"Jane-Sue in C.G., 5 at RHP, Doinks-Miriam in Verona, Tony-Ryan and more at C.G.!":
GTA Tuesday Tennis took place in three locations over the course of four sessions: an early morning session at The Cedar Grove Courts (as "Fun" Jane Fan and "Super Trooper" Sue Koziol battled one another in their GTA Women's Championship Tournament Round of 16 Match), Robin Hood Park in Clifton (hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara), The Verona High School Courts (as "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan and "Mighty" Miriam Mendez faced off in their GTA Women's Championship Round of 16 Match) and once again at The Cedar Grove Courts for an evening session (featuring the GTA Intermediate Invitational Round of 16 Match between Tony "Sure Shot" Shiao and his buddy, "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak and other scores as well).
The weather was less than stellar as it was an unseasonably cool day…especially when the sun ducked down behind the clouds.
So we will first go to the score from Sue, then the full RHP recap, then the score from Doinks and then the rest of the results from Cedar Grove as reported by Tony and "Kid Crush" Chris Chiaro. I thank everyone for their contributions to this report.
The Cedar Grove Result:
GTA Women's Championship Tournament Round of 16 Match:
Jane Fan over Sue Koziol, 6-3, 6-3, to successfully defend her # 9 Rank in the Women's Division while also advancing to the Quarterfinals of the GTA Women's Championship Tournament! No Aces.
The Scoop from The Super Trooper: This match lasted from 11am to 12:20. It was a beautiful day for some tennis!
Samara's Notes: I thank Sue for sharing that result with us. And now we go to Robin Hood Park.
Samara pulled up to RHP at 5:30 (as promised). Upon his arrival, he saw Championship Court occupied by a hitting session featuring "Holy Moly" Mike Mole and "Lucky" Leo Victor with "Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli standing at the post of the court.
The plan was that Spin and Leo were waiting for Frank to arrive to hit with Mike so that the two of them could check out one of The Doc's rental properties as Leo may be a prospective tenant. But when Samara found out that Mole would have to leave around 6pm, he suggested they stay to first play a Doubles One-Setter instead.
Of course, it ran long and did not end until 6:25! Thanks to Mike for sticking around to finish it.
At that point, everyone except Frank left the courts. But thankfully, at 6:30, "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes arrived. After a five minute hitting session, the two of them began a Singles One-Setter.
Spin and Leo returned at 7:10 while that One-Setter was still in progress. It finally finished at 7:22! From there, the foursome started a Doubles One-Setter that lasted all the way until 8:12.
Let's recap those RHP scores before we head up to Verona and then Cedar Grove.
The RHP Results:
Frank Samara/Dan Martinelli over Mike Mole/Leo Victor, 7-5! Mike: 1 Ace on Frank. It went like this: Mike was broken (Love-30 where an un-returned serve made it 15-30, Double Break Point where Frank blew an overhead for Break Point, but then he redeemed himself with a funky short lob-like return that Leo could not handle so close to the net…and thus, there was the break), Spin was broken (Mike hit a winning Backhand Volley for Love-30 and then Frank blew another volley to make it Triple Break Point where an excellent rally led to Double Break Point, but then came the break), Leo was broken at Love after Frank hit a winner to set up Triple Break Point, but Frank was the first to hold serve (15-Love then point for point to Game Point right after Spin hit a smart drop shot winner, it then went to Deuce, but the hold came on the next Game Point) for a 3-1 lead. Mole was broken again (un-returned serve for 15-Love, 30-Love, Double Fault for 30-15, 30-All, Double Fault for Break Point and then the break) and Martinelli held (Love-15 shifted to 30-15, 30-All where an un-returned serve set up Game Point, then Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point where Mike hit a drop shot winner for 3rd Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to take a commanding 5-1 lead! But Victor then had a Love hold as Frank blew a volley to set up Triple Game Point and then Leo hit a winner to secure his own hold and Samara was broken at Love as what may have been the rally of the match ended with Frank flubbing a lob attempt to have his team's lead cut to 5-3! Holy Moly held (an un-returnable serve for 15-Love, 15-All and then another un-returned serve for 30-15, Double Fault for 30-All, another un-returned serve for Game Point, Double Fault for Deuce, Game Point where he hit an Ace up the T against Frank for the hold) and then The Doc was broken (Frank blew a volley for Love-15, but then redeemed himself with a drop shot winner to make it 15-All where Leo hit an amazing get/winner off another attempted drop shot by Frank to bring it to 15-30 and then Frank blew another volley to set up Double Break Point which is where the break came) to level the match at 5-5! Lucky Leo was then broken (another awesome rally which led to it being Love-30 where Leo hit a winner for 15-30, but then Double Break Point where Frank blew a volley for Break Point) and Hollywood closed things out with a Love hold to end this one on Triple Game/Match Point! We played this one on Championship Court from 5:40 to 6:25.
The Skinny: Mike and Leo were bringing the pace. Spin often countered with some pace of his own. For Frank, it was a mixed bag as he blew many volley opportunities but also made nice gets and played with a style that could be called aggressive finesse. What started out looking like a blowout ended up being quite the contest as both Mole and Victor continue to seemingly improve on a daily basis.
Frank Samara over Nathan Fernandes, 6-4! No Aces. Here's how it went down: Nathan was broken (Nate hit a winner for 15-Love, but then it went right to Double Break Point as Frank hit a winning Overhead Smash and a winning drop shot return along the way and then Frank got the break with another drop shot winner), Frank was broken (Nate hit a winner for Love-15, it was then Love-30 where Frank hit a running Backhand Volley winner for 15-30, then it was 30-All, Break Point where Frank hit a winner for Deuce, Break Point where Frank hit a passing shot winner for 2nd Deuce where Nate blew a volley for Game Point, 3rd Deuce where Nate hit a winner for Break Point, 4th Deuce, Break Point and finally the break), Fernandes was broken again (un-returned serve for 15-Love, 30-Love where Frank hit a passing shot winner for 30-15, Double Game Point, Double Fault for Game Point, Deuce, Break Point where Frank hit a particularly impressive winner for the break) and then Samara held at Love as he hit an un-returned serve, a blistering Backhand Volley winner, another un-returned serve and then a drop shot winner to go up 3-1. Nate the Great then also achieved his first hold (a drop shot winner followed by another winner would lead to Triple Game Point, but that got cut to Deuce as Frank hit a drop shot winner followed by another drop shot that drew the error from Nate at the net, but then it went back to Game Point where Nate hit an awesome winner for the hold), but Hollywood held yet again as another drop shot winner and a winning Overhead Smash would lead to Triple Game Point, it was on Double Game Point where yet another drop shot winner secured the hold for 4-2. Nathan responded with a Love hold of his own as it got started with an un-returned serve and finished with a winner and then Frank was broken (15-Love then point for point until 30-All…and Frank hit a winner and Nate made a great get along the way, then an extended rally set up Break Point where another excellent rally led to the break) to knot the score once more at 4-4! Fernandes was broken (15-Love, Double Fault for 15-All, 30-15 shifted to Break Point as Nate blew a volley along the way and then that's where the break came) and then came the game of the match with Samara on serve as he hit winning volleys and a winning Overhead Smash on the way to Triple Game/Match Point only to have Nate hit a drop shot winner to cut it to Double Game/Match Point and then another drop shot winner to make it Game/Match Point where Nate then made his greatest get/winner combo of the match as he reached behind himself to hit what looked to be a sure passing shot winner by Frank and this made it Deuce, it was then 4th Game/Match Point where a 30-plus stroke rally ended with another drop shot winner by Nate to set up 2nd Deuce, but then it was on the 5th Game/Match Point where Frank scored the drop shot winner to secure the very hard-fought victory! This occupied Championship Court from 6:35 to 7:22.
The Skinny: Samara avenged his One-Setter loss to Fernandes earlier this season in yet another mini-marathon. These two have a similar style, but have added some aggression to their game since their battles from a couple of seasons ago. Finesse and strategy still win out, however, over outright power plays as evidenced by all of the drop shot winners from both sides. Even though this one had a 6-4 score, it would still be reasonable to consider it as a possible Nominee for One-Set Singles Match of The Year at season's end.
Frank Samara/Dan Martinelli over Leo Victor/Nathan Fernandes, 6-4! Spin: 1 Ace on Nate! The dirty lowdown: Frank held (un-returned serve for 30-Love where Nate hit a winning drop shot return to make it 30-15, but then another un-returned serve set up Double Game Point and then came the hold), Nathan held (an awesome rally got things started at 15-Love where Nate hit a winner for 30-Love, then it was 30-15 and Double Game Point where Frank blew a volley to secure the opposition's hold), Spin held (three consecutive un-returnable serves led to Triple Game Point, it was then Double Game Point where Frank hit the winner to secure his partner's hold) and Leo held (Nate hit a winner for 15-Love, then 15-All where Frank blew a volley for 30-15, Double Game Point and then the hold) as we were all on serve at 2-2. Samara held again (Love-15 went straight to Double Game Point with an un-returned serve along the way, but then Nate hit a drop shot winner to make it Game Point, then Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point, 3rd Deuce, Game Point and the hold), but Fernandes was the first to be broken (two un-returned serves led to Triple Game Point, but then Spin made an awesome get which led to it becoming Double Game Point, then a Double Fault for Game Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point, 3rd Deuce where Spin hit an amazing passing shot winner for Break Point and then he topped himself with a rare winning Backhand Volley at the net for the break and a 2-4 score! Martinelli followed all that with another hold (Triple Game Point got cut down to Deuce, then Break Point, 2nd Deuce where he hit a big sideline Ace against Nate for Game Point and then he hit another un-returnable serve which was a near ace on Leo to secure the hold) to go up 5-2, but Victor also held again (15-Love shifted to 15-30 after Frank hit a big-time winning Overhead Smash, but then it shifted to Game Point as yet another extended rally ended with a drop shot winner by Nate and then came the hold) to pull to 3-5. Hollywood was finally broken in this one (un-returned serve for 30-Love, it then shifted to Break Point as Nate hit a drop shot winner and a winning drop shot return along the way and then came the break), but Nate the Great was broken again (Spin made a great get for Love-15 where Nate hit a nice winner for 15-All, but it then went right to Double Break/Match Point where Nate hit yet another drop shot winner for Break/Match Point where the rally of the match ended with yet another winner from Nate to make it Deuce, but then came the 3rd Break/Match Point and the break) to take a tough loss! We played this one on Championship Court from 7:25 to 8:12.
The Skinny: The Foundation (Samara/Martinelli) went 2-0 for the night and this last one was a lot of fun. Darkness started to take effect in the last couple of games, but the older guys weathered the storm and got it done in time!
We now go to Verona and then Cedar Grove.
The Verona High School Result:
GTA Women's Championship Tournament Round of 16 Match:
Doinks Srinivasan over Miriam Mendez, 6-2, 6-1, to successfully defend her # 2 Rank in the Women's Division while also advancing to the Quarterfinals of the GTA Women's Championship Tournament! In the process, Mendez entered the Women's Division as the New # 17 Ranked Player. No Aces.
The Details from Doinks: Thanks to Miriam for being readily available to take Mindy Zhang's place (Mendez was the Wild Card replacement). We played at the Verona HS courts. We probably started at 7:15 and finished around 8:30pm. The lighting was poor and all four courts were not in great condition. But she is a trooper and just played through. It was both our first time to play on these courts.
I don't think she played at her usual level based on what I have heard from different people. She also has not played much this year. I hope she can play with us more as the weather continues to improve.
I should say that she had several vicious forehand and backhand winners that caught me flat-footed a few times. Those are consistent with what I heard. Luck was also on my side last night with fewer errors than usual. Cheers!
Samara's Notes: I thank Doinks for her report and congratulate her on her victory. I also thank Miriam for being ready and willing to step up in the place of Mindy who had a trip scheduled and would not be back in time for the Round of 16.
We now go back to Cedar Grove to close out the night. We will start with a couple of One-Setter scores sent in by Chris and then an epic match report from Tony.
The Cedar Grove Results:
Chris Chiaro over Lou La Forgia, 6-4! No Aces.
Chris Chiaro over Lou La Forgia, 6-2! No Aces.
GTA Intermediate Invitational Round of 16 Match:
Tony Shiao over Ryan Pienciak, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5), to successfully defend his # 8 Rank in the Intermediate Division while also advancing to the Quarterfinals of the GTA Intermediate Invitational Tournament! No Aces.
The Sure Shot from Shiao: We planned to meet at Brookdale Park in Bloomfield at 7pm only to find out the courts were booked until 8pm by the local high school team. We decided to check out a relatively unknown set of courts in Bloomfield tucked away in a residential area with lights! There were three courts and looked well-maintained but looks were deceiving! The courts had a strange hollow-creaky sound when we walked on it. After a few rallies we decided to bail since the ball bounced funny and we just couldn't concentrate with the cheering fans from the adjacent baseball field and the strong scent of kids smoking the good stuff in the woods. We decided to take our chances at Cedar Grove despite the e-mail from earlier today.
Sure enough when we arrived there was a large crowd playing Pickle Ball on all four courts, but shortly thereafter it wrapped up at 7:45ish and we were able to get a court. We started our match at approximately 8pm. The 1st Set was extremely competitive and Ryan was on point with his heavy topspin forehands and first serves. I felt good and loose and we had many hard hitting rallies. We were all on serve until I was able to break Ryan at some point later in the set and took it 7-5. I got to thank Kathy Sheldon and Omar Santos for giving me a morale boost from the bench while Ryan had to relieve himself midway in the set.
The 2nd Set was equally as challenging as I was able to take a good 3-1 lead, but Ryan battled back and was able to place many of my balls to take the lead at 4-3. From there we were both exhausted and lost some of the pace we had before. Again we traded games and forced a Tiebreak. During the Tiebreak we had many rallies that went 20+ strokes. Dino Celis and Natalia Sout were on the sidelines watching and counted 26 exchanges when we were tied at 3-3 in the Tiebreak! Luckily there weren't any minors nearby because there surely were many F-bombs coming out of our mouths. In the end, I was able to sneak by and take a 7-6 (7-5) win for the set and the match.
Going into this match, I knew I would have my work cut out for me and it would be very competitive. Ryan's a true fighter and has an arsenal of powerful shots. Today I got lucky and I'm looking forward to playing a rank defense match with him after the tournament is over. I'm sore as heck and sure good use some of that good stuff the kids had out in the woods!
Ryan's Chopping Block: Tony had some great gets. I lost track of the number of points I thought I had won only to suddenly see the ball flying back my way. Tough match!
Samara's Notes: I thank Tony and Ryan for their contribution to this report. It sounds like one hell of a match! Congrats to Tony on the hard-fought victory and kudos to Ryan for his spirited effort. Even though it ended in straight sets, it looks to be a possible Nominee for Intermediate Match of The Year at season's end.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
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