10/13/17:
"18 play (5 new) at PAC, 16 play at C.G.!":
There were two sessions of GTA Friday Night Tennis: one at The Park Ave. Courts in Nutley hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara (in terms of reporting the results for the GTA), but the session came together due to the efforts of "Richie" Rich Liu and his meet-up group, "The Hit Man" Tom La again inviting his friends to attend and "The Riz" John Rizzo coordinating things behind the scenes.
The other was the usual one at The Cedar Grove Courts with "C.A.T." Christine Toth, "Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli, "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan and "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan all reporting scores.
First, it is off to Nutley we go!
When Samara pulled into the parking lot off of Park Ave. at 7:20, he first saw that Liu was arriving at the same time. The next thing he noticed was that all four courts were full...but the good news was that two of the four had our players (or soon-to-be players) on them.
Earlier in the evening at 6:30, Rizzo had sent a text message to Samara to tell him that he had already arrived and was waiting on the bench behind two other guys who seemed to be together.
Well, since that time, John was able to gain control of Court One as he would end up teaming with a new player (whose info I would garner later) to go up against "Hurricane" Jose Gonzales and "Vintage" Vinnie De Benedetto.
Over on Court Three, Edgar "Valentino" Valencia and "Ravishing" Randy Doran were playing Doubles against two guys we did not end up recruiting. Courts Two and Four were occupied by non-GTA players.
So Samara took the bench and was soon joined by "The Speed Demon" Dan Praport at 7:25. Meanwhile, Liu headed over to Court Three to assess the situation there.
At 7:35, three more players arrived - La and his buddy, "NC-17" Nick Caputo and then "Fantastic" Fausto Murg. Fausto headed out to Court Three while Tom and Nick took the bench next to Frank and Dan. We soon found out that Nick is part of the Secaucus High School Tennis Team Alumni along with "Double R" Rob Ryan and "The Lethal Lefty" Lou La Forgia. He said he already reached out to Lou and hopes to get together with him for some GTA Tennis at The Cedar Grove Courts in the near future.
The two guys who were on Court Two left at 7:45. That opened the door for Dan, Fausto, Tom and Nick to take that court and it soon led to a Doubles One-Setter with Praport/Murg facing La/Caputo. Meanwhile, a new Doubles One-Setter had begun on Court Three as Liu teamed with a new recruit (more on him later) to face Doran and "The Dark Knight" Dan Knitzer.
At 7:55, "Stevie Styles" Steve Torres arrived, but he was just a little too late to get involved in the second Doubles One-Setter on Court One as Edgar teamed with the same new recruit that had teamed earlier with John to take on Vin and yet another new recruit. That One-Setter would end at 8:25 and De Benedetto was the first to leave the session ten minutes after that.
Somewhere before that happened, the two guys who had been playing Singles on Court Four approached us to see if those of us who were waiting (Samara was now up against the fence in the Court Three area at this time) were looking to take their court. It was so nice of them to do this, that we all decided that they should play on further. But later in the evening, we would bring them into the league as well as they ended up teaming to play a Doubles One-Setter against Rizzo and Knitzer (and these two new guys are quite formidable).
At the same time that One-Setter got underway, Samara finally got involved in the action as he teamed with Torres to take on two of the new guys on Court Three.
We ended up with a very impressive total of 18 official competitors and five of the new, making their official GTA Debut!
For the second straight week...it was quite the session, indeed! Like the previous Friday night, the weather was absolutely beautiful - perfect for tennis! And also like last week, we will detail all these new entrants to the league later in this report.
The Park Ave. Courts Results:
Jose Gonzales/Vinnie De Benedetto over John Rizzo/Muhammad Haque, 6-4! No Aces. It was the official GTA Debut of Muhammad Haque. This one got underway on Court One around 7:10. Jose and Vin jumped out to a 3-1 lead only to have it get evened up at 3-3. They then went up 5-3 and then John held serve to get his team to 4-5. But then Gonzales held yet again (I believe I had heard...perhaps from Vin...that Jose had not been broken) to get the win as this one ended exactly at 7:47.
The Skinny: Muhammad found the session through Rich's Meet-Up Group and said he has played tennis in the past, but he warned John that he would be a bit rusty. And so he was, but he was starting to find his game along the way. What he did best was put points away at the net while his biggest weakness was trying to find his serve again (he would later in the evening). He worked on the Admission Staff at the most recent US Open. He is a very nice guy. For now (until I can come up with a better moniker), I will give him the nickname of "Muha" as it is both short for Muhammad and also combines the first syllables of his first and last names.
Randy Doran/Dan Knitzer over Rich Liu/Rachid Baalla, 6-4! Rich: 1 Ace on Randy on his very first serve! It was the official GTA Debut of Rachid Baalla. They played this one on Court Three from 7:39 to 8:13.
The Skinny: To be honest with you, I am not sure if Rachid is part of the Meet-Up Group or a friend of Tom's. He was at The Park Ave. Courts the previous Friday night, but only got involved in a Singles hitting session with someone yet to enter the league. This week, he had his young baby daughter there in a stroller. So the two teams agreed to forego the changeovers just so Daddy Rachid could tend to his daughter's needs whenever they arose (I never got her name...my guess is she is somewhere near two years old). For now, I will give him the moniker of "R&B" as it is both a play on his initials and also appropriate for his style of play. Like good R&B, he is smooth yet powerful.
Tom La/Nick Caputo over Dan Praport/Fausto Murg, 6-2! Nick: 2 Aces on Dan (and the last one was on Match Point); and Tom: 1 Ace on Dan! Court Two hosted this one from 7:55 to 8:23.
Vinnie De Benedetto/Kyle Eng over Edgar Valencia/Muhammad Haque, 6-1! Kyle: 2 Aces (one on each); and Edgar: 2 Aces (one on each...though Vin said the one on him was a cheap one...LOL!)! It was the official GTA Debut of Kyle Eng. They got this one done on Court One and the duration was from 7:58 to 8:25.
The Skinny: Kyle came via the Meet-Up Group and has played sporadically with them in the past. Starting to sound like a broken record here, but he is a very nice guy. Only nickname I can come up with for now is "Kaybee" as it is a play off of his initials (first name, middle name).
Jose Gonzales/John Rizzo over Dan Knitzer/Steve Torres, 6-0! No Aces. This was contested on Court Three from 8:15 to 8:39.
Rich Liu/Randy Doran over Tom La/Nick Caputo, 6-3! Nick: 1 Ace on Randy. Court Two hosted this one from 8:24 to 8:55. Richie Rich and Ravishing Randy were quite pleased to win this one (and by a 6-3 margin) as they had much respect for the heavy-hitting style of both Tom and Nick.
2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Edgar Valencia/Kyle Eng over Dan Praport/Fausto Murg, 6-4, 6-3, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 92 and # 93 Ranked Teams respectively! Edgar: 2 Aces (one on each) in the 1st Set; Kyle: 1 Ace on Dan in the 1st Set; and Dan: 1 Ace on Edgar in the 2nd Set! This got done on Court One in the time span from 8:28 to 9:38.
The Skinny: Since everyone else had settled into action on all the other courts and nobody else was waiting to jump in, they were able to play a full straight-set match.
Frank Samara/Steve Torres over Muhammad Haque/Rachid Baalla, 7-5! Muhammad: 2 Aces on Frank! We decided to forego changeovers to enable Muhammad to stay as close to his daughter as often as possible and I brought my bag and notepad to the net post in order to write down the games every two or three or so. It went like this: Steve held serve (started with a Double Fault, then Frank hit a winning volley for 15-All and then it went point for point until 30-All as Muhammad hit a mishit volley winner and then Frank hit another winner along the way until an un-returned serve set up Game Point, it went to Deuce, then Game Point again where Steve hit a winner to secure his own hold), Rachid held at Love as he hit three consecutive un-returned serves to set up Triple Game Point, but Frank was the first to be broken (Rachid hit a winning Overhead Smash for Love-30, it was Triple Break Point where Frank hit a winner to bring it to Double Break Point and then Muhammad blew a volley to make it Break Point, but then came the break) to go down 1-2. Muhammad held (Love-15 then point for point until 30-All, Game Point and then a big and unexpected corner Ace against Frank for the hold) and then Torres was broken at Love as he started off with two Double Faults to make it Love-30 and then on Triple Break Point he hit another Double Fault to break himself as his team went down 1-4! Baalla was then broken (started with a Double Fault, then it went to Love-30 before it shifted to 30-All, Break Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point again and then the break...could no longer remember who hit what winners where and when as I also had to note action taking place on other courts at that time) and Samara held (15-Love then point for point to Game Point and then the hold...likely forgot the winners here as well) to pull to 3-4. Haque held again (15-Love shifted to 15-30 as Steve hit a winning return to get it to that point, but then another impressive Ace against Frank...this time just off the edge of the sideline made it 30-All, it then went to Break Point and then Deuce where Frank blew an attempted drop shot that set up Game Point where an un-returned serve secured the hold) to put his team up 5-3, but then Stevie Styles held (Muhammad hit a winning drop shot volley for a Love-15 start and then a Double Fault made it Love-30, but then it shifted straight to Game Point, another Double Fault to bring it to Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Break/Match Point, 3rd Deuce, a 2nd Break/Match Point, 4th Deuce, Game Point and then the hold...and I could no longer remember the winners once we got to Deuce) and R&B was broken again (Muhammad blew an overhead attempt in the opening point to be followed by Frank hitting a winning Overhead Smash to make it Love-30 before it then shifted to 30-All and then it went to Break Point, Deuce, Game/Match Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point and then the break...multiple Deuce games make me lose track of the winners) to level the set at 5-5! Hollywood held again (30-Love shifted to Break Point, then Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point, 3rd Deuce, Game Point again and then the hold...again, no longer noting the winners in these lengthy games) and then Muha was finally broken (Love-15 then point for point to Break/Match Point which was set up by a very nice winner from Steve, but then it went to Deuce and then the 2nd Break/Match Point where he hit a Double Fault to break himself) to take a tough loss as the opposition proved to be The Comeback Kids! We played this one on Court Three from 8:43 to 9:44...one hour and one minute long! It ended on the 5th Match Point overall.
The Skinny: Having stood by the sidelines so long, Samara started off very rusty in this one (it did not help matters that the last time he had played was the previous Friday Night session at The Park Ave. Courts the week before) while Baalla was both a steady and aggressive player and Haque was finally finding his big serve again (as Frank could testify to having been Aced twice). Torres was trying hard...perhaps too hard as he made nice gets only to then sail many shots long. The momentum shift occurred when Rachid became less consistent (he was likely somewhat distracted by his daughter nearby) and then Muhammad followed suit. Meanwhile, Frank finally started to find his game and that seemingly lifted the spirits of Steve who then did the same. This was a fun one with a lot of drama, but the quality of play was not always the highest. It may have been just enough to garner an Honorable Mention for One-Set Doubles Match of The Year at season's end.
Gyorgy Papp/Tomas Molinar over John Rizzo/Dan Knitzer, 6-2! Gyorgy: 3 Aces (2 on John and 1 on Dan); and Tomas: 1 Ace on Dan! It was the official GTA Debut of both Gyorgy Papp and Tomas Molinar. This was contested on Court Four from 8:43 to 9:13.
The Skinny: Having seen them hit with one another and play Singles against each other, we already knew that Gyorgy and Tomas both have big game. They prefer playing Singles over Doubles, but the combination of these heavy-hitters was still just too much for John and Dan to overcome. As for monikers, I will give Papp the nickname of "G-Pop" while Tomas inspires thoughts of "The Terminator!"
Jose Gonzales/Nick Caputo over Rich Liu/Randy Doran, 7-5! Jose: 2 Aces (one on each)! Court Two hosted this one from 9pm to 9:49. It was likely to feature the highest quality tennis of the entire session. I think Rich and Randy said that Jose was once again never broken as he really had his first serve locked in for the evening. Liu and Doran, while disappointed to take a loss, were still feeling good about themselves having done so well against such a formidable team.
In the latter stages of the session, Court Four featured the following hitting sessions - Knitzer hitting against both Rizzo and La, then just against La and then against Baalla. Court One featured Valencia and Haque going up against Murg and Torres (I think they managed to play a couple of games...I did not bother to ask them for the incomplete score as it was such a short one).
After the session concluded, seven of us (Samara, Rizzo, Liu, Doran, Valencia, Knitzer and Haque) went out to Franklin Steakhouse for food and drinks. The week before it was just three of us (Frank, John and Rich). So we are not only building a great session of GTA Tennis in Nutley, but a nice social gathering afterwards as well.
The unfortunate thing is that it is highly likely that the Township of Nutley will be unwilling to put the lights on at the courts beyond October. Thus, weather permitting, we only have two more of these Friday night sessions left to go until next season.
We now will detail all that took place up at Cedar Grove. And we will try to do it in chronological order as best as possible.
The Cedar Grove Results:
2 out of 3 Sets Women's Doubles Match:
Christine Toth/Fadia Nicolas over Kathy Sheldon/Laurie Boughton, 6-3, 6-4, to become the New # 7 Ranked Team in the Women's Doubles Division! No Aces.
The Skinny: This match came together over the course of the day as each of the four ladies replied to one another (and copied to the entire league) that they would all be available to play at Cedar Grove at 6:30. This is when our mailing list works best. I assume this was the first match of the evening.
Samara's Notes: I thank Christine for reporting this result in very timely fashion. We now go to Doinks.
2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:
Moka Pathan/Louise Bysiek over Joe Rodrigues/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-4, 7-5, as both teams entered the Mixed Doubles Division as the New # 48 and # 49 Ranked Teams respectively! No Aces.
Samara's Notes: I thank Doinks for reporting this result in very timely fashion. We now go to Spin.
Dennis Cabanatan/Doinks Srinivasan over Dan Martinelli/Fadia Nicolas, 6-1! No Aces.
Dan Martinelli/Fadia Nicolas over Dennis Cabanatan/Louise Bysiek, 7-6 (7-3)! Spin: 1 Ace on Louise; and Dennis: 1 Ace on Fadia.
Samara's Notes: I thank Spin for submitting those scores in a very timely manner. Lastly, we go to Kris for the last couple of results of the evening.
2 out of 3 Sets:
Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout over Syed Rashid/Mike Sindler, 6-4, 6-1! No Aces.
2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Ryan Pienciak/Kris Srinivasan over Jorge Solano/Arthur Fontanilla, 6-3, 6-3, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 94 and # 95 Ranked Teams respectively! No Aces.
Samara's Notes: As always, I thank Kris for all he does for the league up at Cedar Grove.
All the best,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com
"18 play (5 new) at PAC, 16 play at C.G.!":
There were two sessions of GTA Friday Night Tennis: one at The Park Ave. Courts in Nutley hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara (in terms of reporting the results for the GTA), but the session came together due to the efforts of "Richie" Rich Liu and his meet-up group, "The Hit Man" Tom La again inviting his friends to attend and "The Riz" John Rizzo coordinating things behind the scenes.
The other was the usual one at The Cedar Grove Courts with "C.A.T." Christine Toth, "Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli, "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan and "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan all reporting scores.
First, it is off to Nutley we go!
When Samara pulled into the parking lot off of Park Ave. at 7:20, he first saw that Liu was arriving at the same time. The next thing he noticed was that all four courts were full...but the good news was that two of the four had our players (or soon-to-be players) on them.
Earlier in the evening at 6:30, Rizzo had sent a text message to Samara to tell him that he had already arrived and was waiting on the bench behind two other guys who seemed to be together.
Well, since that time, John was able to gain control of Court One as he would end up teaming with a new player (whose info I would garner later) to go up against "Hurricane" Jose Gonzales and "Vintage" Vinnie De Benedetto.
Over on Court Three, Edgar "Valentino" Valencia and "Ravishing" Randy Doran were playing Doubles against two guys we did not end up recruiting. Courts Two and Four were occupied by non-GTA players.
So Samara took the bench and was soon joined by "The Speed Demon" Dan Praport at 7:25. Meanwhile, Liu headed over to Court Three to assess the situation there.
At 7:35, three more players arrived - La and his buddy, "NC-17" Nick Caputo and then "Fantastic" Fausto Murg. Fausto headed out to Court Three while Tom and Nick took the bench next to Frank and Dan. We soon found out that Nick is part of the Secaucus High School Tennis Team Alumni along with "Double R" Rob Ryan and "The Lethal Lefty" Lou La Forgia. He said he already reached out to Lou and hopes to get together with him for some GTA Tennis at The Cedar Grove Courts in the near future.
The two guys who were on Court Two left at 7:45. That opened the door for Dan, Fausto, Tom and Nick to take that court and it soon led to a Doubles One-Setter with Praport/Murg facing La/Caputo. Meanwhile, a new Doubles One-Setter had begun on Court Three as Liu teamed with a new recruit (more on him later) to face Doran and "The Dark Knight" Dan Knitzer.
At 7:55, "Stevie Styles" Steve Torres arrived, but he was just a little too late to get involved in the second Doubles One-Setter on Court One as Edgar teamed with the same new recruit that had teamed earlier with John to take on Vin and yet another new recruit. That One-Setter would end at 8:25 and De Benedetto was the first to leave the session ten minutes after that.
Somewhere before that happened, the two guys who had been playing Singles on Court Four approached us to see if those of us who were waiting (Samara was now up against the fence in the Court Three area at this time) were looking to take their court. It was so nice of them to do this, that we all decided that they should play on further. But later in the evening, we would bring them into the league as well as they ended up teaming to play a Doubles One-Setter against Rizzo and Knitzer (and these two new guys are quite formidable).
At the same time that One-Setter got underway, Samara finally got involved in the action as he teamed with Torres to take on two of the new guys on Court Three.
We ended up with a very impressive total of 18 official competitors and five of the new, making their official GTA Debut!
For the second straight week...it was quite the session, indeed! Like the previous Friday night, the weather was absolutely beautiful - perfect for tennis! And also like last week, we will detail all these new entrants to the league later in this report.
The Park Ave. Courts Results:
Jose Gonzales/Vinnie De Benedetto over John Rizzo/Muhammad Haque, 6-4! No Aces. It was the official GTA Debut of Muhammad Haque. This one got underway on Court One around 7:10. Jose and Vin jumped out to a 3-1 lead only to have it get evened up at 3-3. They then went up 5-3 and then John held serve to get his team to 4-5. But then Gonzales held yet again (I believe I had heard...perhaps from Vin...that Jose had not been broken) to get the win as this one ended exactly at 7:47.
The Skinny: Muhammad found the session through Rich's Meet-Up Group and said he has played tennis in the past, but he warned John that he would be a bit rusty. And so he was, but he was starting to find his game along the way. What he did best was put points away at the net while his biggest weakness was trying to find his serve again (he would later in the evening). He worked on the Admission Staff at the most recent US Open. He is a very nice guy. For now (until I can come up with a better moniker), I will give him the nickname of "Muha" as it is both short for Muhammad and also combines the first syllables of his first and last names.
Randy Doran/Dan Knitzer over Rich Liu/Rachid Baalla, 6-4! Rich: 1 Ace on Randy on his very first serve! It was the official GTA Debut of Rachid Baalla. They played this one on Court Three from 7:39 to 8:13.
The Skinny: To be honest with you, I am not sure if Rachid is part of the Meet-Up Group or a friend of Tom's. He was at The Park Ave. Courts the previous Friday night, but only got involved in a Singles hitting session with someone yet to enter the league. This week, he had his young baby daughter there in a stroller. So the two teams agreed to forego the changeovers just so Daddy Rachid could tend to his daughter's needs whenever they arose (I never got her name...my guess is she is somewhere near two years old). For now, I will give him the moniker of "R&B" as it is both a play on his initials and also appropriate for his style of play. Like good R&B, he is smooth yet powerful.
Tom La/Nick Caputo over Dan Praport/Fausto Murg, 6-2! Nick: 2 Aces on Dan (and the last one was on Match Point); and Tom: 1 Ace on Dan! Court Two hosted this one from 7:55 to 8:23.
Vinnie De Benedetto/Kyle Eng over Edgar Valencia/Muhammad Haque, 6-1! Kyle: 2 Aces (one on each); and Edgar: 2 Aces (one on each...though Vin said the one on him was a cheap one...LOL!)! It was the official GTA Debut of Kyle Eng. They got this one done on Court One and the duration was from 7:58 to 8:25.
The Skinny: Kyle came via the Meet-Up Group and has played sporadically with them in the past. Starting to sound like a broken record here, but he is a very nice guy. Only nickname I can come up with for now is "Kaybee" as it is a play off of his initials (first name, middle name).
Jose Gonzales/John Rizzo over Dan Knitzer/Steve Torres, 6-0! No Aces. This was contested on Court Three from 8:15 to 8:39.
Rich Liu/Randy Doran over Tom La/Nick Caputo, 6-3! Nick: 1 Ace on Randy. Court Two hosted this one from 8:24 to 8:55. Richie Rich and Ravishing Randy were quite pleased to win this one (and by a 6-3 margin) as they had much respect for the heavy-hitting style of both Tom and Nick.
2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Edgar Valencia/Kyle Eng over Dan Praport/Fausto Murg, 6-4, 6-3, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 92 and # 93 Ranked Teams respectively! Edgar: 2 Aces (one on each) in the 1st Set; Kyle: 1 Ace on Dan in the 1st Set; and Dan: 1 Ace on Edgar in the 2nd Set! This got done on Court One in the time span from 8:28 to 9:38.
The Skinny: Since everyone else had settled into action on all the other courts and nobody else was waiting to jump in, they were able to play a full straight-set match.
Frank Samara/Steve Torres over Muhammad Haque/Rachid Baalla, 7-5! Muhammad: 2 Aces on Frank! We decided to forego changeovers to enable Muhammad to stay as close to his daughter as often as possible and I brought my bag and notepad to the net post in order to write down the games every two or three or so. It went like this: Steve held serve (started with a Double Fault, then Frank hit a winning volley for 15-All and then it went point for point until 30-All as Muhammad hit a mishit volley winner and then Frank hit another winner along the way until an un-returned serve set up Game Point, it went to Deuce, then Game Point again where Steve hit a winner to secure his own hold), Rachid held at Love as he hit three consecutive un-returned serves to set up Triple Game Point, but Frank was the first to be broken (Rachid hit a winning Overhead Smash for Love-30, it was Triple Break Point where Frank hit a winner to bring it to Double Break Point and then Muhammad blew a volley to make it Break Point, but then came the break) to go down 1-2. Muhammad held (Love-15 then point for point until 30-All, Game Point and then a big and unexpected corner Ace against Frank for the hold) and then Torres was broken at Love as he started off with two Double Faults to make it Love-30 and then on Triple Break Point he hit another Double Fault to break himself as his team went down 1-4! Baalla was then broken (started with a Double Fault, then it went to Love-30 before it shifted to 30-All, Break Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point again and then the break...could no longer remember who hit what winners where and when as I also had to note action taking place on other courts at that time) and Samara held (15-Love then point for point to Game Point and then the hold...likely forgot the winners here as well) to pull to 3-4. Haque held again (15-Love shifted to 15-30 as Steve hit a winning return to get it to that point, but then another impressive Ace against Frank...this time just off the edge of the sideline made it 30-All, it then went to Break Point and then Deuce where Frank blew an attempted drop shot that set up Game Point where an un-returned serve secured the hold) to put his team up 5-3, but then Stevie Styles held (Muhammad hit a winning drop shot volley for a Love-15 start and then a Double Fault made it Love-30, but then it shifted straight to Game Point, another Double Fault to bring it to Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Break/Match Point, 3rd Deuce, a 2nd Break/Match Point, 4th Deuce, Game Point and then the hold...and I could no longer remember the winners once we got to Deuce) and R&B was broken again (Muhammad blew an overhead attempt in the opening point to be followed by Frank hitting a winning Overhead Smash to make it Love-30 before it then shifted to 30-All and then it went to Break Point, Deuce, Game/Match Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point and then the break...multiple Deuce games make me lose track of the winners) to level the set at 5-5! Hollywood held again (30-Love shifted to Break Point, then Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point, 3rd Deuce, Game Point again and then the hold...again, no longer noting the winners in these lengthy games) and then Muha was finally broken (Love-15 then point for point to Break/Match Point which was set up by a very nice winner from Steve, but then it went to Deuce and then the 2nd Break/Match Point where he hit a Double Fault to break himself) to take a tough loss as the opposition proved to be The Comeback Kids! We played this one on Court Three from 8:43 to 9:44...one hour and one minute long! It ended on the 5th Match Point overall.
The Skinny: Having stood by the sidelines so long, Samara started off very rusty in this one (it did not help matters that the last time he had played was the previous Friday Night session at The Park Ave. Courts the week before) while Baalla was both a steady and aggressive player and Haque was finally finding his big serve again (as Frank could testify to having been Aced twice). Torres was trying hard...perhaps too hard as he made nice gets only to then sail many shots long. The momentum shift occurred when Rachid became less consistent (he was likely somewhat distracted by his daughter nearby) and then Muhammad followed suit. Meanwhile, Frank finally started to find his game and that seemingly lifted the spirits of Steve who then did the same. This was a fun one with a lot of drama, but the quality of play was not always the highest. It may have been just enough to garner an Honorable Mention for One-Set Doubles Match of The Year at season's end.
Gyorgy Papp/Tomas Molinar over John Rizzo/Dan Knitzer, 6-2! Gyorgy: 3 Aces (2 on John and 1 on Dan); and Tomas: 1 Ace on Dan! It was the official GTA Debut of both Gyorgy Papp and Tomas Molinar. This was contested on Court Four from 8:43 to 9:13.
The Skinny: Having seen them hit with one another and play Singles against each other, we already knew that Gyorgy and Tomas both have big game. They prefer playing Singles over Doubles, but the combination of these heavy-hitters was still just too much for John and Dan to overcome. As for monikers, I will give Papp the nickname of "G-Pop" while Tomas inspires thoughts of "The Terminator!"
Jose Gonzales/Nick Caputo over Rich Liu/Randy Doran, 7-5! Jose: 2 Aces (one on each)! Court Two hosted this one from 9pm to 9:49. It was likely to feature the highest quality tennis of the entire session. I think Rich and Randy said that Jose was once again never broken as he really had his first serve locked in for the evening. Liu and Doran, while disappointed to take a loss, were still feeling good about themselves having done so well against such a formidable team.
In the latter stages of the session, Court Four featured the following hitting sessions - Knitzer hitting against both Rizzo and La, then just against La and then against Baalla. Court One featured Valencia and Haque going up against Murg and Torres (I think they managed to play a couple of games...I did not bother to ask them for the incomplete score as it was such a short one).
After the session concluded, seven of us (Samara, Rizzo, Liu, Doran, Valencia, Knitzer and Haque) went out to Franklin Steakhouse for food and drinks. The week before it was just three of us (Frank, John and Rich). So we are not only building a great session of GTA Tennis in Nutley, but a nice social gathering afterwards as well.
The unfortunate thing is that it is highly likely that the Township of Nutley will be unwilling to put the lights on at the courts beyond October. Thus, weather permitting, we only have two more of these Friday night sessions left to go until next season.
We now will detail all that took place up at Cedar Grove. And we will try to do it in chronological order as best as possible.
The Cedar Grove Results:
2 out of 3 Sets Women's Doubles Match:
Christine Toth/Fadia Nicolas over Kathy Sheldon/Laurie Boughton, 6-3, 6-4, to become the New # 7 Ranked Team in the Women's Doubles Division! No Aces.
The Skinny: This match came together over the course of the day as each of the four ladies replied to one another (and copied to the entire league) that they would all be available to play at Cedar Grove at 6:30. This is when our mailing list works best. I assume this was the first match of the evening.
Samara's Notes: I thank Christine for reporting this result in very timely fashion. We now go to Doinks.
2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:
Moka Pathan/Louise Bysiek over Joe Rodrigues/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-4, 7-5, as both teams entered the Mixed Doubles Division as the New # 48 and # 49 Ranked Teams respectively! No Aces.
Samara's Notes: I thank Doinks for reporting this result in very timely fashion. We now go to Spin.
Dennis Cabanatan/Doinks Srinivasan over Dan Martinelli/Fadia Nicolas, 6-1! No Aces.
Dan Martinelli/Fadia Nicolas over Dennis Cabanatan/Louise Bysiek, 7-6 (7-3)! Spin: 1 Ace on Louise; and Dennis: 1 Ace on Fadia.
Samara's Notes: I thank Spin for submitting those scores in a very timely manner. Lastly, we go to Kris for the last couple of results of the evening.
2 out of 3 Sets:
Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout over Syed Rashid/Mike Sindler, 6-4, 6-1! No Aces.
2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Ryan Pienciak/Kris Srinivasan over Jorge Solano/Arthur Fontanilla, 6-3, 6-3, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 94 and # 95 Ranked Teams respectively! No Aces.
Samara's Notes: As always, I thank Kris for all he does for the league up at Cedar Grove.
All the best,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com
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