Site Products
USATT's Thursday Night Live Series: Jennifer Wu

USATT’s Thursday Night Live Series: Jennifer Wu puts Nittaku on the Board

(by Steve Hopkins)

USA Table Tennis conducted its fourth Challenge Series event on Thursday.   This week, “America’s First Virtual Table Tennis Challenge” matched Jennifer Wu (2473) for Team Nittaku against Tahl Leibovitz  (2457) for Team Butterfly.  Table tennis is one of the few sports where men and women compete against each other in major tournaments using the same rating system – and this is the third week in a row where this Series matched a women’s team member against a men’s team member.  In the previous two weeks, it was the male player (Sharon Alguetti and Adar Alguetti) who pulled away late.  This week, it was girl power from start to finish, with Jennifer winning 4-1.  This is the first win for Team Nittaku, making the overall series score 3-1 (in favor of Team Butterfly).

Jennifer won the first game 11-5.  It was tight early, but she pulled away for a pretty easy win.  Jennifer started the second game fast and built a big 7-3 lead but Tahl fought back to within striking distance before losing 11-9.  Tahl’s win was game three – where he pulled ahead early and then gained an advantage after 8-8 and 9-9 ties.  Tahl wins the third game 11-9.  Game 4 was tight early, but Jennifer pulled away for an 11-6 win to take the 3-1 lead.

The 24 minute clock ran out during the break between games 4 and 5.  That means that the final games would be played to five points only.  This is the T2 format that provides expedited rules to the sport ensuring that match times are limited to about 30 minutes maximum.

Tahl reached 4 first, but Jennifer won the final two points to secure the game 5-4.  Wu over Leibovitz 4-1.

*The video below begins with highlights from past weeks before moving forward with the full match.

https://www.facebook.com/usatabletennis/videos/4157072937698734

 

Sign up to stay In the Loop with Butterfly table tennis products, table tennis news, upcoming tournaments, tournament results and more.

Latest News

Center of Gravity in Your Stomach

June 30, 2025
WAIT FUNCTION: Serve short backspin or side backspin to Forehand, Robot plays long backspin push to Forehand, Forehand… Read More

Celebrating Excellence: Honored As Canada’s Table Tennis Coach Of The Year

June 30, 2025
(by Coach Raymond/Butterfly Americas) It is with immense pride and gratitude that I reflect on being named *Canada’s… Read More

WTTC 2025 (Part 3): A Gathering of Global Table Tennis Passion – Report from the Butterfly Booth in Doha

June 30, 2025
(by Buterfly Global) In the final installment of our WTTC 2025 series, we share a report from the… Read More

WTTC 2025 (Part 2): Expanding the Circle of Social Contribution Through Table Tennis – Messages Embodied in T-Shirts for the ITTF Foundation

June 30, 2025
(By Butterfly Global) In the second installment of our WTTC 2025 series, we highlight the initiatives carried out… Read More

Smarter Now Doesn’t Mean You Were Dumb Before

June 30, 2025
(By Larry Hodges) This is one of those tips where the title, by itself, should give you a… Read More

WAB CLUB FEATURE: Broward Table Tennis Club

June 29, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins) The Broward Table Tennis Club offers regular tournaments, camps, and coaching opportunities.  They have been… Read More

MLTT Featured Team: Los Angeles Spinners

June 29, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins, photo MLTT) The Los Angeles Spinners hope to roll through the upcoming Major League Table… Read More

Early Action Underway at the US Nationals

June 29, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins) Action started Saturday in Ontario, California in the 2025 rendition of the US National table… Read More
View All News

Get the latest from Butterfly

Stay “In The Loop” with Butterfly professional table tennis equipment, table tennis news, table tennis technology, tournament results, and We Are Butterfly players, coaches, clubs and more.