South Bend, IN · April 12-13, 2003
By Larry Hodges
6,5,7,3,6,8,7,3,2,9,9,-9,-8,7,8,5,6,6,6,5,3,6,2,7,6,9,10,3,1,8,6,8,9,6,9,7,5,6,7,9,9,3,9,2,6,9,6,7,4,6,8.
These were the scores Mark Hazinski racked up in winning all five events he was entered in: Open Singles, Open Doubles (with Dan Seemiller), Men’s U.S. Pro Tour, Under 18 Boys, and Under 4100 Doubles (with Nicole Lynch). Final match record: 14-0! In fact, except for the two games he lost to Seemiller in the Men’s Pro Tour Final (after he was already up 3-0), he didn’t lose a game in the tournament, with a game record of 49-2! Total prize money won: $1475.
Mark
Hazinski in action at the St. Joseph Valley Open. Photo by John Oros ©2003.
Hazinski, who practices 5-6 times each week at the South Bend TTC, mostly with Dan Seemiller, Mark Nordby and Jared Lynch, said he has been focusing on his receive game a lot, working especially on his short game, heavy pushes, and variation. He said he’s also doing a lot of random drills. One result of this training: Hazinski and his three practice partners were the four semifinalists at the first Men’s event in the new U.S. Pro Tour, here at the St. Joseph Valley Open! These four all had excellent tournaments, winning eight events and making the final of three more.
253 players on 36 tables battled it out in the 25 events at the 39th running of the St. Joseph Valley Open. It was a first-class event, run at the Indiana University Gym, with good conditions and grippy wooden floors. As mentioned, it was also the first running of the new USATT Pro Tour events for U.S. citizens. (This is sponsored by the USATT’s Elite Committee, which puts up $3000 for each U.S. Pro Tour event, with the tournament directors required to put up an additional $1500.) It was somewhat disappointing that many of the top U.S. players did not attend the tournament, but that was mostly a timing issue, since the tournament took place right soon after the USA Team Trials and the Quaker City Open, and many were resting or taking a break.
Top seeded in Open Singles and Doubles (with Sasa Drinic) and the Men’s Pro Tour was Ilija Lupulesku – but the day before, he dropped out, apparently because of a back problem. This moved hometown favorite Hazinski to top seed in all three events, as well as in Under 18 Boys.
Hazinski won this first running of the new Men’s Pro Tour relatively easily. He wasn’t challenged before the final, with the draw relatively weak, with a big drop in rating from the top two seeds (Hazinski and Seemiller, rated 2609 and 2508) and the third and fourth seeds (Rich Burnside and Samson Dubina, rated 2327 and 2317), with several players in the 2200 to 2300 range right behind them. However, both Burnside and Dubina were upset, with Burnside losing to Jared Lynch (2285) in the quarterfinals (7,10,-13,5,7, in a match where nearly every rally was 7-8 shots long, and one of Lynch’s best weapons was a deceptive dead loop), and Dubina losing to Andy Cochran (2057) in the 8ths, 8,-7,7,-3,-9,13,10. In this last match, Dubina led 10-7 match point in the seventh before losing five in a row in this $300 match to Cochran. (Another $300 match this round: John Leach’s 13-11 in the seventh win over Aaron Avery.) Interestingly, Samson’s sister, Amanda Dubina (rated 1903, and the Under 18 Girls’ champion and Women’s Pro Tour semifinalist here) had defeated Minnesota’s prodigy, 12-year-old Nathaniel “Ming” Curran (1862, but apparently even better in the Asian game of “Go”), who had defeated Cochran, who defeated Samson – giving Amanda the bragging rights at the dinner table for this tournament.
When Mark Nordby (2264) defeated Cochran in the quarterfinals, that left the South Bend TTC foursome of Hazinski, Seemiller, Nordby (who splits his time between Chicago and South Bend) and Lynch in the semifinals. (Cochran is also from South Bend.) At that point, reality hit, and it was on to the final for Hazinski and Seemiller.
In the final – against his coach, Seemiller (yes, they play for real when they meet), he easily went up 3-0. However, Seemiller won the next two games, and went up 6-4 in the sixth before Hazinski went on a 7-1 run to end the possibility of a seventh and final game, 2,9,9,-9,-8,7. Hazinski dominated most points with his two-winged looping, with his backhand loop to Seemiller’s forehand especially effective. However, it was his return of serve that sets him up for these shots. When he’s able to match, or nearly match, Seemiller’s receives, he dominates the rallies with pure two-winged steady power. Seemiller’s return of serve is probably his strength, he can block better than anyone at the tournament, and his forehand loop is still almost as strong as Hazinski’s, but in these days of speed-glue looping, Seemiller’s blocking can’t keep up with Hazinski’s two-winged looping.
“It’s tough playing Dan, he knows my game so well,” Hazinski said. “We’ve played so many times before. I have to attack first, get him blocking, and then basically try to overpower him.”
The Women’s Pro Tour event was
dominated by Jasna Reed, seeded #1 by nearly 400 points. Reed defeated Marta
Bastrzyk in the final, 4,9,7,9. Bastrzyk (2026) had “upset” second-seeded
Laura Leach (2044) in the semifinals, 5,6,-8,-9,8,14. Leach played well this
tournament, upsetting Richard DeWitt (2226) and having a match point on this
writer (2238) – who had to come back from down 2-0 and win a lobbing point
from down match point down in the third to win!
The Open draw moved up a notch in level, with non-USA citizens Sasa Drinic, Keith Evans, Khaled Zeine, Wang Chen, and Canadians Xavier Therien and Anson Bispham added to the draw. (So only two of the top eight seeds in the Open were in the Men’s Pro Tour.) These six, along with Hazinski and Seemiller, were the top eight seeds. Seven of them made it to the Quarterfinals. Falling by the wayside was forehand-looping, backhand long-pips blocking Zeine. Against another local favorite Jared Lynch, Zeine lost the first, but seemed to have no trouble with Lynch for two games, winning them easily. But from there on it was mostly Lynch, pulling out the match at 8,-5,-3,8,8,10. (In the last game, Lynch led 7-0, then was down 9-8 before winning 12-10.) Lynch also had made the semifinals of the Men’s Pro Tour, not a bad tournament for the 2285-rated 19-year-old! Lynch said he had been practicing in South Bend about five days a week since December, mostly with Hazinski, Seemiller and Nick Enz (and with Mark Nordby when he’s in town, with Nordby and Seemiller coaching him in tournaments). He’s taking a year off before going to college, and is practicing table tennis and working at a woodworking company that belongs to Minnesota player Nate Troyer’s family. Of his match with Zeine, he said, “I was able to get the first attack by spinning, get him to block, then I could rip my forehand. I sometimes had to spin three or four balls in a row to find one to rip. By attacking first, and by attacking his pips over and over, I was able to stop his attack, which is pretty strong. He also had some trouble with my serves.”
In the quarterfinals, three of the matches went as seeded, but two of them were battles. The upset was Keith Evans (2373) over Xavier Therien (2514). The key, according to Evans, was to “…stay in the point, and find the right strategy at the end of each game.” Find the right strategy in the close ones was the key, as he won at 9,9,9,-6,6. It was a great match to watch as Evans was off the table fishing against Therien’s attack close to half the points – a strategy that worked both because Therien is more of a control player, and because Evans took full advantage of his 6'3" frame – nothing was out of his reach. Evans also pulled off some tremendous off-the-table backhand counterloops that completely caught Therien off guard.
Three local players played this round. Lynch went down to Sasa Drinic (2568), 9,7,8,3. Anson Bispham (2351) scored six in a row to win game five against Seemiller from down 10-6 – but couldn’t do it again when down 10-6 in the final game as Seemiller won, 9,9,-9,7,-10,6. And Hazinski played a tremendous match against Wang Chen (2513), fresh off her upsets of David Zhuang and Atanda Musa the weekend before in Philadelphia.
Wang plays with pips on the backhand, and attacks relentlessly from both wings. She can smash and loop equally well on the forehand, but in this match, it was her backhand attack that seemingly kept Hazinski in trouble. Yet Hazinski was able to continue spinning backhands against these hits to stay in the points – and was able to attack at the key points to win three games from 9-all. Match to Hazinski, 9,9,3,9. “She serves mostly deep,” said Hazinski, “and so I’d spin her serve. She’d usually block hard with her backhand pips to my backhand, and I’d spin my backhand until I found a chance to rip a forehand. She couldn’t quite get past me with her backhand hitting.”
Hazinski continued his surge, defeating Keith Evans, 2,6,9,6, whose fishing simply wasn’t as effective against the powerful loops of Hazinski, and who wasn’t able to stop Hazinski from attacking after his serve. Interestingly, both of these players are 6'3". In the other semifinal, Dan Seemiller faced Sasa Drinic – both of whom are about 5'8". The key stage of this match was late in the fourth game. The first three games had all been 11-9, with Drinic winning the first two, Seemiller the last. In the fourth, Drinic led 10-8, but Seemiller pulled off a leaping backhand smash and a serve & loop to reach deuce. Seemiller had one ad – 12-11, where one point would have evened the match – but Drinic pulled the game out, 14-12, to go up 3-1 in games, and win 9,5,-7,12,5.
This was a vintage counterlooping match, as each player fought to loop first, and to counterloop if the other did loop. The match was highlighted by one of the best counterlooping points you’ll ever see, early in the first game. It went forehand to forehand, with both absolutely ripping it back at wider and wider angles. Hazinski suddenly ripped one to the middle, but Drinic unhesitatingly absolutely pulverized a backhand loop, inside-out, to Hazinski’s wide forehand that Hazinski could only watch go by. However, that was Drinic’s high point, as Hazinski would win the match rather easily, 7,4,6,8, and so win the Open without losing a game. Hazinski was successful in his strategy, which was to “…attack first, and go after his middle.”
There was some nostalgia in the 8ths of the Under 2375 event, where Cory Eider defeated Dave Sakai in a crowd-stopping 19 in the fifth – something you don’t see often in 11-point games! Eider would go on to win the event.
The Over 40 and Hardbat events were both won by Dan Seemiller, who didn’t lose a game in either event. The four semifinalists for the two events were the same, with Seemiller defeating Keith Evans in the Over 40 final, and this writer in the Hardbat final. Mitch Seidenfeld – the world dwarf champion – was in the semifinals of both (as well as three other events – see below!), losing to Seemiller in both events. Evans defeated this writer in the Over 40, but the result was reversed in hardbat, where Hodges was relieved to be free of Evan’s serve & loop game.
In the Under 2500 event, Canadian Anson Bispham defeated Khaled Zeine, 11-9 in the fifth in the final; Zeine defeated Rich Burnside, 11-9 in the fifth in the semifinals; Burnside defeated Samson Dubina, 11-9 in the fifth in the quarterfinals (from down 2-0).
A big thank you for this class event
goes to sponsors Butterfly and Newmar Corp., to Indiana University, to the
tournament staff (Virgil Miller award winner Phil Schmucker – for volunteer
service to the sport of table tennis; Chris Williams, Brad Balmer, Jason Denman,
Jerry Goeller, Jim Lynch, and Dan & Val Seemiller), to Berndt Mann (who
donated the $350 in prize money for the hardbat event), and to the city of South
Bend, a great place to live or to visit.
· Mark Hazinski … five events, five firsts….
· Dan Seemiller, who won Open Doubles (with Hazinski), Over 40 and Hardbat, made the final of the Men’s Pro Tour and Under 3500 Doubles (with son, Dan Jr., who also made the final of Under 1000), and made the semifinals of the Open … not a bad result for the 48-year-old! Total winnings: $1215.
· Mark Nordby, who won Under 3500 Doubles (with 9-year-old A.J. Brewer), made the final of Under 2375, and the semifinals of both the Men’s Pro Tour and Under 2500. Total winnings: $650.
· Jared Lynch, who made the semifinals of the Men’s Pro Tour and Open Doubles (with Samson Dubina) and the Quarterfinals of the Open and Under 2500. Total winnings: $580.
· Nicole Lynch, who won Under 4100 Doubles (with Hazinski), and made the final of Under 18 Girls and Under 1500.
· Keith Evans, who made the final of Over 40, and the semifinals of the Open and Hardbat.
· Cory Eider, who won Under 2375, and made the final of Under 2250.
· Andy Cochran, who won Under 2250 (along the way winning two matches 11-9 in the fifth, and another 11-8 in the fifth), and had the big upset win over Samson Dubina.
· Mitch Seidenfeld, who was in Five (5!) semifinals: Over 40, Hardbat, Under 2375, Under 2250, and Under 4100 Doubles (with Nathaniel “Ming” Curran). He was also in the quarterfinals of the Men’s Pro Tour. (Seidenfeld is the long-time World Dwarf Champion.)
· Anson Bispham, who won Under 2500, made the final of Open Doubles (with Xavier Therien), and the quarterfinals of the Open.
· Gurhan Gunduz, who won Under 2000 and made the final of Under 4100 Doubles (with Zuchi Algaa).
· Algaa Zuchi, who won Under 1875, made the final of Under 4100 Doubles (with Gurhan Gunduz), and (with a rating of 1803) made the semifinals of Under 2250!
·
John Leach, who won Under 14, made the semifinals of Under
18 (where he met up with Hazinski), and won the first Gordon Barclay Award for
junior players who exhibit dedication to the sport and good sportsmanship.
Results
Open Singles – Final: Mark Hazinski d. Sasa Drinic, 7,4,6,8; SF: Hazinski d. Keith Evans, 2,6,9,6; Drinic d. Dan Seemiller, 9,5,-7,12,5; QF: Hazinski d. Wang Chen, 9,9,3,9; Drinic d. Jared Lynch, 9,7,8,8; Seemiller d. Anson Bispham, 9,9,-9,7,-10,6; Evans d. Xavier Therien, 9,9,9,-6,6; 8ths: Hazinski d. Javier Sanchez-Mir, 7,5,6,7; Wang d. Rich Burnside, 6,8,-10,7,6; Evans d. Rich DeWitt, -4,5,9,7,8; Xavier d. Mark Nordby, def.; Seemiller d. John Leach, 4,6,7,5; Bispham d. Ping Lu, -9,4,9,7,8; Lynch d. Khaled Zeine, 8,-5,-3,8,8,10; Drinic d. Aaron Avery, 4,5,8,9.
Open Doubles – Final: Mark Hazinski/Dan Seemiller d. Xavier Therien/Anson Bispham, 7,6,9.
U.S. Men’s Pro Tour – Final: Mark Hazinski d. Dan Seemiller, 2,9,9,-9,-8,7; SF: Hazinski d. Mark Nordby, 6,8,7,3; Seemiller d. Jared Lynch, 9,12,9,8; QF: Hazinski d. John Leach, 6,5,7,3; Nordby d. Andy Cochran, -9,8,14,-7,9,9; Lynch d. Rich Burnside, 7,10,-13,5,7; Seemiller d. Mitch Seidenfeld, 4,5,10,6.
U.S. Women’s Pro Tour – Final: Jasna Reed d. Marta Bastrzyk, 4,9,7,9; SF: Reed d. Amanda Dubina, 1,4,6,5; Bastrzyk d. Laura Leach, 5,6,-8,-9,8,14; QF: Reed d. Ann Powalski, 3,3,7,1; Dubina d. Sherri Wilson, 8,5,7,9; Bastrzyk d. Ping Poulsen, 8,6,10,3; Leach d. Jennifer Mast, -5,3,6,5,-8,6.
Hardbat – Final: Dan Seemiller d. Larry Hodges, 6,9,8; SF: Seemiller d. Mitch Seidenfeld, 6,5,8; Hodges d. Keith Evans, 6,1,5.
Over 40 – Final: Dan Seemiller d. Keith Evans, 2,8,5; SF: Seemiller d. Mitch Seidenfeld, def.; Evans d. Larry Hodges, 9,7,9; QF: Seemiller d. Brian Bartley, 5,4,2; Seidenfeld d. Paul Pashuku, 4,8,8; Hodges d. Greg Miller, 3-0; Evans d. Tom Dannenfelser, 8,7,8.
Over 50 – Final: Dave Sakai d. Ross Brown, 7,5,3; SF: Sakai d. Tom Dannenfelser, 5,8,6; Brown d. Berndt Mann, def.; QF: Sakai d. Don Feltenberger, 4,5,6; Dannenfelser d. Bruce Harris, 8,-9,7,-6,8; Brown d. Marion Sosnowski, -5,9,6,8; Mann d. Russ Forthofer, 5,-6,5,1.
Under 18 Boys – Final: Mark Hazinski d. Joseph Podvin, 3,6,2; SF: Hazinski d. John Leach, 6,6,5; Podvin d. Michael Mast, 6,8,7; QF: Hazinski d. Andrew Knips, 8,5,6; Leach d. Nathaniel Curran, 3,6,7; Mast d. Gordon Cochran, -8,10,-4,9,3; Podvin d. Eric Leventhal, -4,-7,3,3,10.
Under 14 Boys – Final: John Leach d. Joey Cochran, n.s.; SF: Leach d. Nathaniel Curran, 9,4,8; Cochran d. Shelby Lane, 2,9,2; QF: Leach d. Arthur Kheyfets, -9,5,2,5; Curran d. Munkhbold Bayarsaikhan, 13,10,6; Lane d. A.J. Brewer, 6,9,-9,9; Cochran d. Anders Truelson, 4,3,5.
Under 18 Girls – Final: 1st Amanda Dubina, 2-0 ( d. Lynch, 8,7,3; d. Mast, -4,7,5,9); 2nd Nicole Lynch, 1-1 (d. Mast, 4,9,-9,7); 3rd Jennifer Mast, 0-2.
U2500 – Final: Anson Bispham d. Khaled Zeine, -10,5,-8,8,9; SF: Bispham d. Mark Nordby, -7,10,8,11; Zeine d. Rich Burnside, 9,-9,7,10,9; QF: Burnside d. Samson Dubina, -3,-11,8,9,9; Bispham d. Jared Lynch, -10,9,3,7; Nordby d. Jason Miller, 5,11,5; Zeine-bye.
U2375 – Final: Cory Eider d. Mark Nordby, 8,6,8; SF: Eider d. Mitch Seidenfeld, 2,11,-9,5; Nordby d. Rich DeWitt, 11,6,8.
U2250 – Final: Andy Cochran d. Cory Eider, 8,-4,4,10; SF: Cochran d. Algaa Zuchi, 8,9,-8,-9,9; Eider d. Mitch Seidenfeld, 7,3,-10,4.
U2125 – Final: Don Hamilton d. Nick Snider, 7,6,5; SF: Hamilton d. James Van Eizenga, 6,11,-5,5; Snider d. Javier Sanchez-Mir, 7,8,8.
U2000 – Final: Gurhan Gunduz d. Brian Bartley, 5,6,5; SF: Gunduz d. Nick Snider, 8,-6,9,-3,8; Bartley d. Dave Skrzypek, 3,7,-11,2.
U1875 – Final: Algaa Zuchi d. Jim Dawson, 9,8,8; SF: Algaa d. Pawel Gluchowski, 5,-9,6,9; Dawson d. Brian Fowler, 8,5,-9,-8,12.
U1750 – Final: David Racki d. Shelby Lane, -2,7,6,4; SF: Racki d. Rick Brown, 8,6,7; Lane d. Kristin Kuchenbecker, 10,2,8.
U1625 – Final: Royce Wong d. Xin Bu, 10,11,6; SF: Wong d. Alan Pruce, 6,5,8; Bu d. Adel Dhanani, 2,8,9.
U1500 – Final: Marion Sosnowski d. Nicole Lynch, 9,9,9; SF: Sosnowski d. Kyle Nyoste, n.s.; Lynch d. Ping Poulsen, n.s.
U1350 – Final: Jan Meier d. Kevin Schulz, 8,4,11; SF: Meier d. Rich Buttenhoft, n.s.; Schulz d. Frank Matlon, 7,9,3.
U1200 – Final: Alex Pham d. Matt Potter, 8,9,9; SF: Pham d. Kyle Nyeste, -6,12,9,10; Potter d. Eric Montgomery, 5,4,5.
U1000 – Final: Eric Montgomery d. Dan Seemiller, Jr., 10,5,3; SF: Montgomery d. Sean Scott, -8,9,9,13; Seemiller d. Jonathan Lo, -7,6,9,6.
U4100 Doubles – Final: Mark Hazinski/Nicole Lynch d. Gurhan Gunduz/Algaa Zuchi, 9,6,9; SF: Hazinski/Lynch d. Mitch Seidenfeld/Nathaniel Curran, 8,6,8; Gunduz/Algaa d. John Leach/Chris Leach, 4,9,6.
U3500 Doubles – Final: Mark Nordby/A.J. Brewer d. Dan Seemiller/Dan Seemiller, Jr., -6,7,-5,5,6; SF: Nordby/Brewer d. Elie Khoury/Subramaniyan Ayyappan, 6,6,13; Seemiller/Seemiller d. Cory Eider/Matt Potter, 6,7,3.
Gordon Barclay Award (to the junior player who exhibits dedication to the sport and good
sportsmanship): John Leach.
Virgil Miller Award (for volunteer service to the sport of table tennis): Phil Schmucker.
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