11/9/17:
"Berg-Roli part of 10 at C.G., 12 play at The Bubble!":
There were three sessions of GTA Thursday Tennis: the first one being at The Cedar Grove Courts in the late afternoon and featuring a full 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match between "Ice Berg" Scott Bergenfeld and "Roli" Rolando Cabrera. Earlier in the day, Bergenfeld issued an Open Challenge to the league and Cabrera was the one who responded. The match result was reported by Scott.
The second one was the usual evening session at The Cedar Grove Courts and it was hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara as well as the third one which was at The Wayne Bubble with "The Riz" John Rizzo organizing and running that Night Owls Group (with Samara swooping in to collect the results).
With much improved weather from the night before (it had to be a climb of about 10 degrees...plus, like the night before, virtually no wind), we expected a much stronger turnout than we had at the GTA Wednesday Night Tennis session at Cedar Grove. Well, we assumed wrong! Be careful when you assume...because it always makes an "ASS" out of "U" and "ME"...an oldie, but still a goodie.
When Samara pulled into the parking lot very early at 6:15, he saw that the entire place was vacant - all the courts and the parking lot as well! This gave him a good opportunity to fall into a light sleep very quickly.
Around 6:20, a bunch of high school kids took over both Courts Three and Four...but it was not for tennis. They plopped all of their book bags on Court Four, but then all sat down on Court Three in a circle just to B.S. Already, Samara started fuming!
Around 6:25, Natalia "Nitro" Sout pulled into the parking lot. Having seen the situation on Courts Three and Four (also, that one puddle off the corner of where the baseline and the sideline meet nearest to the entrance gate still remained from the night before), Samara and Sout soon headed out to Court One.
Just as they were about to start hitting with one another, GTA Champion: "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes arrived at 6:30. He got out on the court and then there was a three-way hitting session as first Natalia stood alone against both of the guys in an all close to the net session of volley practice. Then, we fell back toward the baseline and would soon switch it up to Samara and Sout both hitting to Fernandes.
"The Bulgarian Bull" Jordan Bachvaroff arrived at 7:10, but instead of opting to become the fourth player on Court One for some Doubles action...he instead called "The Art Font" Arthur Fontanilla and told him it would be a great opportunity for a Singles hitting session. By this time, the kids had already left the courts (likely around 7pm). So Jordan took Court Three for himself while waiting for Art to arrive.
The usual Cedar Grove host, "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan made his way across the street at 7:15 and soon made it a foursome on Court One. After a brief hitting session, we all agreed that the best sides would be Nate and Natalia versus Kris and Frank. Turns out we would be proven to be very correct in that assessment of balance and fairness.
Fontanilla arrived at the courts at 7:35 and they had a hitting session that lasted all the way until 9:20 as they never sought to play anything official...neither against one another nor upon invite for some Doubles. After Art's departure, Jordan did join us for some Doubles action...but I am getting ahead of myself.
At 8:05, "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan made her way across the street and hung outside the fence in the Court One area just waiting to get involved. Ten minutes later, both "The Rogue" Rob Gawley and "The Levitator" Levy Lorenzo arrived and soon joined Doinks out on Court Two for a hitting session.
And that was it for arrivals for the night, so we had a somewhat disappointing total of just eight players for the session (it would have been nine had Fontanilla played in an official set, at least). Many missed out on a night that ended up being quite nice for tennis action. Oh well...
...let's get to the scores...starting with Bergenfeld-Cabrera!
The Cedar Grove Results:
2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:
Scott Bergenfeld over Rolando Cabrera, 6-0, 6-0, as Bergenfeld moved out of the Non-Competing Men's Division to become both the New # 37 Ranked Player in the Advanced Division and the New # 37 Ranked Player in the Intermediate Division (as he has already established himself as one of the "bridge players" simultaneously ranked in both divisions) while it was the official GTA Return of Cabrera coming back to the Intermediate Division as the New # 38 Ranked Player! Scott: 2 Aces in the 1st Set; and Rolando: 1 Ace in the 1st Set!
The Great Scott Shout-Out: The match lasted about an hour.
Samara's Notes: I thank Scott for his very timely reporting of that match. We now detail all the results from the night session at Cedar Grove.
Kris Srinivasan/Frank Samara over Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout, 7-6 (8-6)! No Aces. It went like this: Frank held serve (Kris blew an easy overhead for Love-15, but then it shifted straight to Double Game Point as Nate also blew a surefire volley and then Kris hit an awesome passing shot winner to secure his partner's hold), Nathan was broken (Love-15 then point for point until 30-All as Nate hit two victorious volleys along the way and then hit an un-returned serve for the mini-shift to Game Point, then came Deuce which was an extended and exciting rally that led to Break Point where Kris scored with an amazing Backhand Volley winner for the break), Kris held (a truly un-returnable serve for 15-Love, Double Fault for 15-All and then that was where Frank hit a Backhand Volley winner on the way to Double Game Point, then came Game Point and the hold) and Natalia was broken (Kris hit a precise drop shot volley winner for Love-15 and it was off and running to Triple Break Point where Kris blew a volley for Double Break Point and then Nate made a superb get/passing shot winner combo for Break Point, then came Deuce where Frank hit a winner to set up Break Point and then came the break) as the opposition went up 4-0! Samara was then broken (Kris hit his newest shot, a swinging volley winner for 15-Love, but then the game went down the tubes as it went right thru Double Break Point to the break) to allow the opponents onto the scoreboard and then Fernandes held (15-Love then point for point to Game Point as Kris hit an emphatic Backhand Volley winner early on only to then blow a volley and have his partner Frank do the same and then Nathan hit a winning volley to secure his own hold) and Srinivasan was broken (15-Love where Kris blew a volley for 15-All and then hit a Double Fault for 15-30 where Frank hit a winning volley for 30-All and then it went to Break Point where Nate made a great get only to have Kris swoop in with the victorious volley to bring it to Deuce, but then came Break Point again and The Champ making one of his usual but brilliant gets that led to hitting a net-cord-aided winner for the break) to have his team's lead reduced to 4-3! Sout was broken again (Frank hit a Backhand Volley winner for Love-15 only to have Nate, in the next point, make one of his best gets and it forced Kris to blow a volley and then Natalia hit a winning lob in the subsequent point to go up 30-15 and then a Double Fault made it 30-All, then came Break Point and the break) to fall to 3-5. Hollywood was broken again and this time it was at Love as Natalia hit a winning return, Nate hit a winning return and Natalia hit yet another winning return that doubled as a passing shot as it whizzed past Kris to set up Triple Break Point where Kris would then blow an overhead to allow the break and then Nate the Great held again (perhaps the best rally of the match led to Love-15, it shifted to 30-15, then shifted again as yet another rally in contention for best of the contest ended with Kris hitting a drop shot winner and that set up Break/Match Point only to have that get saved to make it Deuce, then it went to Game Point and the hold) to level things at 5-5! The K Man was broken again and, like his partner, it was also at Love except for the fact that he started off with a Double Fault and then Kris blew a drop shot attempt to make it Love-30 and then Frank blew what should have been a sure overhead to set up Triple Break Point which was ended by a winner from Natalia for the break as his the Srinivasan/Samara tandem had now lost their lead for the first time at 5-6! But Nitro was broken a third straight time (Frank first blew a drop shot attempt and then blew a volley in the next point to make it 30-Love, but then came the shift as Natalia also blew a volley on the way to Break Point and the break) and we were headed for the Tiebreak! In the Breaker: Frank held his lone serve after Kris hit a vicious volley winner and then Nathan was broken on both of his serves as he first blew what should have been a guaranteed volley winner and then Frank had a venomous volley winner of his own to hand his partner a 3-0 lead as Kris was about to go on serve. And Srinivasan held both of those serves as Frank hit a winner for the first point and then a winning volley for the second to take what seemed to be a commanding lead at 5-0! Natalia held her first serve for 1-5 at the changeover and then held her second after Kris blew a volley to make it 2-5. Samara was then broken on both of his serves as Kris blew another volley in the first point and now their team's lead was cut to 5-4! Fernandes held his first service point after Kris blew yet another volley and now the TB was leveled at 5-5! The Champ held his second as well as it was now 6-5 and Match Point in his team's favor. Srinivasan was now on serve and he held his first one after hitting a drop shot winner for 6-6 at the second changeover. He then held his second as well as Frank hit a winning drop shot volley to have it now be 7-6 and the second Match Point in his team's favor (which was the 3rd M.P. overall) with service returning to Sout. She was then broken on that first serve as Kris hit what was both his most effective and emphatic drop shot volley winner for the break and the match! We played this one on Court One from 7:20 to 8:23...one hour and three minutes long!
The Skinny: I can go on and on about the great moments the four of us had. I can also discuss the lengthy and exciting rallies we engaged in and how we also all had our moments of shame. The bottom line is that this was, for the most part, excellent action coupled with high drama and it should be a worthy contender and likely Nominee for One-Set Specialty Doubles Match of The Year at season's end.
Levy Lorenzo/Doinks Srinivasan over Rob Gawley/Natalia Sout, 7-5! No Aces. Here's the basic breakdown: both teams were at 2-2 and then Levy and Doinks went up 4-2 only to have it leveled at 4-4. They went up again at 5-4 only to have it tied up again, this time at 5-5. They went up 6-5 and then Doinks was on serve and got a Love hold after Levy hit quite the impressive volley winner to set up Triple Game/Match Point! This one also took place on Court One and lasted from 8:27 to 9:19.
The Skinny: Nate, Kris and I all stayed at the sidelines (The Champ actually took the bench outside the fence alongside Court One) to watch this one as the three of us did not feel like hitting and Jordan and Art were still doing their thing over on Court Three. We were rewarded with an exciting One-Setter to watch. Just after this one ended, Art was heading home and Jordan was now game to play some Doubles.
Jordan Bachvaroff/Kris Srinivasan over Frank Samara/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-2! No Aces. The dirty lowdown: Jordan held serve (an un-returned serve for 15-Love, a shift to 15-30 and then a Double Fault for Double Break Point, a bounce back to Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point and another un-returned serve to secure the hold), Frank held (Triple Game Point where Jordan scored with a whipping return winner to reduce it to Double Game Point only to have Frank hit an equally impressive and well-angled winner for the hold), Kris held (Jordan made a great get/drop shot winner combo for 30-Love, then it went to 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold) and Doinks also held (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 as Frank hit his patented Windmill Overhead Smash for a winner along the way and then it shifted again to Break Point as Kris hit a winning volley along the way but then Doinks hit a winner of her own to make it Deuce, it then was Game Point where Kris hit another winning volley for 2nd Deuce, then Game Point again and the hold) as we were all on serve at 2-2. But from there, Bachvaroff held again (Jordan hit a walloping winner to set up Triple Game Point only to then hit a Double Fault to reduce it to Double Game Point where Kris came in with a villainous volley winner to lock down his partner's hold), but Samara was the first to be broken (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 as Frank hit an excellent winner along the way, but then Jordan hit another one of those thunderous return winners to reverse the momentum and soon it was Break Point where Kris hit one of his precise drop shot volley winners for the break) to make it 2-4. Mr. Srinivasan held again (15-Love, 15-All where back-to-back un-returned serves set up Double Game Point where a third sealed the deal for the game), but Mrs. Srinivasan was broken (it became "The Kris Show" as he first hit a winner followed by a winning Backhand Volley in the next point and then a winning return in the next to set up Triple Break/Match Point, it then went to Double Break/Match Point where Doinks hit a roller over the net which was also a winner and that now made it Break/Match Point but that was as far as it would go as the break and the loss came next) to end this one just in time as we got it underway on Court Three at precisely 9:24 and it ended exactly at 9:57.
The Skinny: It was one of those contests that felt so close up to 2-2 with all having held serve only to then suddenly have the doors blown off as the opposition went on a roll and continued to hold serve while we both got broken and were then left wondering what the hell just happened?!?!
Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout leading Levy Lorenzo/Rob Gawley, 5-3 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)! No Aces. This one had begun on Court One at 9:23.
This session may not have been blessed with a big turnout, but Mother Nature surely smiled upon it with nice, reasonable temps and she held back the rain until just ten minutes after it ended. Samara pulled out of the lot at 10:05. On his way to The Wayne Bubble, the raindrops started hitting his windshield at 10:10.
Like the night before, he arrived in impressive time at 10:20. This time around, his services were not needed as there were twelve players occupying three of the four courts (Court One remained vacant throughout the session). The results that follow are not exactly in chronological order, but rather the order in which they were reported by the players to Samara (with some minor edits along the way to attempt some semblance of a time continuum).
The Wayne Bubble Results:
Ryan Pienciak/Mike Sindler over Dennis Cabanatan/Tom La, 6-1! No Aces. This one got underway on Court Three sometime after the hitting session which would have begun at 9pm and ended around 9:40.
John Rizzo/Nick Caputo over Senthil Kumar/Rich Liu, 6-2! No Aces. Like the one above, it got started sometime after the initial hitting session on Court Four and also finished around 9:40.
At this time, Pienciak thought a changing of the teams would be appropriate. Since the official action on both courts did end at the same time, it was convenient and so Rizzo obliged the request.
This led to the following results and then we will close this report with what took place on Court Two.
2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Dennis Cabanatan/Tom La over Senthil Kumar/Rich Liu, 6-3, 6-4, to successfully defend their # 20 Rank in the Doubles Division! Tom: 1 Ace on Rich in the 1st Set; and Dennis: 1 Ace on Rich in the 2nd Set. Court Three hosted this match from 9:45 to 10:35.
The Skinny: Coming into this contest, Kumar/Liu were also a ranked team in the Doubles Division (# 53). It would have been a nice opportunity to jump up in the ranks.
John Rizzo/Nick Caputo over Ryan Pienciak/Mike Sindler, 6-4! Nick: 2 Aces on Mike. This one got underway on Court Four somewhere around 9:45. Not sure when it ended as it went right into this next one.
Ryan Pienciak/Mike Sindler over John Rizzo/Nick Caputo, 7-5! Ryan: 4 Aces (two on each)! John and Nick were up 5-4 and had two Match Points, but both were blown and one of them was an overhead attempt by Caputo which should have been a sure put-away! This one got done at 10:55.
Lou La Forgia/Ray Spadaro over Paul Daddio/Ryan Sherry, 7-6 (8-6)! Ryan: 1 Ace on Ray. La Forgia and Spadaro had been down 2-5 before making their comeback. Not sure when it started or ended on Court Two as it went right into this next one.
Lou La Forgia/Ryan Sherry over Paul Daddio/Ray Spadaro, 6-2! Ray: 1 Ace on Lou! Also on Court Two and again not sure of the start or stop times. They started one more which we will get to in just a bit.
Tom La/Rich Liu leading Senthil Kumar/Dennis Cabanatan, 5-4 (Incomplete when the session ended at 11pm)! Tom: 1 Ace on Senthil. This one got underway on Court Three at 10:40.
Paul Daddio/Ray Spadaro leading Lou La Forgia/Ryan Sherry, 2-1 (Incomplete when the session ended at 11pm)! No Aces. Not sure when this one got started on Court Two.
It was a solid session with much hard-fought action throughout the course of it.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com
"Berg-Roli part of 10 at C.G., 12 play at The Bubble!":
There were three sessions of GTA Thursday Tennis: the first one being at The Cedar Grove Courts in the late afternoon and featuring a full 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match between "Ice Berg" Scott Bergenfeld and "Roli" Rolando Cabrera. Earlier in the day, Bergenfeld issued an Open Challenge to the league and Cabrera was the one who responded. The match result was reported by Scott.
The second one was the usual evening session at The Cedar Grove Courts and it was hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara as well as the third one which was at The Wayne Bubble with "The Riz" John Rizzo organizing and running that Night Owls Group (with Samara swooping in to collect the results).
With much improved weather from the night before (it had to be a climb of about 10 degrees...plus, like the night before, virtually no wind), we expected a much stronger turnout than we had at the GTA Wednesday Night Tennis session at Cedar Grove. Well, we assumed wrong! Be careful when you assume...because it always makes an "ASS" out of "U" and "ME"...an oldie, but still a goodie.
When Samara pulled into the parking lot very early at 6:15, he saw that the entire place was vacant - all the courts and the parking lot as well! This gave him a good opportunity to fall into a light sleep very quickly.
Around 6:20, a bunch of high school kids took over both Courts Three and Four...but it was not for tennis. They plopped all of their book bags on Court Four, but then all sat down on Court Three in a circle just to B.S. Already, Samara started fuming!
Around 6:25, Natalia "Nitro" Sout pulled into the parking lot. Having seen the situation on Courts Three and Four (also, that one puddle off the corner of where the baseline and the sideline meet nearest to the entrance gate still remained from the night before), Samara and Sout soon headed out to Court One.
Just as they were about to start hitting with one another, GTA Champion: "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes arrived at 6:30. He got out on the court and then there was a three-way hitting session as first Natalia stood alone against both of the guys in an all close to the net session of volley practice. Then, we fell back toward the baseline and would soon switch it up to Samara and Sout both hitting to Fernandes.
"The Bulgarian Bull" Jordan Bachvaroff arrived at 7:10, but instead of opting to become the fourth player on Court One for some Doubles action...he instead called "The Art Font" Arthur Fontanilla and told him it would be a great opportunity for a Singles hitting session. By this time, the kids had already left the courts (likely around 7pm). So Jordan took Court Three for himself while waiting for Art to arrive.
The usual Cedar Grove host, "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan made his way across the street at 7:15 and soon made it a foursome on Court One. After a brief hitting session, we all agreed that the best sides would be Nate and Natalia versus Kris and Frank. Turns out we would be proven to be very correct in that assessment of balance and fairness.
Fontanilla arrived at the courts at 7:35 and they had a hitting session that lasted all the way until 9:20 as they never sought to play anything official...neither against one another nor upon invite for some Doubles. After Art's departure, Jordan did join us for some Doubles action...but I am getting ahead of myself.
At 8:05, "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan made her way across the street and hung outside the fence in the Court One area just waiting to get involved. Ten minutes later, both "The Rogue" Rob Gawley and "The Levitator" Levy Lorenzo arrived and soon joined Doinks out on Court Two for a hitting session.
And that was it for arrivals for the night, so we had a somewhat disappointing total of just eight players for the session (it would have been nine had Fontanilla played in an official set, at least). Many missed out on a night that ended up being quite nice for tennis action. Oh well...
...let's get to the scores...starting with Bergenfeld-Cabrera!
The Cedar Grove Results:
2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:
Scott Bergenfeld over Rolando Cabrera, 6-0, 6-0, as Bergenfeld moved out of the Non-Competing Men's Division to become both the New # 37 Ranked Player in the Advanced Division and the New # 37 Ranked Player in the Intermediate Division (as he has already established himself as one of the "bridge players" simultaneously ranked in both divisions) while it was the official GTA Return of Cabrera coming back to the Intermediate Division as the New # 38 Ranked Player! Scott: 2 Aces in the 1st Set; and Rolando: 1 Ace in the 1st Set!
The Great Scott Shout-Out: The match lasted about an hour.
Samara's Notes: I thank Scott for his very timely reporting of that match. We now detail all the results from the night session at Cedar Grove.
Kris Srinivasan/Frank Samara over Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout, 7-6 (8-6)! No Aces. It went like this: Frank held serve (Kris blew an easy overhead for Love-15, but then it shifted straight to Double Game Point as Nate also blew a surefire volley and then Kris hit an awesome passing shot winner to secure his partner's hold), Nathan was broken (Love-15 then point for point until 30-All as Nate hit two victorious volleys along the way and then hit an un-returned serve for the mini-shift to Game Point, then came Deuce which was an extended and exciting rally that led to Break Point where Kris scored with an amazing Backhand Volley winner for the break), Kris held (a truly un-returnable serve for 15-Love, Double Fault for 15-All and then that was where Frank hit a Backhand Volley winner on the way to Double Game Point, then came Game Point and the hold) and Natalia was broken (Kris hit a precise drop shot volley winner for Love-15 and it was off and running to Triple Break Point where Kris blew a volley for Double Break Point and then Nate made a superb get/passing shot winner combo for Break Point, then came Deuce where Frank hit a winner to set up Break Point and then came the break) as the opposition went up 4-0! Samara was then broken (Kris hit his newest shot, a swinging volley winner for 15-Love, but then the game went down the tubes as it went right thru Double Break Point to the break) to allow the opponents onto the scoreboard and then Fernandes held (15-Love then point for point to Game Point as Kris hit an emphatic Backhand Volley winner early on only to then blow a volley and have his partner Frank do the same and then Nathan hit a winning volley to secure his own hold) and Srinivasan was broken (15-Love where Kris blew a volley for 15-All and then hit a Double Fault for 15-30 where Frank hit a winning volley for 30-All and then it went to Break Point where Nate made a great get only to have Kris swoop in with the victorious volley to bring it to Deuce, but then came Break Point again and The Champ making one of his usual but brilliant gets that led to hitting a net-cord-aided winner for the break) to have his team's lead reduced to 4-3! Sout was broken again (Frank hit a Backhand Volley winner for Love-15 only to have Nate, in the next point, make one of his best gets and it forced Kris to blow a volley and then Natalia hit a winning lob in the subsequent point to go up 30-15 and then a Double Fault made it 30-All, then came Break Point and the break) to fall to 3-5. Hollywood was broken again and this time it was at Love as Natalia hit a winning return, Nate hit a winning return and Natalia hit yet another winning return that doubled as a passing shot as it whizzed past Kris to set up Triple Break Point where Kris would then blow an overhead to allow the break and then Nate the Great held again (perhaps the best rally of the match led to Love-15, it shifted to 30-15, then shifted again as yet another rally in contention for best of the contest ended with Kris hitting a drop shot winner and that set up Break/Match Point only to have that get saved to make it Deuce, then it went to Game Point and the hold) to level things at 5-5! The K Man was broken again and, like his partner, it was also at Love except for the fact that he started off with a Double Fault and then Kris blew a drop shot attempt to make it Love-30 and then Frank blew what should have been a sure overhead to set up Triple Break Point which was ended by a winner from Natalia for the break as his the Srinivasan/Samara tandem had now lost their lead for the first time at 5-6! But Nitro was broken a third straight time (Frank first blew a drop shot attempt and then blew a volley in the next point to make it 30-Love, but then came the shift as Natalia also blew a volley on the way to Break Point and the break) and we were headed for the Tiebreak! In the Breaker: Frank held his lone serve after Kris hit a vicious volley winner and then Nathan was broken on both of his serves as he first blew what should have been a guaranteed volley winner and then Frank had a venomous volley winner of his own to hand his partner a 3-0 lead as Kris was about to go on serve. And Srinivasan held both of those serves as Frank hit a winner for the first point and then a winning volley for the second to take what seemed to be a commanding lead at 5-0! Natalia held her first serve for 1-5 at the changeover and then held her second after Kris blew a volley to make it 2-5. Samara was then broken on both of his serves as Kris blew another volley in the first point and now their team's lead was cut to 5-4! Fernandes held his first service point after Kris blew yet another volley and now the TB was leveled at 5-5! The Champ held his second as well as it was now 6-5 and Match Point in his team's favor. Srinivasan was now on serve and he held his first one after hitting a drop shot winner for 6-6 at the second changeover. He then held his second as well as Frank hit a winning drop shot volley to have it now be 7-6 and the second Match Point in his team's favor (which was the 3rd M.P. overall) with service returning to Sout. She was then broken on that first serve as Kris hit what was both his most effective and emphatic drop shot volley winner for the break and the match! We played this one on Court One from 7:20 to 8:23...one hour and three minutes long!
The Skinny: I can go on and on about the great moments the four of us had. I can also discuss the lengthy and exciting rallies we engaged in and how we also all had our moments of shame. The bottom line is that this was, for the most part, excellent action coupled with high drama and it should be a worthy contender and likely Nominee for One-Set Specialty Doubles Match of The Year at season's end.
Levy Lorenzo/Doinks Srinivasan over Rob Gawley/Natalia Sout, 7-5! No Aces. Here's the basic breakdown: both teams were at 2-2 and then Levy and Doinks went up 4-2 only to have it leveled at 4-4. They went up again at 5-4 only to have it tied up again, this time at 5-5. They went up 6-5 and then Doinks was on serve and got a Love hold after Levy hit quite the impressive volley winner to set up Triple Game/Match Point! This one also took place on Court One and lasted from 8:27 to 9:19.
The Skinny: Nate, Kris and I all stayed at the sidelines (The Champ actually took the bench outside the fence alongside Court One) to watch this one as the three of us did not feel like hitting and Jordan and Art were still doing their thing over on Court Three. We were rewarded with an exciting One-Setter to watch. Just after this one ended, Art was heading home and Jordan was now game to play some Doubles.
Jordan Bachvaroff/Kris Srinivasan over Frank Samara/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-2! No Aces. The dirty lowdown: Jordan held serve (an un-returned serve for 15-Love, a shift to 15-30 and then a Double Fault for Double Break Point, a bounce back to Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point and another un-returned serve to secure the hold), Frank held (Triple Game Point where Jordan scored with a whipping return winner to reduce it to Double Game Point only to have Frank hit an equally impressive and well-angled winner for the hold), Kris held (Jordan made a great get/drop shot winner combo for 30-Love, then it went to 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold) and Doinks also held (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 as Frank hit his patented Windmill Overhead Smash for a winner along the way and then it shifted again to Break Point as Kris hit a winning volley along the way but then Doinks hit a winner of her own to make it Deuce, it then was Game Point where Kris hit another winning volley for 2nd Deuce, then Game Point again and the hold) as we were all on serve at 2-2. But from there, Bachvaroff held again (Jordan hit a walloping winner to set up Triple Game Point only to then hit a Double Fault to reduce it to Double Game Point where Kris came in with a villainous volley winner to lock down his partner's hold), but Samara was the first to be broken (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 as Frank hit an excellent winner along the way, but then Jordan hit another one of those thunderous return winners to reverse the momentum and soon it was Break Point where Kris hit one of his precise drop shot volley winners for the break) to make it 2-4. Mr. Srinivasan held again (15-Love, 15-All where back-to-back un-returned serves set up Double Game Point where a third sealed the deal for the game), but Mrs. Srinivasan was broken (it became "The Kris Show" as he first hit a winner followed by a winning Backhand Volley in the next point and then a winning return in the next to set up Triple Break/Match Point, it then went to Double Break/Match Point where Doinks hit a roller over the net which was also a winner and that now made it Break/Match Point but that was as far as it would go as the break and the loss came next) to end this one just in time as we got it underway on Court Three at precisely 9:24 and it ended exactly at 9:57.
The Skinny: It was one of those contests that felt so close up to 2-2 with all having held serve only to then suddenly have the doors blown off as the opposition went on a roll and continued to hold serve while we both got broken and were then left wondering what the hell just happened?!?!
Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout leading Levy Lorenzo/Rob Gawley, 5-3 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)! No Aces. This one had begun on Court One at 9:23.
This session may not have been blessed with a big turnout, but Mother Nature surely smiled upon it with nice, reasonable temps and she held back the rain until just ten minutes after it ended. Samara pulled out of the lot at 10:05. On his way to The Wayne Bubble, the raindrops started hitting his windshield at 10:10.
Like the night before, he arrived in impressive time at 10:20. This time around, his services were not needed as there were twelve players occupying three of the four courts (Court One remained vacant throughout the session). The results that follow are not exactly in chronological order, but rather the order in which they were reported by the players to Samara (with some minor edits along the way to attempt some semblance of a time continuum).
The Wayne Bubble Results:
Ryan Pienciak/Mike Sindler over Dennis Cabanatan/Tom La, 6-1! No Aces. This one got underway on Court Three sometime after the hitting session which would have begun at 9pm and ended around 9:40.
John Rizzo/Nick Caputo over Senthil Kumar/Rich Liu, 6-2! No Aces. Like the one above, it got started sometime after the initial hitting session on Court Four and also finished around 9:40.
At this time, Pienciak thought a changing of the teams would be appropriate. Since the official action on both courts did end at the same time, it was convenient and so Rizzo obliged the request.
This led to the following results and then we will close this report with what took place on Court Two.
2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Dennis Cabanatan/Tom La over Senthil Kumar/Rich Liu, 6-3, 6-4, to successfully defend their # 20 Rank in the Doubles Division! Tom: 1 Ace on Rich in the 1st Set; and Dennis: 1 Ace on Rich in the 2nd Set. Court Three hosted this match from 9:45 to 10:35.
The Skinny: Coming into this contest, Kumar/Liu were also a ranked team in the Doubles Division (# 53). It would have been a nice opportunity to jump up in the ranks.
John Rizzo/Nick Caputo over Ryan Pienciak/Mike Sindler, 6-4! Nick: 2 Aces on Mike. This one got underway on Court Four somewhere around 9:45. Not sure when it ended as it went right into this next one.
Ryan Pienciak/Mike Sindler over John Rizzo/Nick Caputo, 7-5! Ryan: 4 Aces (two on each)! John and Nick were up 5-4 and had two Match Points, but both were blown and one of them was an overhead attempt by Caputo which should have been a sure put-away! This one got done at 10:55.
Lou La Forgia/Ray Spadaro over Paul Daddio/Ryan Sherry, 7-6 (8-6)! Ryan: 1 Ace on Ray. La Forgia and Spadaro had been down 2-5 before making their comeback. Not sure when it started or ended on Court Two as it went right into this next one.
Lou La Forgia/Ryan Sherry over Paul Daddio/Ray Spadaro, 6-2! Ray: 1 Ace on Lou! Also on Court Two and again not sure of the start or stop times. They started one more which we will get to in just a bit.
Tom La/Rich Liu leading Senthil Kumar/Dennis Cabanatan, 5-4 (Incomplete when the session ended at 11pm)! Tom: 1 Ace on Senthil. This one got underway on Court Three at 10:40.
Paul Daddio/Ray Spadaro leading Lou La Forgia/Ryan Sherry, 2-1 (Incomplete when the session ended at 11pm)! No Aces. Not sure when this one got started on Court Two.
It was a solid session with much hard-fought action throughout the course of it.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com
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