"Kris hosts 13 at C.G., Samara plus 5 (1 New) in F.L.!":
GTA Tuesday Night Tennis took place at The Cedar Grove Courts with "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan acting as host and then also at The Fair Lawn Racquet Club as "Hollywood" Frank Samara acted as a sub for "The Olympian" Marie Salamon's group.
Let's first get the report from Kris before we recap what took place up in Fair Lawn.
It was a lovely night for GTA Tennis and the first ones to capitalize on the great weather were Jordan Bachvaroff and Stacy Casais, followed by Moka Pathan, Jorge Solano, Dan Martinelli (aka Spin), my wife Doinks, Senthil Kumar, Natalia Sout, Dennis Cabanatan and Tito Castolo.
A Doubles One-Setter was going on between Jordan and Jorge against Moka and Stacy when I came with Doinks after 7:30pm with Spin chilling out on the bench. As soon as we started to hit, Senthil joined us to enable some Doubles on this side.
The Cedar Grove Results:
Jordan Bachvaroff/Jorge Solano over Moka Pathan/Stacy Casais, 6-4! No Aces (apparently).
It looked like a close match and with Jordan serving well, and Jorge being aggressive at the net, they were able to secure the win.
Senthil Kumar/Doinks Srinivasan over Kris Srinivasan/Dan Martinelli, 6-3! No Aces.
It turned out to be a warm-up for me and Spin. After missing in action for almost a week, it was good to see Spin back in action. Senthil was the most consistent and Doinks did pretty well, especially holding her serve. We started off poorly missing our opportunities to close the very first game and soon we were down Love-3 before coming on board. We never had the momentum to force the issue and paid the price for our untimely errors.
Moka Pathan/Stacy Casais over Jordan Bachvaroff/Tito Castolo, 6-2! No Aces (apparently).
This was a set where Moka and Stacy were in complete control throughout it by playing solid tennis. There were some lovely shots and, with Tito playing with a demo racquet, he didn't have his usual control.
Kris Srinivasan/Jordan Bachvaroff over Tito Castolo/Stacy Casais, 6-4! No Aces.
We were cruising at one point and on the verge of going up 5-2 when Stacy and Tito sparkled to see a comeback that made it close and ended in a tight finish. Jordan's legs were giving out and it reflected in his serves and shots in the later stages. He served beautifully on his very first serve, winning handily in the process. Stacy was tenacious and spirited, but with Tito not playing his usual brilliant game, they were behind right from the beginning.
Senthil Kumar/Dino Celis over Tito Castolo/Stacy Casais, 6-1! Dino: 1 Ace on Stacy; and Senthil: 1 Ace on Stacy!
It was a cinch for Dino and Senthil as both were playing an attacking game and Tito was a mere shadow of his usual self. He wasn't hitting his drop shots and some of his usual put-away shots went haywire. Stacy was amazing with her forehand, but couldn't keep up with Dino who was quite brutal with some of his shots. To her credit, she made valiant efforts to get to some of the shots. Tito can be a deadly force, but on this night it was not to be as he is still nursing pain from his tennis elbow. Senthil was great with some nice overhead shots for winners.
Senthil Kumar/Doinks Srinivasan over Dennis Cabanatan/Natalia Sout, 7-5! No Aces (apparently).
A very close and exciting match that featured a very consistent and aggressive Natalia doing well with Dennis, but Senthil has become a deadly player to contend with this season with his solid volleys, overheads and overall consistent play. Doinks was able to freely play her game without having to worry about missed points. It was a satisfying night for her winning all her matches. So did Senthil who is doing consistently well. Some of Dennis's shots were brilliant, but he had his fair amount of unforced errors.
Dan Martinelli/Doinks Srinivasan over Dennis Cabanatan/Natalia Sout, 6-3! No Aces (apparently).
After the warm-up One-Setter earlier, Spin was back in business and, with Doinks playing well, they were able to keep up the pressure on the scoreboard. It was a mixed bag for Dennis who played great shots only to be frittered away by unforced errors.
Senthil Kumar/Dino Celis leading Kris Srinivasan/Tito Castolo, 3-2 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)! No Aces.
It was an even and close match that we knew would never see its completion. We did miss out on 4 Break Point chances to go up 3-2, but that was not to be. There were some incredible gets by Senthil. The point of the match goes to Dino when he played a running cross-court shot that was returned fiercely only to see it come back. His recovery after the shot was remarkable and he was able to place his next shot as well. Quick thinking on his feet and well-played! We got to see traces of Tito's usual brilliance, but that was not enough for the night..:).
All in all, it turned out to be a night of constant action on two courts for most of the night.
The Wednesday Night session should be decent, too, despite The Verona Crew occupying a couple of the courts (but that is only from 6:30 to 8pm). Players who start early can grab two courts and eventually we can get the other courts after 8pm. Cheers!
Samara's Notes: As always, thanks to Kris for all he does for the GTA up at Cedar Grove. We now will recap my trip up to the Fair Lawn Racquet Club.
I arrived in the area very early (a little before 7pm) and that allowed me to grab a Sicilian slice at Ness Pizzeria across the street from the Club (it is a great place, by the way).
I then waited in the lounge and had to fight falling asleep while waiting there. Marie Salamon's regulars started filing in around 7:45/7:50. I found out along the way that Marie was going to be unable to make it as she had a last-minute emergency (not health-related, thankfully).
Still, she was able to make sure eight players were there for the two courts that her group always has up there (Courts Two and Three).
I did not feel comfortable acting as a host, so I did not collect the scores from both courts…I only recorded the results in which I was involved.
Court Two started off with Mixed Doubles action while Court Three (where I played) featured a Men's Doubles team versus a Mixed Doubles team.
When we ended up winning, we held court and the winners from Court Two came over to play us as the losers from our court went over to Court Two to play the losers over there.
The next battle (Winners versus Winners) was epic! And it ended up having a most unconventional score.
Of the eight players, I had played with all of them before except one lady on Court Two who I have seen before…but do not know her name…and my partner for the night who was "Smooth" Stephan Paccione.
He is a very nice guy and solid player who ended up making his official GTA Debut. I call him "Smooth" because it suits his style as he often would scoop up shots casually and then hit a winning volley or some other shot like it was without much effort. He is a crafty lefty who told me he started playing tennis the same year I did – 1992! Like me, he wishes he was introduced to the sport much earlier in his life.
So while there were eight players attending the session, I was only able to get six of them into official GTA action. And there were no changeovers in these One-Setters…so I had to memorize the games for the balance of the evening. As such, I have solid details for the first one, did not bother trying to remember them for the second incomplete one and then simply could not remember all the details for the marathon third one. Hey, I did the best we could. So here we go!
The Fair Lawn Results:
Frank Samara/Stephan Paccione over Tim Yu/Marcia Yu, 6-4! No Aces. It was the official GTA Debut of Stephan Paccione and the official GTA Returns of both Tim Yu and Marcia Yu. It went like this: Tim held at Love, Stephan held (Love-15 straight to Double Game Point and the hold), Marcia was broken as her 30-15 lead shifted to Break Point and the break and Frank held at Love for a 3-1 lead. T. Yu held again (Triple Game Point, Double Fault for Double Game Point, but then the hold), Paccione was broken (was up 15-Love when a Double Fault made it 15-All and then it was onto Double Break Point and the break) and M. Yu held (30-Love to 30-All, Game Point and the hold) as her team now took the lead at 4-3. Samara held again (Triple Game Point and seemingly on the verge of another Love hold when a weak second serve was punished by Tim as he hit a blazing passing shot return down the Doubles Alley for Double Game Point, but then came the hold), The Tim Man was broken (30-Love shifted to Break Point and the break) and Smooth held (30-Love shifted to 30-All, but then came Game/Match Point and the hold) for the hard-fought victory! We played this one on Court Three from 8:15 (after a fifteen minute hitting session) to 8:45.
The Skinny: I've played against both Tim and Marcia Yu (husband/wife team) in the past. Tim has a serving style that is almost like that of John McEnroe's (except Tim is a righty) as his back is almost to the court as he starts his wind-up to the serve. As such, it is very hard to get a read on it and he is quite an effective server. Marcia was involved in more of the lengthy rallies than Tim was and she was very proficient in these as she has just about every shot in the book and feels comfortable up at the net. Stephan plays big…which means he either succeeds brilliantly or hits unfortunate errors when going for too much. But more often than not, he brings the goods. He also has a great attitude and is a very supportive partner. For my part, I actually came out on fire as I was serving big and protecting my partner's serve by being a dominant force up at the net. My Tuesday night in Fair Lawn was the opposite of my Monday night in Cedar Grove. Up at C.G., I had gotten off to a slow start and finally found my game later in the evening. In Fair Lawn, I started off strong, faded as the night wore on, but then caught a second-wind in the latter stages of the session.
Tim Yu/Marcia Yu leading Frank Samara/Stephan Paccione, 3-2 (Incomplete when the buzzer went off at 9pm, meaning it was time to change courts)! No Aces. We knew we would not get this one finished, but we wanted to play out the rest of the hour. As such, I did not bother remembering what happened in the games.
Dan Churchill/Robin Altman over Frank Samara/Stephan Paccione, 10-9 (7-1)! Dan: 1 Ace on Frank. Here's the basic breakdown: Robin was broken and Stephan held serve to get off to a 2-0 lead. Dan held and Frank was broken to level it at 2-2. Altman held, but so did Paccione for 3-3. Churchill held again with an Ace on Frank and then Samara was broken again as his team fell to 3-5. Rockin' Robin was now on serve in a very pivotal game as she got out to a Double Game/Match Point lead, it was then cut down to Game/Match Point, Deuce and then a 3rd Game/Match Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point, 3rd Deuce, Break Point and finally the break to have her team's lead cut to 5-4! Smooth held again to level things at 5-5. The Ace Machine held yet again to go up 6-5 and then came the next pivotal game with Hollywood on serve. He got off to a Love-30 start only to then run it to Game Point and then the hold for 6-6! He finally held in the most crucial spot possible. He thought he had fought for the Tiebreak, but the other three decided to play out the games and win by two as there was still plenty of time left on the clock. Robin was broken, but then so was Stephan for 7-7! Dan held yet again for 8-7, but Frank also held to make it 8-8! Then came the third pivotal game with Altman on serve as she went down Double Break Point, brought it to Deuce, had another Break Point, then 2nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold to go up 9-8! Paccione held to make it 9-9 and then the 10pm buzzer went off! At this time, we then decided to play the 7-Point Tiebreak. In the Breaker: Dan held his lone serve and then Frank was broken on his first but held his second for 1-2. But from there, Robin held both of her serves and Stephan was broken on both of his serves to hand over a 6-1 lead and 4th Match Point to Churchill who then put it away on his first serve to win the TB at 7-1!
The Skinny: This unconventional score can be counted as official because we played more (not less) that what is traditionally required of a full One-Setter. This match-up was about as even as one could get and the action was fast-paced. The difference was the dominant service performance of Churchill. I gave him the moniker of "The Ace Machine" after the last time I had faced him in Fair Lawn. While he only scored one in this One-Setter, he had so many more un-returned and/or truly un-returnable serves against both Stephan and me, that he was never broken. That was the edge that his team had. It did not help that I got off to a sluggish start in this one and was broken in my first two service games. I finally started to hold when it counted the most and got the lone point in the TB on my serve, but it was a case of too little, too late, unfortunately.
Samara's Notes: It really was a fun session and I'm glad that Marie gave me the invite to sub. Good stuff!
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
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