(by Steve Hopkins)
The Finals of Men’s and Women’s Singles (the Men’s Singles Hsing Family event, and the Women’s Singles Hsing Family event) concluded on Wednesday evening. USA’s top ranked player, Kanak Jha, has been crowned US Champion for the seventh time, and 19 year old Sally Moyland has won for the second time. Both players have equaled their success from a year ago as they each repeat as champion.
Jha was dominant this year in San Jose, dropping only two games in early rounds while navigating his way through to the Final. Jha found a real challenge in the final as Nikhil Kumar was relentless in staying ahead as he won the first, third, and fifth game. Each time, Kumar led, Jha answered. And then the momentum shifted to Jha in the second half of the sixth game. By the end of that game, Jha was in a groove, and that continued through the final game. Ultimately, Jha won the final two games 11-4 and 11-3 to close out the match.
Sally Moyland was electric this year. She entered the event as the second seed, and the proceeded to drop only 3 games in the whole event (dropping one game in the 4-1 Semifinal win over Mendy Wang, and winning 4-2 over World No. 45 Amy Wang). Moyland continues to improve, and at just 19 years old, the powerful and dynamic player could be helping to make the United States stronger for the next 10-15 years. Moyland’s Women’s Singles title wasn’t her only singles win – in fact, it was her last of three. Moyland won the U19 Girls Singles and won the U21 Women’s Singles as well – both over Finalist Irene Yeoh. And don’t forget that Moyland teamed with Yeoh for a Women’s Doubles title, teamed with Jishan Liang for a Mixed Doubles title, and teamed with Lilian Ma for a U19 Girls Doubles title. Total dominance with 6 wins – including a clean sweep of the true National Championship events (Women’s Singles, Women’s Doubles, Mixed Doubles).
Ved Sheth won the U21 Men’s Singles title. Daniel Tran won the U19 Boys’ Singles title. Chirag Pradhan, Irene Yao, Emma Yang, Allen Mao, and Mia Yang all won their age events as well. We will follow up with a review of other winners across all of the events in a separate article..
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