11/26/17:
"Samara hosts 6 at AP, Riz hosts 25 at Bubble!":
There were three sessions of GTA Sunday Tennis and they were all the usual: the morning one at Albion Park in Clifton hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara and then the two late afternoon/early evening sessions at The Wayne Bubble for the two Night Owl groups which are hosted by "The Riz" John Rizzo. First, we will detail all the comings and goings at Albion and then get all the scores from The Bubble.
Samara pulled up to the courts at Albion at 10:25 and nobody else was there. Given the fact that the weather conditions were not much more favorable than they were a week ago (windy with temps in the lower to mid 40 degree range, but feeling ten degrees colder), Frank was facing the possibility of no session at all (as it was last Sunday...though he later found out that "Sue B. Newbie" Suzanne Bujara did show up and ended up hitting/practicing alone).
Not all that eager to step into the cold, Samara just sat in his car and waited for others to arrive. At 10:40, Natalia "Nitro" Sout pulled up to the courts as well. She then said that GTA Champion: "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes would also be on his way.
As Frank and Natalia made their way down the hill toward the courts, they soon saw that Suzanne had already made her way onto the South Court and was once again hitting alone. Samara called her over to the North Court where they then had a hitting session featuring Frank and Suzanne going against Natalia. This was nothing for the athletic and acrobatic Sout as she told them she had hit with Nate for five hours (5 to 10pm) on Friday night up at Cedar Grove!
Nate arrived at 11:05. After a ten minute hitting session featuring the four of them, a Mixed Doubles One-Setter would soon be underway. It ended up being much more competitive than expected. During its duration, "Big George" Jorge Solano arrived at 11:40 and was soon practicing by himself on Center Court. Samara told him that he would step off to let him get involved in the next One-Setter on the North Court. And sure enough that happened right around 12:05 just as "Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli was making his way down the hill for what would only be an extended cameo appearance (having just played a football game that featured eleven players).
Next to arrive at 12:15 was Sachiko "Sachi" Tokuda. Samara then took her over to the South Court where they had a hitting session. When the second Mixed Doubles One-Setter finished around 12:45, Tokuda took the place of Bujara for that next one as Suzanne left soon after. There would end up being back-to-back One-Setters featuring Fernandes/Tokuda versus Solano/Sout.
Also, "The Scorpion Dragon" Dino Celis had arrived at 1:10 for what would also be strictly an extended cameo appearance. And, thus, we only had six official competitors for the entire session. When the fourth One-Setter of the day finished shortly before 2:15, Natalia was still ready for more...but all but Nate were ready to go. So the two of them kept hitting while everyone else was departing as the temps took a turn for the worse once the sun ducked behind the clouds. It had actually been quite a nice day for a while there when the sun was strong and the winds were kept down to a mild breeze.
The Albion Park Results:
Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout over Frank Samara/Suzanne Bujara, 7-6 (7-2)! No Aces. It went like this: Suzanne was broken at Love as Nate first hit a winning volley and then a winning roller over the net to make it Love-30 and then he made a great get/winner combo on Triple Break Point for the break and then Natalia held serve as she started off with an un-returned serve and then Frank hit a winner for 15-All and it then continued to be a point exchange like that all the way to Game Point as Frank also blew a volley along the way and then Nate hit a winning Backhand Volley to set up that Game Point and that was where Natalia hit a winning passing shot to secure her hold as her team got off to a 2-0 start! Frank held in a struggle (Frank hit a sharply angled winner for 15-Love, but then Natalia hit a winning lob return for 15-All only to then have it go to Double Game Point and then get reduced to Deuce as Natalia hit another winning lob along the way and then it went to Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point, 3rd Deuce, Break Point, 4th Deuce, Game Point and the hold...and once it went beyond Deuce, I could no longer remember who hit what winners where and when) to get his team onto the scoreboard and then Nathan was shockingly broken as Frank hit an excellent return winner for Love-30 which was where Nate hit a winning volley for 15-30, but then Suzanne hit a winner of her own to set up Double Break Point where Frank then hit another impressive winner to earn the break and level the set at 2-2! Bujara was broken at Love again as Nate got things started with a winning drop shot volley and then it was all downhill from there and then Sout held again (Nate hit another winning volley and then Natalia hit a winner of her own to make it 30-Love, it then went to Triple Game Point, then Double Game Point where Natalia hit another winner to once again secure her own hold) to put her team up 4-2! Samara also held again (back-to-back un-returned serves made it 30-Love, it then shifted to 30-All, but then went to Game Point and the hold) and then Fernandes was broken again (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 after Natalia made another winning passing shot, but then it shifted to Break Point right after Suzanne hit a mishit winner and then The Champ hit a rare Double Fault to break himself) to knot the score once more, this time at 4-4! Sue B. Newbie was broken a third time (15-Love was where Nate hit a winning volley to make it 15-All, then a Double Fault made it 15-30 and then it was at Double Break Point where Frank blew what should have been a surefire volley winner, but he got a little too excited and whipped it into the top of the tape!) as her team fell behind at 4-5, but Nitro was finally broken (an un-returned serve made it 15-Love, but then Frank hit a winning return followed by a drop shot return from Suzanne and then a drop shot winner by Suzanne to make it Double Break Point and then came the break) to keep things alive at 5-5! Hollywood held a third straight time (Triple Game Point where Frank blew his own chance at a Love hold by dumping a would-be drop shot winner into the net to make it Double Game Point, but then he redeemed himself with a winner for the hold) to put his team up this time around at 6-5 which caused The Champ to get up from off the proverbial canvas and have a Love hold as Natalia hit a passing shot winner for 30-Love and then Suzanne blew a volley on Triple Game Point and that had us headed for the Tiebreak! In the Breaker: Suzanne was broken on her lone serve while Natalia held both of hers for a 3-0 lead. Frank was then on service where the longest and best rally of the match ended with a surprise winner from Suzanne as Natalia seemingly swung at (and missed) it late perhaps thinking it was going to sail long (but it did not) and then he held his second as well to pull to 2-3. But from there, Nate held the first of his two serves for 4-2 at the changeover and then his second was an un-returned one for a 5-2 lead. Bujara was then broken on the first of her two serves for 2-6 and the first Match Point of the match where she then unceremoniously hit a Double Fault to break herself! We played this one on the North Court from 11:15 to 11:59.
The Skinny: This was much more competitive than expected. Natalia was on fire for much of the contest while Nate seemed to be shifted into a lower gear until his back was to the wall...which was where he became inspired to finally respond. Frank once again played some high-quality tennis with just a few bad misses (similar to many recent outings...and yet another loss as well). Meanwhile, Suzanne continues to gain confidence and show steady strides toward further improvement as her often aggressive strokes outnumbered her errors in this one. It ended up being a lot of fun as it was more than a simple "walk in the park" for the now famous Nate/Nat combo.
Nathan Fernandes/Suzanne Bujara over Jorge Solano/Natalia Sout, 6-4! No Aces. This was also played on the North Court and it lasted from 12:06 to 12:46. Nate and Suzanne were up 4-1, 4-2, 5-2 and then their lead was cut to 5-4 before they were finally able to shut the door.
Nathan Fernandes/Sachiko Tokuda over Jorge Solano/Natalia Sout, 6-3! Jorge: 1 Ace on Sachiko. The North Court hosted this one from 12:50 to 1:19. Samara and Martinelli were in full "Heckler" mode in this one and the resultant hilarity often brought the players to a standstill...but in a good way. There were a couple of times where Natalia could not get back up off the court!
Enjoying their role as hooligans just a bit too much, neither Frank nor Spin were looking to get involved in the next one...so it ended up being a Rematch One-Setter.
Nathan Fernandes/Sachiko Tokuda over Jorge Solano/Natalia Sout, 6-4! No Aces. And this one was also played on the North Court, from 1:22 to 2:13.
We now head up to The Wayne Bubble for the scores from John.
The Wayne Bubble Results:
The 3 to 5pm session:
2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
John Rizzo/Sean McHugh over Vlad Smolyanskiy/Henry Mendoza, 6-1, 7-6 (7-1), as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 112 and # 113 Ranked Teams respectively! No Aces.
Brenda Jordan/Jeanette Pegg over Kathy Sheldon/Marie Easton, 6-2! No Aces.
Brenda Jordan/Marie Easton over Kathy Sheldon/Jeanette Pegg, 6-2! No Aces.
Kathy Sheldon/Brenda Jordan over Marie Easton/Jeanette Pegg, 6-2! No Aces.
John Rizzo/Sean McHugh leading Vlad Smolyanskiy/Henry Mendoza, 5-4 (Incomplete when the session ran out of time)! No Aces.
Kevin Doyle and Robin Miller had a two hour long hitting session with one another.
The 6 to 8pm session:
Anish Mehta/Syed Rashid over Senthil Kumar/Frank Hohorst, 6-4! Anish: 2 Aces on Senthil!
Senthil Kumar/Frank Hohorst over Anish Mehta/Syed Rashid, 6-3! No Aces.
2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Tom La/Nick Caputo over Dennis Cabanatan/Ryan Sherry, 6-2, 7-5, to successfully defend their # 94 Rank in the Doubles Division! In the process, Cabanatan/Sherry entered the division as the New # 114 Ranked Team. No Aces.
Dennis Cabanatan/Ryan Sherry over Tom La/Nick Caputo, 6-4! No Aces.
Tony Shiao/Arthur Fontanilla over John Rizzo/Rich Liu, 6-2! No Aces.
Rich Liu/Arthur Fontanilla over Tony Shiao/Jordan Bachvaroff, 7-6 (7-3)! No Aces.
2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:
Ryan Pienciak over Senthil Kumar, 6-0, 6-1, to successfully defend his # 2 Rank in the Advanced Division! No Aces.
2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Ryan Pienciak/Ray Spadaro over Joe Rodrigues/Pranav Sinha, 6-3, 6-0, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 115 and # 116 Ranked Teams respectively! No Aces.
Ryan Pienciak/Pranav Sinha over Joe Rodrigues/Ray Spadaro, 6-0! No Aces.
Ray Spadaro/Frank Hohorst over Pranav Sinha/Syed Rashid, 6-2! No Aces.
Samara's Notes: I thank John for collecting all those scores and then reporting them in such a timely manner.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
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