(by Steve Hopkins, photo USATT)
TeamUSA fell today to Ukraine in a tight Round of 16 battle. Ukraine’s top player, Margaryta Pesotska (World No. 51) won twice. Sally Moyland defeated Veronika Matiunina and Lily Zhang defeated Tetyana Bilenko for the two US wins. In the fourth match, Moyland had a 2-1 lead before losing two close games, and in the decider it was Matiunina over Jessica Reyes Lai.
For the American women, they won their group 3-0 and topped India 3-1 in the Round of 32. A solid performance for the team, and a great coming out party for Sally Moyland who finished with six wins in London. Lily Zhang had a similarly strong performance, with six wins of her own. For Irene Yeoh and Jessica Reyes Lai – they gained some valuable experience and logged a few wins on this huge stage.
America’s men had mixed results. They were seeded first in Group 14, but finished second after a 2-3 loss to Singapore. Singapore advanced as the winner of the group to face Brazil (they lost 1-3) and USA advanced from the second position to face the event’s second seeded France (where they lost 0-3). Kanak Jha was definitely the high point of the tournament for the men – going undefeated in the group stage before losing for the first time in his match against France.
Overall, both American teams finished about where they were seeded. Both the men and women were seeded in the top 24. The men reached the round of 32 but fell before the top 16. The women reached the round of 16. Solid results for TeamUSA in London.
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