2018 Paddle Palace Fall Open

2018 Paddle Palace Fall Open

Kevin Nguyen Takes 4 Events!

By Jay Crystal

The Paddle Palace Club held their Fall Open on October 6^th and 7^th. Players competed in 14 events and 22 players came away with money for placing in the 9 events that offered $100.00 for first place and $50.00 for second. Nittaku 3-star 40+ Premium balls were the official tournament ball along with Donic Tables. The Open Singles final went to Ryan Hoarfrost who held off Hau Lam in 5 games. Ryan won the first game easily at 4 but won the second at 11. Hau then turned the tides forcing Ryan to make errors and took the next two games at 10 and 5. The tide seemed to have turned but Ryan proved how tough of a finisher he is and finished off Hau in the fifth game at 5. The most exciting and entertaining match of the tournament was the Junior Singles final between Cheery Zhang and Kevin Nguyen. Both of these top juniors played at the top of their games. Cheery won the first game at 9, then Kevin seemed to take control and won the second game at 5. The third game was riveting, with Cheery winning at 11. Again Kevin came back to win the fourth at 6. The fifth game came down to wire with both players playing excellent topspin shots with Kevin winning in the end at 9. The biggest upset in the tournament came in the Open singles Round Robin where Oregon’s number one junior, Dean Schultz, rated 1741 upset 1959 rated Roger Castle. Roger still won his group and made it to the Open semi-finals where he lost to Ryan Hoarfrost. He also won the U2100’s the next day. Kevin Nguyen continued his rise in ratings by winning the U1500 and U1600 singles events. He also paired with Tran Nguyen to win the U3200 doubles. All in all a nice weekend for the young player. Another player that had a great tournament was Zhongkai (John) Xu. He won the U1700 and U1800 singles as well as finishing 2^nd in the U3200 doubles. Paddle Palace Club thanks all the players that attend our tournament.