t using those power hits to effect, so she’s down a couple points. But she won a long exchange to get to 3-5, then nailed the forehand and it’s 5-7. Next, Chen misses her own serve, Reed won a good exchange again, and she got an edge on her return from Chen’s high toss. A couple more big shots and Reed took that game 12-10. In game three, Chen is called for another high toss “spin” to tie it up at 4-4. It’s soon 7-4 Chen, but then she missed both of her own serves at the next chance and Reed closed to 9-9. At 10-9 Chen, the umpire calls the low toss fault against Chen for deuce. The crowd was furious, calling for removal of the umpires for shoddy work. Emcee Alan Williams reminded them that this is not refereeing by crowd committee. Chen stopped to have a talk with an umpire who can translate her discretions, and play continued. Reed missed her own serve (purposefully) for Chen’s ad, and the crowd cheered! Game to Chen 12-10 as she won a good, long exchange. Game four, and soon Reed was lobbing from the deep court as Chen ran out to a 6-0 lead. Reed battled back to 6-6, though Chen regained a comfortable lead with that down the line forehand loop to make it 9-6, and the game ended at 11-7. Game five, and Reed looked great as she tied it at 2-2. Soon Chen ran it to 6-2, but Reed again dug in to move up to 8-5 as Chen misses an easy loop, then 8-7. Timeout for Chen, and she comes back to get to match point at 10-7. Well, why not a timeout for Jasna too? Made no difference— in the end it’s 11-7 to Wang Chen, who won her second consecutive ladies national championship. After the match, Chen appears unhappy (could you blame her; she was faulted about five times in these last two big matches). But about 20 minutes later, she had a big smile on her face as the satisfaction of her accomplishment sunk in on a positive note.