(Larry Hodges)

Sorry about the delay in putting up articles from Saturday night, and no new photos. Bruce Liu's computer, camcorder, and camera were lost or stolen. All the photos he took are gone. If you took any photos during the women's semifinal and final or the men's final that we could use, please contact Bruce at bay_tt@yahoo.com.

Men’s Singles Final

By Larry Hodges

After all the fireworks of the day as six of the eight quarterfinalists pulled out of Men’s Singles, we were left with the Final Two. And it was one heck of a Final, with an amazing comeback and, perhaps, the youngest National Men’s Singles Champion Ever? More on that shortly.

The final was between Samson Dubina (OH, 2476) and 15-year-old Michael Landers (NY, 2361). Samson made the quarterfinals last year, as well as the USA National Team. Michael had already made the USA National Junior Team here, finishing second (top four make the team), and he’d also won the Youth Olympic Games Trials. (See article on this elsewhere.)

In game one, Samson gradually built up a lead and won, 11-7, overpowering the much smaller Michael with his loops. Was this to be a match or, as some might have thought, a 4-0 wipeout for Samson? Michael answered the question in game two with a dominant 11-5 win. We have a match!

Samson is a two-winged looper who opens from either wing, but likes to end the point with his forehand. He has a nice over-the-table backhand loop, especially returning serve, that often sets up his forehand. He’s also a ferocious counterlooper. Michael plays similar, but probably is even more forehand oriented, racing all over the court to loop forehands. As the match wore on, his forehand counter-looping became extremely consistent.

Samson serves into the net to start game three. Down 5-6, he runs off four in a row to lead 9-6, then it’s 9-all. He wins the next point on a nice counterloop, and completely catches Michael with a block to the forehand for a game-ending ace, 11-9.

In game four, it’s 4-all, then Samson runs it out, 11-5. He’s dominating play and he’s up 3-1 in games. He seems to have found a winning strategy of attacking at wide angles, which takes Michael out of his forehand-dominant game.

What happens next only Samson knows, but from this perspective, I’m betting he began to think about the win that was oh so close. In games five and six, Michael is playing better and better, and Samson . . . suddenly isn’t play at all as he misses over and over as he loses 11-3 and falls behind 8-1 and 9-3 in game six, losing that one 11-6. Michael’s counter-looping dominates play, with the two often going at it from the wide forehand with sidespins that break the ball even wider. Equally impressive is Michael’s “weaker” side, as he’s not missing many backhands either, and loops and hits a number of backhand winners. His block off Samson’s loop is steady and controlling.

We have a seven-gamer—but Samson has shown new life at the end of game six. He goes up 2-0 . . . and then he’s down 2-4, 3-4, 3-7! Samson looks tentative while Michael is playing flawless. And then the tide turned again. Samson pulls to 7-8. Michael calls a timeout. Then it’s 7-9, 8-9, then Michael absolutely rips a forehand and he is serving, up match point, 10-8. Samson catches Michael off guard with a backhand to the wide forehand that Michael can’t return, and it’s 10-9. And then, Samson blocks Michael’s loop off, and the 15-year-old has pulled off the miracle, -7,5,-9,-5,3,6,9.

And now the historical perspective. In 1978, 15-year-old Eric Boggan upset Dan Seemiller to become the youngest player ever to win the USA Men’s Singles title. The tournament was held Dec. 16-19, according to his father’s history books. But online calendars for 1978 show those dates to be Saturday-Tuesday, rather strange dates for a Nationals. What makes this important is that Eric was born Aug. 14, 1963, while Michael was born Aug. 16, 1994. If Eric won his Nationals on Dec. 16—not likely, since that’s the first day of the 1978 Nationals—he’s still the youngest ever. If he won it on Dec. 17, the two are tied. If he won it on Dec. 18 or Dec. 19, then Michael becomes the youngest ever. What date did Eric win it on? That’s the question we’ll be researching, but if anyone has info, email me at larry@larrytt.com.

At the start of the match, Michael appeared calm, but appearances can be deceiving. “In the first game, I could barely see the ball,” he said. “I was really nervous, playing this final in front of all these people. I felt like there was a thousand pound weight on my back. Before we went out, they had a raffle, and it seemed to go on forever, and I got even more nervous.”

Michael’s been improving rapidly. His tournament record shows he was basically a 1950 player until a little over two years ago, when, as I helpfully reminded him, I’d beaten him (more than once) with a clipboard. (Rematch?) He said that after a bad loss at the U.S. Open, where he was up 2-0 in games and 5-1 in the third before losing, he decided to get more serious and began training much harder. “Every loss since then I’ve learned something.’

However, more than anything else, he credits his coach, Ernesto Ebuen, “Greatest Coach Ever!” he declared after the match. “His tactics were amazing.”

Regarding the controversy of the six players who defaulted in the quarterfinals, he said, “I came here to play. Why didn’t they bring this up a year ago? But I wanted to continue; I wanted to win this one for my coach.”

Women’s Singles Semifinals and Final

By Larry Hodges

For the women’s semifinals and final, and the men’s final, Adam Bobrow and Dan Seemiller kept the crowd entertained on the loudspeaker, with Bobrow often bringing his comedy routine into play along with various musical choices between games. The matches were filmed for TV, with Scott Gordon and Ty Hoff doing the play-by play.

Semifinal #1: Gao Jun vs. Anne Deng

When Gao went up 7-0 and won game one 11-1, it looked like we were in for an execution. But things change quickly, even after Gao went up 2-0 in game two. They battled back and forth, with Anne suddenly steady and pulling off winners with her pips-out forehand, and soon she led 10-9, and then 11-10. Gao pulled off a nice smash to deuce it, then Anne looped a serve into the net, and it’s 12-11 Gao. Anne goes on the attack, and forces Gao off the table, where her pips-out blocking suddenly isn’t strong—instead Gao is fishing balls back from off the table! She returns a few, then suddenly counter-hits a winner, and she’s now up 2-0 in games.

From there on, it was pretty much all Gao. In game three, she leads 6-4, wins 11-5. In game four, Gao’s down 1-3, then she plays a great lobbing point—yes, Gao can lob with the best!—and when Anne finally misses, she seems to get careless. Gao wins seven in a row and wins the game and match, 1,11,5,5.

Semifinal #2: Jasna Rather vs. Ariel Hsing

This looks to be close, a classic match of the experienced two-time Singles Champion Jasna versus 14-year-old rising (or risen?) star Ariel, who made the final last year.

Both have tremendous backhands. But since they both know how strong the other’s backhand is, they often played immediately to the other’s forehand. Add that they often ended the point quickly with their backhand power, and there were few straight backhand-backhand rallies.

Jasna spins more while Ariel is explosive from both wings with her hitting. Jasna opens many rallies with slow, spinny loops that Ariel tries to attack. When Ariel opens with her backhand, it’s a more driving loop, which she often follows with her powerful backhand, as does Jasna.

In game one, Ariel leads most of the way, but down 7-9, Jasna ties it 9-all. Ariel leads 10-9, then wins 12-10. In game two, from 5-all, Ariel runs off five in a row to lead 10-5, and wins 11-8. In game three, they play close most of the way, and then Jasna goes up 10-8. But Ariel pulls off two nice serves that she’s been using as a one-two punch in this match: fast into the backhand, or reverse forehand sidespin short to the forehand, and Jasna misses both. Jasna shakes it off, and leads 12-11, and wins 14-12 to avoid going down 0-3 in games.

In game four, Ariel goes up 4-0, then it’s 7-4, 7-7, 11-7 as she goes up 3-1 in games.

But Jasna runs away with game five, winning the last four after leading 7-5.

Jasna leads 5-3 in the sixth, but that’s when Ariel flicks the “on” switch, and goes into overdrive. Eight points later, Ariel has won the match, 10,8,-12,7,-5,5, and is into the final.

Final: Gao Jun vs. Ariel Hsing

In the next-to-last point in the match, Ariel smashed a whole series of balls, just as she had done in so many other rallies. Gao blocked them all back until Ariel finally missed. This symbolizes what it’s like playing Gao. It’s hard enough finding a ball to attack effectively—she gives few changes—but even when you get the chance, it’s like banging your head against a brick wall made of pips.

In game one, from 5-5, Gao wins 11-7. In game two, Gao leads 10-2, wins at . . . wait a minute, Ariel’s not giving up, gets to 3-4-5-6-7-8, and then 10-9! I don’t think anyone in the U.S. has EVER scored eight in a row against Gao, and now she’s in danger of blowing one of the biggest leads possible. And then Ariel gets the shot, rips a “winner” to Gao’s wide forehand, and can only watch as Gao reaches out and blocks a clean winner to Ariel’s wide forehand. “After the game,” Coach Dennis Davis said later, “she came to me and said, ‘I know what you’re going to say, I should have killed it to her middle.’”

Up 2-0 in games, Gao quickly goes up 5-0 in the third, then 9-2, 10-3, 11-5. Ariel doesn’t give up, but she’s winning most of her points when she’s already down by seven or more points.

In the fourth, down 1-3, Ariel smashes over and over and over, but Gao blocks them all back, and Ariel jumps in the air in frustration. She ties it up at 5-all, but Gao steps things up and ends it, winning the match at 7,9,5,7.

Here is Gao’s lifetime record at the USA Nationals:

· 9 for 9 in Women’s Singles

· 9 for 9 in Women’s Doubles

· 8 for 8 in Mixed Doubles

· 1 for 1 in Over 40 Women

· 27 for 27 overall

The last time I interviewed Gao, she’d been taking a break, spending her time at home watching TV. Now she’s out in Los Angeles at the LATTA club, coaching alongside Tawny Banh and Crystal Huang. “I’m pretty busy now,” she said.

Gao had an interesting perspective on the state of U.S. junior girls, having played three of the four best in the quarters, semis, and final. “They have improved a lot. When they gain more experience, they will be very good.” On Natalie Sun: she has power, but still needs to choose her shots better. She had a lot of trouble with my style. On Anne Deng: She needs more power. She’s very quick, but needs to end the point better with her forehand.” (Deng has pips on the forehand.) On Ariel Hsing: She has improved a lot, with good shots, but needs more experience on choosing the right ball to end the point.”

Saturday Events #2

By Larry Hodges

Due to the many major events on the final day of the Nationals, and in particular a certain controversy in the quarterfinals of Men’s Singles that took up quite some time, I didn’t get to do as much coverage of other events this day. However, here’s a rundown. (See the results section for complete results.)

Men’s Doubles

The one-two punch of Indiana’s duo of Dan Seemiller’s control play setting up Mark Hazinski’s powerful loops overcame Washington’s Fan Yi Yong (and his powerful backhand loop) and New Jersey’s Adam Hugh in the final, 6,-8,6,5. In the semifinals, Seemiller/Hazinski defeated David Zhuang/Shao Yu (NJ/NY), 4,-5,8,9, while Fan/Hugh defeated Michael Landers/De Tran (NY), 4,8,8.

USATT Team Match

USATT made time and table space available for the first ever East vs. West league match, between the NYTTL of New York City and the BATTF of the Bay Area in California. (Hopefully someone who was there can write a more extensive write-up.) Results:

BATTF d. NYTTL, 6-3

1. Shen Hailong (BATTF) d. Mauricio Vergara (NYTTL), 3,3,11

2. Li Yu Xiang (NYTTL) d. Anal Kashyap (BATTF), -5,4,-6,6,6

3. Maggie Meng Tian (BATTF) d. Philippe Dassonval (NYTTL), 5,8,6

4. Li Yu Xiang (NYTTL) d. Shen Hailong (BATTF), 10,-5,9,-11,4

5. Maggie Meng Tian (BATTF) d. Mauricio Vergara (NYTTL), 1,1,8

6. Anal Kashyap (BATTF) d. Philippe Dassonval, 3,11,10

7. Maggie Meng Tian (BATTF) d. Li Yu Xiang (NYTTL), 6,-9,6,-8,9

8. Philippe Dassonval (NYTTL) d. Shen Hailong (BATTF), def.

9. Anal Kashyap (BATTF) d. Mauricio Vergara (NYTTL), 4,4,8

Over 30

Shao Yu (NY) dominated the event, defeating Tri Dinh (CA) in the final, 2,8,6. In the semifinals, Shao defeated Niraj Oak (TX), 6,107, while Tri defeated Srinivasan Ramanathan (MI), -5,14,3,10.

Over 75

George Brathwaite (NY) wins the event without losing a game, defeating Fran Suran (CA) in the semifinals, 6,6,5, and Jack Howard (NV) in the final, 9,10,7.

Boys 13 & Under

Charles Deng (TX) lost a game 11-2 in the first round to Arjun Desai (CA) before winning at 2,2,-2,4, and doesn’t lose another game in the event, winning his next four matches at 3,10,6,5,9,6,7,9,5, and the final over Ethan Jin (GA), 6,12,9. Ethan Jin won the battle of the Ethans in the semifinals over Ethan Chua (CA), 7,9,7.

Girls 13 & Under

Prachi Jha (Ca) only lost one game in winning the event, to Erica Tran (CA) in the semifinals, 8,5,-8,2. In the final, Prachi defeated Emmy Cheng (CA), 3,5,3. Emmy had a battle in her semis, defeating Tina Wang (TX), -9,8,-5,7,8.

Boys’ 10 & Under

Top-seeded Kanak Jha (CA) never had to even go deuce in the event, winning all four of his matches 3-0. In the final, he defeated Timothy Cheng (IN), 7,7,8. In the semis, Kanak defeated Newman Cheng (CA), 5,7,7, while Timothy defeated Michael Li (MD), 9,6,9.

Girls 10 & Under

The semis and final were tightly contested here. In one semifinals, top-seeded Diane Jiang (CA) defeated Joy Li (TX), 8,3,-9,-9,12. In the other semifinals, second-seeded Amy Wang (NJ) defeated Hannah Tong (CA), 9,-13,-7,8,6. In the final, the top seed won, Diane over Amy, -8,6,13,6.

Under 2100

Manuel Adomo Caraballo (PR) mostly romped in the event, defeating junior Aashay Patel (CA) in the final, 4,6,2. Aashay may have been a bit tired, as he struggled through three straight five-gamers to reach the final! Manuel earlier also won Under 2000.

Under 1900

Winning Under 1800 and Under 3700 Doubles wasn’t enough for junior Theodore Tran (CA), who also took Under 1900, though it wasn’t easy. In the final he defeated Alan Tanti (CA)—and if that’s a familiar name, it’s because that’s who he defeated in the Under 1800 final and paired up with to win Under 3700 Doubles. The two practice together at the Grace Lin club, and the results are impressive. After winning 3-0 last time, this time Theodore pulled it out at -9,5,11,-7,7. Alan had an interesting semifinal match against Pierce Scott (OH), 0,-2,-9,5,5! Yes, he wins the first at zero, the loses the next at 2, and goes five games. In the other semifinals, Theodore defeats Nathaniel Chu (CA), 9,11,-8,9, so Nathaniel...

Under 1700

...wins Under 1700, over Tharindu Abey (NV), 8,9,10. Nathaniel barely beat Kevin Wei (CA) in one semifinal, -7,-8,10,11,3, while Tharindu won over Guo Qi (NJ), 9,-2,8,10, who might have been bit tired after winning Under 1300 and Under 1400 and making the final of Under 1600.

Under 1600/Over 40

Constantin Papayanopoulos (NY) defeated Mike Sturtevant (CA) in the final, 6,-8,9,5.

Under 1200

Seyed Hamrahian (OH) lost in the Under 1100 final, but he made up for it by winning here, winning the final in five over Byron White (MI), 7,7,-9,-8,3. Seyed won his semifinal over Xie Tianming (TX), 5,8,5, while Byron had to battle to win in his against Tri Huynh (CA), 4,-5,8,-10,10.

Under 1100

Aniket Matharasi (TX) came from behind to win in the final over Seyed Hamrahian (OH), -7,-7,7,4,12.

Wheelchair Open

Stuart Ronald Caplin, a finalist last year, this time won the event, defeating Pam Fontaine in the final, 13,-6,9,8.

Standing Open

In the final round robin, Samuel Huang came in first at 4-0, with Norman Bass in second, 3-1.

Men’s Singles Quarterfinals & Semifinals . . . Sort of

By Larry Hodges

The walkout is definitely worth a separate page.

Awards at the USA Nationals

By Larry Hodges

After the women’s semifinals, there was an awards ceremony. The award winners were:

The NATE WASSERMAN Memorial Scholarship Award went to eight juniors, with the results determined from the Junior Single & Team Trials held earlier. The winners were:

Boys: 1^st Peter Li, $1000; 2^nd Michael Landers $500; 3^rd Alexander Yao $100; 4^th Yahao Zhang $50.

Girls: 1^st Natalie Sun $1000; 2^nd Ariel Hsing $500; 3^rd Lily Zhang $100; 4^th Anne Deng $50.

Kagin Lee was given the Excellence in Umpiring Award.

Dan Seemiller was surprised with special award for his ten years of service as the U.S. Men’s Coach.

Allen Barth was given a special award for his 22 years as National Tournament Director. The award was a western art piece by Michael Garman.

Women’s Singles Quarterfinals

By Larry Hodges

The quarterfinals were a clash of four experienced players and four up-and-coming juniors. It’s almost unfortunate, from an aesthetic point of view, that they weren’t drawn up in all four quarters as experience versus youth.

In one quarterfinal, Ariel Hsing (CA, 2442, age 14) and Lily Zhang (CA, 2366, age 13) squared off in a battle of blistering backhands and put-away forehands between junior practice partners from the Bay Area in California. Many points started with Lily opening with her strong backhand loop, then Ariel would go after it with her backhand hitting, and then they’d bang it out at speeds far beyond those of mortal men. (They aren’t men.) Lily led 9-8 in the first, but lost three straight points. Arial won game two, 11-7, and Lily returned the favor, winning game three 11-7. In game four, Lily led 10-9, but Ariel won 13-11. In the fifth, Ariel led 8-4, then was down 8-9 and 9-10 before winning the game and match, 9,-7,7,11,10.

In possibly the most interesting quarterfinal, Amy Feng (MD, 2438), the 1992-95 USA Women’s Singles Champion, playing in her first USATT tournament since 2000 (or pretty much any other), took on junior Anne Deng (TX, 2349, age 15). After lefty Amy won game one, Anne won the next two easily. (Did Anne know who she was playing?) Amy won game four at deuce, got clobbered by Anne in game five at 3, but took insurmountable leads of 9-2 and 10-6 before (you guessed it) losing the game and match, -6,7,6,-10,3,10. Said Amy, “I need to play more tournaments if I want to play well.”

The other two quarterfinals were a bit more straightforward. Gao Jun (MD, 2657) defeated still another Bay Area California junior, Natalie Sun (CA, 2296, age 13), 6,2,6,6. Great rallies, but not many can get through the Great Wall of Gao’s pips-out penhold blocking. And Jasna Rather (TX, 2407) defeated penholder Diane Chen (CA, 2297), 9,4,7,4.

In the semifinals, Gao Jun will play Anne Deng, and Jasna Rather will play Ariel Hsing.

Junior Boys and Girls

By Larry Hodges

Junior Girls’ Singles & Team Trials

Here are the results of the 2009 USA Junior Girls Singles & Team Trials Final Round Robin, with the top four making the USA National Junior Team:

1. Natalie Sun (CA, 2296), 6-1

2. Ariel Hsing (CA, 2442), 6-1

3. Lily Zhang (CA, 2366), 5-2

4. Anne Deng (TX, 2349), 5-2

5. Erica Wu (CA, 2186), 3-4

6. Prachi Jha (CA, 1939), 2-5

7. Jasmine Nguyen (CA, 1837), 1-6

8. Annie Guo (NY, 2045), 0-7

Junior Boys’ Singles & Team Trials

Here are the results of the 2009 USA Junior Boys Singles & Team Trials Final Round Robin, with the top four making the USA National Junior Team:

1. Peter Li (MD, 2456), 7-0

2. Michael Landers (NY, 2361), 5-2

3. Alexander Yao (MO, 2306), 5-2

4. Yahao Zhang (CO, 2421), 5-2

5. Grant Li (MA, 2265), 3-4

6. Marcus Jackson (MD, 2549), 2-5

7. Charles Deng (TX, 2250), 1-6

8. Brian Chen (CA, 2081), 0-7

Saturday Events #1

By Larry Hodges

Frank Caliendo and Samson Dubina Exhibition

As noted yesterday, Frank Caliendo and Samson Dubina played an exhibition this morning in the main area. Amongst much clowning around, and with Samson spotting 5 points in game two, and 6 points in the last three games, Samson won, 3,-5,-8,7,9. There’s no question Frank’s a pretty good player, about 1400, with a nice backhand hit. He also had some nice smashing points against Samson’s lobs, though inevitably the unmissing Samson won those points.

Frank learned to play while growing up in Waukesha, Wisconsin. His dad—a former minor league baseball player—liked to play, and taught Frank and his brother, Rico, to play. Frank’s dad even played regularly at a club with the Lonergans: Terry, Brian, and future 2550 player Sean Lonergan. Frank said he hit with Sean at least once, when Sean was about 14.

Hardbat Singles

Once again it was Trevor Runyan (CA) winning, and once again without losing a game. This year’s finalist—he seems to play someone different every time—was Johnard Baldonado, a chopper originally from Germany with a USATT rating of 2409, to Trevor’s 2458. In the final, two games were close, but Trevor won 21-14, 21-19, 21-19. Trevor’s now won five straight Hardbat National Championships—three straight Nationals, two straight U.S. Opens. I don’t have complete results handy, but as near as I can tell (and Trevor can remember), he hasn’t lost a game in the last three. (Side note—I was at the USATT Coaching Seminar and so missed the final, and so can’t give a more extensive report.)

Over 60 Men’s Singles

Jiri Hlava (MA, 2203) defended his title, defeating David Sakai (MD, 2256) in the final, -10,7,4,8. Hlava had a scare in the eighths, where he defeated Mark Radom (MD, 1913) at 11,6,-6,-10,12.