Yesterday was an amazing day. Gerry Chua – dad of Ethan Chua - showed some signals with his hand to come and watch a game going on between an Indian boy named Sathiyna Ganasekaranand of Madras who may be 15 years old and Mengel of Germany. Gerry told me this Indian boy beat Stephan Feth and also Zolt Sel from Serbia to reach this round. The large crowd was really enjoying that match. This boy is an amazing blocker. He measures the amount of top spin that comes from Mengel and blocks it so beautifully – I call it “touch block” - to some wide angles to put Mengel in real trouble. It puzzled the whole crowd – he had good support from the crowd also. Mengel fell down few times on the floor because of the boy’s quick wide angel blocks. Unfortunately, the Indian boy lost to Mengel in the 7 th game, but it was an amazing match. Mengel played very safe in the last game – with more side spin and power to stop the blockings.
I’ve shared some good time with Thoman Keinath during the lunch time. I have not spoken to him personally before though I had some good opportunities at the Killerspin tournaments. He liked the new XIOM T-Shirt I was wearing. We’ve talked about pips rubbers for a while. He has told me the short pips players give him more trouble than long pips players. We became friends in that short time. We handed cards each other. This guy has some amazing qualities – very humble, focused and friendly. He speaks English pretty good.
I heard an announcement that Chen Weixing and another player were going to play doubles. Unfortunately, that match did not happen as Chen has defaulted out. I ran to the Joola booth to find out why. Chen nodded and told me he is not playing. I don’t know the reason why but I assume he wanted to give more rest for his knee.
The quarter finals started with a match between Thomaz Keinath and Patrick Baum on table 2. On table 1, there was a match between Alexander Karakasevic and a Japanese Player Shinnosuke Kiho. Alaxander came to the court 15 minutes later. I think the crowd was there to watch his game because he was many times champion in this tournament. There was a large applaud when Alexander has arrived at the court.
Both the quarter finals were amazing. Thomas went to 7 games with Baum and has finally won. I have not got a chance to watch that match well after the other quarter final started. The story here is the same as the match Alexander had with Mengel. Shinnosuke Kiho took the first 3 games. Alexander tied it to 3 but lost in the last game. The games were so exciting. Alexander has got a lot of boost when the crowd started cheering for him. The screaming from the crowd for each and every has upset Shinnosuke Kiho very much. I’ve never seen such a support Japanese players in the US - there was good support for them too. Are we not proud of the countries where are born in or our ancestry comes from?
I don’t remember the name of the Japanese coach, but I have personally met him in Europe last year. We had some good time. I’ve asked about Koji Matsushita whether or not he has retired. Koji has not retired but not doing many International main events. He has turned to TV commentary recently and coaching.
The other two quarter finals were (1) Rosskopf and Lin Ju (Dominical Replublic) and (2) Chen Weixing and Eugene Wang Zhen. Lin Ju plays defense on his back hand. I have not met him and asked but I think he uses short pips. He was not able to return Rosskopf’s heavy top spin successfully with his pips – the chop strokes were not fast enough to return it. I watched him moving further from the table to return it successfully and that lead to a lot of attack from Rosskopf.
The other interesting match was between Chen Weixing and Eugene. They know each other well and I have seen them practicing each other the other day. Eugene was nervous and calculating in the match the whole time. When the game started Eugene attacked Chen very hard on his back hand and has got a lead of 5 to 1. Chen recovered and won the first game. Euegune could successfully loop only few of Chen’s top spin and medium underspin balls. All those rallies ended with heavy underspin shorts from Chen - Eugene could not push or return those heavy undersping shots. The moral of the story is this. I’m seeing Eugene with no options – can’t loop, can’t push and can’t give short shots and cant live long. Chen won the game 4 to 1.
Today is the semi finals between (1) Chen Weixing and Rosskopf and (2) Thomas Keinath and Shinnosuke Kiho. The match between Rosskopf and Chen Weixing would be an interesting match. I predict the winner of that semi-final would be the winner of US Open 2008. Will my prediction work? Let’s see.
Here are few things to ponder in the semi final between Chen Weixing and Rosskopf. Chen has an advantage by playing against a left hander. Unless he is a Chinese player like Chen Qi, the choppers have an advantage against lefties. Chen has the disadvantages of playing against a tough top spin player and his right knee problem may cause some trouble if Rosskopf attack him in his forehand.
I have not got a chance to follow up on the women’s game, so I dont have anything to write on it. I will write on the women finals tomorrow.
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