(by Steve Hopkins, photo USATT)

The top four seeds reached the Semifinals of Women’s Singles at the ITTF-Americas Cup in San Francisco.  To that point, things proceeded as expected with top seeded Bruna Takahashi of Brazil advancing without losing a game, and second seeded Lily Zhang almost mirroring that success winning 8 games and only losing 1.

Amy Wang, the fourth seed, turned the script on its ear.  She fought to a 13-11 win in the first game to take the early lead.  Wang then dominated the second 11-3 to take a 2-0 lead.  Takahashi had a great third game, winning 11-3.  After that, the two traded blows, finishing each game even – but at the last moment in both of those final two games it was Amy Wang pulling ahead.  Game 4 went to Wang 15-13, and the fifth game went to Wang 12-10.  It was hard-fought, but the top seed went down 4-1, launching the fourth seed into the Finals.

In the other half of the draw, Lily Zhang took care of business.  She defeated the third seeded Mo Zhang 4-0, advancing to face Wang.    The Final followed a similar script to the Semifinal for Amy Wang.  She won the first two games, one with a very narrow 14-12 score.  Then the two players had a series of tight games.  After six games, the two were tied 3-3 with Wang seemingly the better player in both service and power – but with Zhang showing poise and consistency.  The final game was all about Wang’s power.  She started strong and was up 5-3 at the turn, but then ran off 6 points in a row finishing strong with an 11-3 score.  Amy Wang is our America’s Cup Champion.

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