DAY 3: The Final Day at the 2015 Pan Am and US Team Trials:
The final day belonged to the Top Seeds… finally. Smart money would have been on top seed, Jennifer Wu to win on the first day – but she was upset in the Semifinal by Lily Zhang. On Day 2, Wu again glided smoothly through the event until meeting Zhang – this time in the final. The second meeting met the same result. Today, the final day, Wu dominated the event from start to finish. In the final match of the day, she defeated Judy Hugh 4-0. The consolation for Hugh? Jennifer Wu does not meet the eligibility standards to play in the Worlds, so both Finalists will represent the USA this year — Wu on the Pan Am Team, and Hugh on the Worlds Team. Congratulations Ladies.
A similar story occurred in the Men’s event – However, the Men’s Top Seed wasn’t trying to duplicate his performance of the first two days – he was trying to forget it. Wang was upset early on both Day 1 and Day 2. He was not to be denied on the Final Day, however… He arrived with focus and drive and dominated from start to finish. In the Semis, Wang faced Grant Li who’s electrifying win over Chodri Kunal in the Quarters had excited the crowd. But Wang handled Li easily and advanced to face Yahao Zhang. Yahao has actually been a difficult opponent of Wang in the past, but today all of the momentum was in Wang’s favor. He dominated the short game, he split the long rallies, and he was able to string together four nearly error-free games to close out the match, and earn his spot on TeamUSA.
