(by Steve Hopkins)
Red, white, and blue continued to dominate at the United States Smash over Independence Day weekend, even if our colors weren’t flying under the American banner. The stars and stripes had plenty to celebrate early, as local favorite Kanak Jha had a gritty run. But as we reached the final stages of the tournament, our patriotic color palette persevered through finalists Vladimir Sidorenko (with the traditional white, blue, and red Russian flag), and Sora Matsushima representing the flag with the iconic red sun on the pure white backdrop.
Earlier in the day, Matsushima edged out Felix Lebrun 4-1, in a match that was closer than the score. In fact, three of Matsushima’s four wins were after being tied 10-10. In the other Semifinal, Truls Moregard led 3-1 before Vladimir Sidorenko reeled him back in. Eventually, they reached the seventh game where Sidorenko managed to extend a lead to 7-2. But Moregard fought all the way back to tie the score and in what was a fitting end to the marathon match, Sidorenko won with an edge ball that caught the back of the table and fell unreturnable for the 12-10 win.
The Final saw several momentum swings with five of the six games having lopsided scores. Sidorenko managed to win two games, but Matsushima was the stronger player – winning the first, third, fourth, and sixth games for the 4-2 win.
On the women’s side, it was Sun Yingsha over Wang Yidi in one Semifinal, and Kuai Man over Miwa Harimoto in the other Semifinal. In the Final, Sun Yingsha won the first two games, and then led 3-1, before holding off a surge by Kuai Man. Sun Yingsha found herself tied 3-3, but then flashed her World No. 1 skills to dominate the final game 11-4.
Wen Ruibo and Yuan Licen won Men’s Doubles. Wang Manyu and Kuai Man won Women’s Doubles. And Lim Jonghoon and Shin Yubin won Mixed Doubles. As an interesting side-note, Jonghoon and Yubin had to beat the pair of World No. 1s, as they overcame Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha. As the World No.1, Wang Chuqin doesn’t lose often – in fact, he has been dominant both in Singles and Mixed Doubles events. When was the last time he lost twice in a tournament? The WTT Finals Hong Kong last Decmeber – nearly 8 months ago.
The next tour stop is in Brazil, where Hugo Calderano will be the top seed in his home country at the WTT Star Contender Sao Jose dos Campos. The tournament will also feature Alexis Lebrun, Darko Jorgic, and many others including top American Kanak Jha.
Visit ButterflyOnline.com for the latest table tennis news and results.
