2007 MILLCREEK OPEN

ERIE PA OCT. 20-21

By Sam Steiner

******* THE ERIE RATING RESULTS ARE ONLINE AT http://www.usatt.org/history/rating/history/Tall.asp?Tid=3528&Sby=LastName+Asc **********

The buzz this year started with an entry received from one Thilina Piyadasa, at the time an unrated player who on his entry blank listed his rating as "World #532". Thilina is a 28-year old native of Sri Lanka, living in Kent Ohio while his wife/practice partner attends college there. He is anxious to compete in U.S. tournaments and expects to be in the U.S. about 5 years. Initial guesses of 2700-level led to some world ranking investigation and he was ultimately rated at 2500 for seeding purposes, just above perennial Men's winner Dan Seemiller at 2488.

A total of 119 entrants commenced play at 10:00am Saturday and the 20 tables were kept full for the next 18 playing hours as the players sweated and stroked in the warm October weather better suited to golf than indoor sports. The local newspaper Erie Times-News published a nice writeup with photos on Sunday and complete tournament results on Monday.

18-year old Desmond Preston of Rochester blew a bunch of opponents off the table thanks to his training with coach Ray Mack. Rated 1285, Preston won the U1300, the U1450, the U3400 Doubles (with Ray), and reached the finals of U1600.

The 44-player Open wound its way down to a Final Four round-robin, consisting of Yong Ren, Randy Seemiller (Open winner in our 1992 inaugural tournament), Thilina Piyadasa, and Dan Seemiller. Dan and Thilina swept through the others without a loss to set up the expected and climactic final match between undefeateds. Dan, veteran of many matches including at the world championship level, scouted out Thilina's game and went out with a plan. The Sri Lankan is a bundle of energy on the court, darting about to bring his powerful forehand loop into play. Dan was able, as no-one before him in this tournament, to contain Piyadasa's loops with sharply angled blocks and control the match. Victory to Dan 5, 9, -9, 8, 7 to win his 9th Millcreek Open crown. "At that level", says Dan afterward, "it's a liability if you don't have a strong backhand loop", referring to Piyadasa's forehand-centric game.
The last time Dan didn't win here was in 2003, to another Sri Lankan, Pradeeban Peter-Paul now of Canada.

Thanks again to all entrants for participating, and to the Erie club volunteers for their hard work.

TOURNAMENT RESULTS:

U900- RR Finals 1. Mark Scott (1-1) d. Chris Banko 3-1; 2. Chris Banko (1-1) d. Dustin Zemaitis 3-1; 3. Dustin Zemaitis (1-1) d. Mark Scott 3-2.

U1600- Semi's: Ali Rezai d. Dave Scott 3-0; Desmond Preston d. Peter Bajorski 3-1. Finals: Rezai d. Preston 6,9,-11,8.

U1100- RR Finals: 1. Alex Bateman (1-1) d. Moon Wing Leung 3-0; 2. Clark Munson (1-1) d. Bateman 3-1; 3. Moon Wing Leung (1-1) d. Munson 3-1.

U1800- Semi's: Ray Nagel d. Tom Burik def.; Jason Leung d. Simon Ling 3-0. Finals: Nagel d. Leung -11, -5, 8, 5, 11.

U1300- Semi's: Desmond Preston d. Kevin Schrock 3-1; Bill Schlernitzauer d. Alex Bateman 3-2. Finals: Preston d. Schlernitzauer -5, -7, 8, 4, 4.

U2000- Semi's: Andre Khailo d. Alex Meleshenko 3-0; Gary Martin d. Jim Sealy 3-0. Finals: Khailo d. Martin 3-1.

Junior U17- Finals: Terence Leung d. Keith Pech 7, 6, 9.

Senior Over 40- Semi's: Dan Seemiller Sr. d. Wayne Carney 3-0; Mark Nordby d. Ray Mack 3-0. Finals: Seemiller d. Nordby def.

3400 Doubles: Semi's: Ray Mack/Desmond Preston d. Guy McLean/Ralph Prescott 3-0; Mike Halliday/Bob Juneau d. Dan Klein/Tundi Balogh 3-2. Finals: Mack/Preston d. Halliday/Juneau 3-0.

Open Warmup: Group 1: Dan Seemiller Sr. d. Brad Gelb 3-0. Group 2: Don Hamilton d. Andre Khailo 3-1. Group 3: Dan Seemiller Jr. d. Terence Leung 3-2. Group 4: Mark Nordby d. A. J. Carney 3-2.

U2400- Semi's: Randy Seemiller d. Don Hamilton 3-2; Chip Coulter d. Brad Gelb 3-1. Finals: Coulter d. Seemiller 9,8,9.

U1450- Semi's: Desmond Preston d. Dave Markiewicz 3-0; Sid Khandelwal d. Dale Klobusnik 3-1. Finals: Preston d. Khandelwal -10, 14, 4, 6.

Senior Esquire: RR Finals: 1. Neil Myers (2-0) d. Jim Huang 3-0; d. Ray Gutowski 3-0. 2. Jim Huang (1-1) d. Gutowski 3-0. 3. Ray Gutowski (0-2).

Open Singles- Eighths: Thilina Piyadasa d. Mike Walk 4, 3, -10, 3, 5; Randy Seemiller d. Tak Cheong Yip -9, 10, -7, 10, 9, 6; Yong Ren d. Tom Yost 8, 3, 9, -13, -6, 11; Dan Seemiller d. Don Hamilton 9, 7, 6, 10. RR Semi's: 1. Dan Seemiller (3-0) d. Piyadasa 5, 9, -9, 8, 7; d. Ren 6, 7, 2, 9; d. R. Seemiller 6, 2, 7, -9, 4. 2. Thilina Piyadasa (2-1) d. Ren 7, 4, 6, 9; d. R. Seemiller 9, 6, 7, 4. 3. Yong Ren (1-2) d. R. Seemiller 7, 7, -10, 9, 9. 4. Randy Seemiller (0-3).

Junior U14 RR- 1. Jason Leung (4-0); 2. Seth Pech (3-1); 3. Kevin Schrock (2-2).

2800 Doubles- Semi's: Dan Klein/Gary Klein d. Chris Malis/John Scarnato 3-1; Tundi Balogh/Bryan Lewis d. Chris Bailey/Dan Barnes 3-1. Finals: Balogh/Lewis d. Klein/Klein 3-1.

U2200- Semi's: Yong Long Zhen d. Ray Mack 3-0; A. J. Carney d. Mark Nordby def. Finals: Zhen d. Carney 3-2.

Hardbat- Finals: A. J. Carney d. Ray Mack -12, 12, 10.

U1750- Semi's; Harsh Khandelwal d. Tom Burik 3-0; Ralph Prescott d. Dave French 3-2. Finals: Khandelwal d. Prescott -8, 6, 12, 7.

U700- RR: 1. Kyle Barnes (2-0) d. Eric Barnes 3-0; d. Sabrina Daoud 3-0. 2. Eric Barnes (1-1) d. Daoud 3-0. 3. Sabrina Daoud (0-2).

LOST & FOUND

A gray Stiga shirt size L was found after the Erie tournament. Contact Sam Steiner to claim