 Today is the last day of the Nationals and thus will climax with the Open finals tonight at the "stadium" court. But before that Stan and I have some unfinished business in the U1900 event. Wouldn't it be great if we could meet in the final that afternoon? Certainly --- but there is a lot of work to do before that will happen.
We have to check in early since our first match is scheduled for
9am. The shuttle bus just does get us there on time. You really
have to plan on waiting for the next bus some hour and a half before
your scheduled match to be assured of making it on time. Anyway in
checking out my draw for this event, I anticipated that this is the
round in which I would finally play someone with a USATT rating
higher than myself.
Only when I checked in, I found that this wouldn't be the case. I
would be playing Stephanie Chow --- previously with the Concord
Table Tennis Club (CTTC) youth program but now coached by Masaaki
Tajima of the Sunset Table Tennis Club. Coach Tajima has coached a
number of local youths --- the most successful of his students
probably being Misha Kazantzev.
Stephanie's USATT rating was just 1603 entering this tournament but
her play in it would warrant a pre-tournament adjustment to 1880 ---
so that should give you an idea that this was not going to be an
easy match for me. However, I was feeling confident at the time.
My only experiences playing against her were both in doubles and
both resulted in wins for me.
In the Golden State Open in Concord earlier this year she paired
with her younger brother David against Tetsuro Hirouji and myself in
the U3400 doubles where Tetsuro and I had prevailed in a match that
went deuce in the fifth. And in the California Open at Stanford
just a couple of months ago she had paired with Surya Allamsetty
against Qingman Liu and myself in the U3200 doubles where Qingman
and I also prevailed --- again in a five game match.
However, I had played her brother in a singles event at this year's
Golden State Open and was able to beat him in three straight games
--- although the games got closer as the match progressed. I
thought that David was the stronger of this sibling pair, and that
is why I was feeling confident going into the match.
I wasn't even that concerned when I lost the first game 11-9. I
fell behind early and just wasn't able to quite complete the
comeback. Stephanie goes over to chat with her coach between
games when I hear my name called. I turn around and who did I see
but Wade Sun -- a friend of mine that I had known first at IBM and
who had played out of the Palo Alto Table Tennis Club until he had
moved back to San Diego a couple of years ago. He motions me to
come over to him and I oblige.
He advises me not to fall back from the table as her angled forehand
loop was killing me when I did that. Good advice but advice that
will be hard for me to follow given my instincts. Still I was glad
to receive it. It felt good to have someone in my corner ---
especially during the time Stephanie was receiving her coaching from
Coach Tajima. Otherwise, I would just have to wait around awkwardly
at the table for them to finish their discussion before beginning
the next game. And this is true even if he is only here because his
upcoming U2100 match is next on this table --- which he is.
In any event, I take the next game --- but just barely at 13-11 to
tie the match at 1-1.
I am getting somewhat concerned now. I was a whisker from falling
behind 2-0 in this match. My serve is a bit tentative and thus not
as effective as it should be. My serves to her forehand are
particularly ineffective. Invariably they are long enough for her
to loop and she does so. And --- as has been true thoughout this
tournament --- I have not been effective in blocking that loop well
enough to maintain control of the point. If the serve is just off
the table, she uses a very spinny loop. If it is longer, she loops
with more force. Although I try to be deceptive with the spin on
that serve, invariably she reads it well and loops with the correct
angle.
My concern about the match increases even more when she wins the
next game 11-8 to lead the match 2-1. I am thankful now for having
pulled out the second game from deuce. Otherwise she would have
beaten me in three straight games. Besides my service game, my
off-the-table countering game is also suffering. Even when I feel I
am in position and have good balance for the shot, far far too often
I am missing it. I can understand why Wade would feel that my
tactic of falling from the table to counter is such a bad one --
what with these results, and all. By this time Stan has joined Wade
in my corner --- having dispatched his opponent in three straight
games.
With their encouragement, I am able to pull myself together enough
to win the next game 11-7 to bring the match to a deciding fifth
game. I had been losing enough points serving to her forehand
previously that in this game I decided against serving her there
altogether. Although this leaves me at a tactical disadvantage
since I am now limited to serving her middle and wide backhand, I
feel her backhand service return has produced enough outright errors
or relative "pop-ups" to justify this. In fact, I feel this tactic
has been successful enough that I again feel good about my chances
--- not as good as I thought prior to this match but better than
before this game.
I am able to take a slight lead early in the final game and maintain
it throughout to lead 10-8 as Stephanie serves. I recollect (at
long last) a successful counter or two in this game was important in
establishing this lead. But to her credit she is able to stave off
the pressure of the two match points and wins both her service
points. We are going to deuce! But there is a happy ending as I
win the next two points to win the match 9-11, 13-11, 8-11, 11-7,
12-10. I am still alive!
The next match for Stan and I will be at noon. I am sure this time
that I will finally be matched up against someone that is rated
higher than me. But when I check in, I found out that I am wrong
once again. I am matched up against Ira Framo, whose rating is just
1803. I begin to think that I might actually have a pretty good
chance of reaching the quarter-finals --- which means that I will
actually be listed in the Nationals results on the USATT web site.
It turns out that Ira is a burly shakehands left-hander. He
is definitely not a junior --- you always have to be wary
of juniors since their skill level increases at a much higher level
than adults since they are still learning the game. During our
warmup I can see he has excellent power in his forehand loop, so I
will have to try to avoid it and watch out for it when it comes
I take a nice lead early on in the first game based primarily on his
unfamiliarity with my services, but he starts to come back. I just
hold on though and win it 11-9. If I can win two more games, I am
into the quarter-finals!
But, of course, it will not be that easy. He absolutely spanks me
in the next two games --- 11-3 and 11-2! My confidence is a bit
shaken. He now reads my service better while I was having
increasing difficulty with his. Once he gets a loose ball in a
rally, he can put me away with his forehand. My lob defense is
totally ineffectual. On the occasions when I can attack with my
forehand, my preferred location for my stroke is crosscourt into his
backhand (since he is lefty) and his block there is excellent. I
suppose he is used to playing against righthanders that
predominantly loop there. His blocks are either more angled or
shorter than I am prepared for and often result in inneffective
returns by me due to my bad positioning which he kills
straightaway.
But I fight hard in the fourth game and do have somewhat better
results, but in the end it is not enough to matter as he wins that
game 11-7 and thus the match 9-11, 11-3, 11-2 and 11-7. Although of
couse I am disappointed, I don't feel too bad because he was just
better than me. Later I would find consolation in the fact that he
went on to reach the finals and actually lead in that match 2-0
before falling in five games --- to one of those rising juniors, no
less. In fact, he did so well throughout the tournament that his
pre-tournament rating was adjusted from 1803 to 1975 and his post
tournament rating was 1997. As it turns out, my loss to him would
only cost two points in my USATT rating instead of the nine or ten
it would have cost if his rating had not been adjusted. Anyway, my
tournament was over now. Time to cruise over and see how Stan was
doing.
I was sort of surprised to see that Stan was still playing his match
when I got there. I had gotten used to him quickly taking apart
most under 2000 opponents --- usually in three straight games. I
was even more surprised when I was told he was actually trailing 2-1
in games. At the same time I was told the sad story of how Stan was
leading the opening game 10-8 with serve ---- only to
promptly miss both serves and eventually the game 13-11.
That was looking very critical now. If he could have held on to win
that game, he would be leading 2-1 now instead of trailing 2-1.
Stan's opponent was a left-handed shakehands two winged looper ---
as mine had been. It didn't look like to me that he was having that
much trouble with Stan's long pips blocks. He was either
controlling the next one well or sometimes even killing it with a
forehand loop drive.
Well, I hadn't been there too long before the match was over. Stan
lost the final game 11-8 and the match 11-13, 8-11, 11-4, and 8-11.
So --- very oddly --- despite what must be considered a fabulously
successful Nationals, Stan doesn't make it as far as the
quarter-finals in any of his five singles events. In fact, the
closest he came to making the quarter-finals was in the U2300 and
U2200 events --- not the U2100, U2000, or U1900 as one would rightly
expect.
Everyone from MSC has now been eliminated. Peter had a nice 3-1
upset win over a 1952 rated player in the morning, but he too had
lost 3-1 in the next round. So there is nothing to do but wait
around for the Open finals coming that evening. Bruce suggests
going to the buffet at the Paris Hotel and I am all for it. Stan,
however, is tired and passes on the buffet and watching the Open
finals that night as well. The next time I will see him will be
much later that night when we are packing to leave early the next
morning --- myself for a 6am flight and him for a long 8-hour drive
back home.
Besides Bruce and myself --- Patrick, Michael, Wade Sun and the
Chengdu contingent (three girls and Guo Xi) go to the buffet. The
price is farly steep at $24/person --- but, ah, this is Paris so
what can you expect? And the champagne is included (for those
members of us old enough to imbibe). But the food was excellent ---
well worth the 1/2 hour or so I remember that we had to wait in
line. The positive thing about that wait and the time it took us to
partake in our first, second, third, fourth ..... platters at the
buffet was that by the time we arrived back at the convention
center, the line had just started forming to get into the stadium
setting where the
Open finals would be held.
When they eventually let us in, Wade Sun suggests sitting in the
"end zone" seats. I defer to his judgement, but I thought ---
wouldn't "50-yard line" seats be better? Aren't those the most
expensive seats at a football game? As it turned out, I very much
enjoyed this vantage point for the matches. For those of you that
have MSCTT group posts automatically sent to your mailbox, you can
see where we all were sitting since a photo of us --- OK it was a
photo of Lupi with us in the background --- was posted on the USATT
website which --- in turn --- Bruce posted on the MSCTT group.
After enduring a short speech by USATT president Sheri Pittman, the
matches began. The first match was a Men's Open Singles semi-final
match between Adam Hugh and Ilija Lupulescu ---better known as Lupi (pronounced
loopy). So youth vs. experience.
Adam has already had a fabulous Men's Open Singles event. He was in
a 6W RR with Cheng Yinghua (the defending champion), David Zhuang
(the finalist last year), Freddie Gabriel, Shao Yu, and Darko Rop
where only the top two in that group would book tickets to the
semi-finals. The obvious expectation would be that Cheng Yinghua
and David Zhuang would be those two. However, Adam repeated his
feat of last year and defeated Cheng Yinghua in six games (matches
are best-of-seven). So although he lost to David Zhuang in six
games, since David lost to Cheng in five games (14-12 in
the 5th!) and these three players went undefeated against all others
in their group --- it was Cheng and Adam advancing.
But even that is not the whole story. Adam had to endure a
nail-biting win over Darko Rop (13-11 in the 6th and 12-10 in the
7th) to make this possible. I was watching this match and will
never forget the ringing CHO! resounding throughout the hall
whenever he took a point. Well, not every point. He did take a
deep breath but stopped himself in time when he got an edge to get
to match point 11-10 in the final game. Perhaps Patrick is onto
something there...
Lupi's path to the semi-finals was not nearly so dramatic. His 6W RR
group included Barney Reed, Eric Owens, Chi-Sun Chui (Patrick's
table tennis coach while he was at MIT), Han Xiao and Mark Hazinski
as well as himself. Only Mark Hazinski was able to avoid a 4-0
whitewash against Lupi in this group --- losing to Lupi in six
games.
I had high hopes that Adam would give Lupi a good match. I was
impressed with his counter-looping ability in his previous matches.
Whenever a point become a counter-looping contest, Adam seemed to
consistently come out on top. He would need this ability against
Lupi --- undoubtedly the best counter-looper and fisher in the
country.
Unfortunately, this didn't materialize. Lupi won easily 11-7, 11-7,
11-4, and 11-7.
I don't recollect many really outstanding points in this match.
Adam's return of serve was consistently not of high enough quality
to prevent Lupi from an opening loop that would eventually --- if
not immediately --- net him the point. Adam himself missed too many
of his openings. Any time the point advanced to anything resembling
a counter-looping rally, Lupi would undoubtedly win it by spinning
everything back until he got one he could really drive where he
would end it.
The next semi-final match was between Cheng Yinghua and Mark
Hazinski --- again youth vs. experience. The defending champion
against this years national U21 Mens's champion (having defeated
Adam Hugh in the finals of that event). However, although it is
only a year after Cheng's title --- this is still significant since
Cheng is now 47 years old!
I have already mentioned how Cheng fared in his RR group --- coming
out 1st from a three way tie for the top in that group. Mark's
route was just as trying. I've already mentioned how Lupi breezed
through to get the top spot in Mark's group. But Mark lost to Han
Xiao (in seven games after leading 3 games to 1) as well as Lupi to
finish 3-2 and in a 3-way tie for 2nd with Barney Reed and Han
Xiao. But Mark defeated Barney 4-1 and Barney defeated Han 4-2, so
Mark finished 2nd, Han 3rd, and Barney 4th. Therefore, has the (mis)fortune
of playing the defending champion.
Cheng opens up well against Mark and takes the first game in a close
one, 11-9. But after that Mark is able to bring his power game to
bear and completely overpowers him in the next three games 11-3,
11-6, and 11-3. Cheng fights back to make a game of it in the next
game but succumbs 12-10 and thus loses the match. It will be
Killerspin compatriots Ilija Lupulescu and Mark Hazinski in the
Men's Open Singles final.
But first comes the Women's Open Singles final. The combatants will
be Jasna Reed and Crystal Huang. Gao Jun is overseas competing in
the World Cup, otherwise the outcome of this event would be an
afterthought.
Jasna and Crystal had advanced to the semi-finals by finishing first
and second, respectively, in their 6W RR group --- which also
included Jackie Lee, Simone Yang, Judy Hugh, and Michelle Do. Each
had finished 4-1 to tie for the top spot, but Jasna had defeated
Crystal 4-2 to claim the tie-breaker. Jasna's loss had come against
Jackie Lee 4-2 (a fabulous win for Jackie who won four straight
games after following behind 2-0), but Jackie had lost to Judy Hugh
as well as Crystal.
It was the loss to Judy which was the critical one for Jackie. If
Jackie had just repeated her victory over Judy that she had posted
earlier in the week in a Women's U21 Singles semi-final (3 games to
zero, I might add), she would have been in a three way tie for the
top spot with Jasna and Crystal. Crystal would have come out on top
in the tie-break, but it would have come down to % of points won
between Jasna and Jackie for the all important 2nd place for a spot
in the semi-finals. But I digress, since Jackie lost to Judy quite
handily 4-0. Of course if Jackie had defeated Crystal she would
have earned the top spot in the group, but that might have been too
much to ask.
The other 6W RR group for the women consisted of Tawny Banh, Lily
Yip, Whitney Ping, Nan Li, Diane Chen, and Heather Wang. Tawny went
undefeated to claim the top spot and Nan Li lost only to Tawny to
claim second. The big win in this group was Nan Li's 4-3 victory
over second seeded Lily Yip --- coming from down 0-3 to do so!
In the cross-over semi-finals, Jasna Reed defeated Nan Li handily
--- 11-6, 11-3, 11-5, and 11-2 while Crystal Huang upset Tawny Banh
10-12, 8-11, 11-9, 11-7, 8-11, 11-6 and 11-3 --- setting up the
Jasna and Crystal final. Due to Crystal's upset of Tawny, this
would actually be a rematch of a match that had occurred earlier in
the RR group.
Crystal had never led in that earlier match and the final starts the
same way with Jasna taking the first game --- this time in a
squeeker 12-10. Crystal had led much of the way so this must have
been a disappointment to her. But as in the earlier match, she
bounces back to take the next game --- this time 11-8 --- so the
match is tied at one game apiece.
But once again Jasna pulls away by taking the third game 11-9 and is
poised to take the title when she repeats with another close 11-9
victory in the fourth game. However Crystal fights back to take the
next two games 11-7 and 11-3, and based on that last score looks to
have all the momentum in her favor as the deciding seventh game
starts. But Jasna recovers and takes the final game 11-6 and thus
the match 12-10, 8-11, 11-9, 11-9, 7-11, 3-11, and 11-6. Jasna just
proved to be bit more consistent with her two-winged looping game.
Crystal seemed to falter a bit at points in the match when it
appeared she had a chance to take control of the match. She played
better when coming from behind --- except in the fateful deciding
game, of course.
So we have now reached the climax of the tournament --- the Men's
Open Singles finals --- between Ilija Lupulescu and Mark Hazinski.
Mark Hazinski will try to be only the second player developed in the
US to win this title since the influx of top nationalized players
began in the mid 90's --- i.e. David Zhuang, Cheng Yinghua, and now
Ilija Lupulescu. The other was Eric Owens --- who took the title in
2001. Eric was back again this year, but would finish just 5th in
his 6W RR group.
Could Mark give Lupi a tough match? Although Lupi had played well
throughout the tournament, the signs looked promising. Mark was the
only one to take any games off Lupi this week --- losing to him 4-2
in their 6W RR group match. Lupi had won his other five matches
4-0. And there is the fact that the two train together wih
Killerspin. In fact, Lupi is Mark's mentor and responsible for
Mark's development at Killerspin. So could this familiarity give us
a good match?
It looks so after the first game --- which Lupi takes but it is
extremely close at 11-9. Mark's serve and attack game is superior
to what Adam had shown and he is not nearly as inconsistent in his
openings. But Lupi is able to hold off Mark's intial surge in the
rallies with consistent and deft topspin and sidespin that invoke
just enough errors out of Mark's game when he attempt to
counter-loop for Lupi to pull out the game. When it is Lupi's
opening that initiates the topspin rally, it is almost certain that
Lupi will win the point. Even when he cannot finish the point with
a powerful loop drive, his spins and placements prevent Mark from
taking control of the point either. Eventually the point ends with
a Lupi loop drive winner --- if the return from Mark isn't missed
first.
But the consistency of Lupi's game only improves and Mark is finding
it tough to get points as Lupi takes the next two games 11-5 and
11-6. The problem is that it is very difficult for Mark to win a
point off of Lupi's serve. It is almost impossible for Mark to
successfully attack Lupi's serves --- but otherwise Lupi will loop
the return and maintains that initial advantage to eventually win
the point. However, Lupi himself is able to open often enough
on Mark's serves to win some of these points. Even when Mark does
open first --- even strongly --- it is getting ever more difficult
for him to penetrate Lupi's off-the-table topspin defense. He
either misses when going for too much or allows Lupi to gain the
initiative when going for too little. A real dilemma!
But Mark uses the energy of the crowd to spur him on in the fourth
game. Of course, the crowd is for Mark since they want to see more
table tennis. If Lupi wins this game, it's over. But in the end it
is to no avail as Lupi wins the game 11-9 and thus the match 11-9,
11-5, 11-6, and 11-9. Lupi has now won the title three of the past
four years --- losing only in the semi-finals last year to David
Zhuang. These are the only four years in which he has been eligible
to play in the US Nationals.
Nothing for me to look forward to now except packing and getting up
at 4am for my ride to the airport for my 6am flight.
EPILOGUE
----------------
So, how did the USATT ratings of the various MSCTTC members fare as
a result of this tournament?:
o Stan Sun: gained 252 points --- from 1870 to 2122
o Peter Tsang: gained 110 points --- from 1731 to 1841
o Mark Johnson: gained 77 points --- from 1814 to 1891
o Patrick Wu gained 3 points --- from 2113 to 2116
o Bruce Liu lost 1 point --- from 1958 to
1957
o Larry Lee lost 4 points --- from 1371 to
1367
o Michael Liu lost 18 points --- from 1801 to
1783
The thing that I take from this experience is a profound respect for
those that have successfully run the gauntlet that is the many
rounds required in this tournament to win a national championship in
the past --- Ming Zhang, Vincent Tai, Simon Ng, and Bruce.
Even when you are playing well, to come out on top against as many
as eight oppoents whose rating is close to yours is extremely
difficult. Just look at the case of Stan. Even he didn't make it
to the quarter-finals in the U1900 event when his true rating was
2100+ --- some 200+ points higher than those competing in that
event. He would have needed four (!) more victories to claim that
event.
That being said --- and also the fact that I was bitterly
disappointed at times with my play --- I still had a good time here
in Las Vegas and am glad I came. I would recommend the experience
to everyone out there.
So, I hope I didn't bore you too much in the reading of this
retrospective. I'd like to say it was a pleasure for me in the
writing --- but it was a heck of a lot of work! I'll have to tone
it down next time --- if there is a next time. Until then...
|