4/27/16:
"Samara hosts 10 at RHP, Kuzavas-Celis part of 15 (official) at C.G.!":
GTA Wednesday Night Tennis took place at two locations: Robin Hood Park in Clifton (with "Hollywood" Frank Samara acting as the host and The Cedar Grove Courts (with "Papa K" Kris Srinivasan acting as the host and also featuring a full 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match between "Super Mario" Marijus Kuzavas and "Coach" Dino Celis). In addition to the report from Kris, Marijus and Dino both sent in their result (from Marijus there was another score and also some commentary) and "Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan and "Latino Heat" Jose Gonzales also sent in some scores directly.
Earlier in the day, Samara announced that he would be somewhat of a late arrival at RHP (he stated he hoped to arrive by 5:45 and got there at 5:50). One broken promise, however, was that he would also go up to Cedar Grove to host that session as well (more on that later).
When Frank rolled up to RHP, he saw all three courts filled with GTA players...and this made him happy.
On Championship Court, "Automatic" Anna Mazur and "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan were engaged in an extended hitting session that would eventually lead to a couple of Singles One-Setters.
On Center Court was the already in-progress Doubles One-Setter featuring "ME" Michel Encarnacion and "Stealth" Omar Santos versus "Lucky" Leo Victor and "The Vin Man" Vinnie De Benedetto.
And on the Entrance Court, "Holy Moly" Mike Mole was having a hitting session with "Nasty" Nilay Patel. When Samara asked Mole if he had his usual action with Capan, Mike said not this time around. Instead, he played with some non-GTA guy whose name he did not know (subsequently, the "Unknown Tennis Player" handed him a defeat).
Frank took Nilay's side in hitting against Mike, but then Mole had to leave at 6pm. It then became a hitting session of just two until Samara suggested a Singles One-Setter to Patel and Nilay accepted.
"Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes arrived at 6:20. Ten minutes later, "The Sultan of Swing" Raj Shah strolled into the park solely to make a cameo appearance as he had his young son Armaan with him.
The tenth and final official competitor of the night to arrive was "Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli at 6:50. He came sans racquet, but that situation would soon be remedied.
The RHP Results:
Michel Encarnacion/Omar Santos over Leo Victor/Vinnie De Benedetto, 6-4! Vinnie: 1 Ace on Omar (what Vin himself described as a "dead ball" serve). Vin estimated that this one got underway on Center Court at 5:40. It ended at 6:25.
Anna Mazur over Genalin Capan, 6-1! No Aces. Championship Court hosted this one from 6:05 to 6:25.
Frank Samara over Nilay Patel, 6-1! Frank: 1 Ace. It went like this: Frank held serve (started off with two un-returned serves on the way to Triple Game Point, but then a great/get winner by Nilay followed by yet another winner eventually brought the game to Deuce, then came another Game Point and the hold), Nilay was broken (Frank hit a scorching return for Love-30, Double Fault for Triple Break Point and then another Double Fault for the Love break), Samara held at Love as he started off with an un-returned serve and then hit a short, drop shot-like serve for 30-Love and then had another un-returned serve along the way and then Patel was broken again (Frank blew a volley for 15-Love, it then went to 15-All, Double Fault for 15-30, then came Double Break Point and the break) to fall to 0-4. Then The Wood held again (started with a Double Fault, it then went to Love-30 and straight to Game Point and then the hold) to take a 5-0 lead! Nasty Nilay then scrapped his way onto the scoreboard as it went 30-Love, shifted to Game Point, Deuce where an un-returned serve set up Game Point and then came the hold for 1-5. But then Frank held at Love as two un-returned serves led to Triple Game/Match Point where he had yet another un-retuned serve to seal the deal on a Love hold and end the match. We played this on the Entrance Court from 6:10 to 6:33.
Leo Victor/Nathan Fernandes over Michel Encarnacion/Omar Santos, 6-1! Michel: 2 Aces (one on each); Nathan: 1 Ace on Michel. Center Court hosted this one from 6:30 to 6:50.
Genalin Capan over Anna Mazur, 6-4! No Aces. This was conducted on Championship Court from 6:30 to 7:04.
Michel Encarnacion/Vinnie De Benedetto over Leo Victor/Nathan Fernandes, 6-3! No Aces. This took place on Center Court from 6:52 to 7:19. After this, it was Nate going solo in a hitting session with Leo and Gen. When Leo left, it was just Nathan vs. Jane.
Frank Samara/Anna Mazur over Omar Santos/Dan Martinelli, 6-3! Spin: 1 Ace on Anna. Here's the breakdown: Omar held (an amazing volley by Spin set up Triple Game Point which got cut down to Game Point after Omar blew a volley, but then came the hold), Anna held (a winning lob for Anna to start the game and then Frank had a monster of an Overhead Smash on the way to Triple Game Point, but then Frank blew a volley to make it Double Game Point, but then came the hold), but then Spin was broken (he started with a corner Ace on Anna, but then it shifted straight to Double Break Point as Frank hit a passing shot winner to set that up and then Frank hit a winning volley for the break) for 1-2. Frank held at Love after Omar blew a volley to set up Triple Game Point to put his team up 3-1, but Santos held again (un-returned serve for 30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point, Game Point where Spin hit a nice Backhand Volley to secure his partner's hold) to pull to 2-3. Mazur held (15-Love, 15-All and then onto Double Game Point after Frank hit a winning volley followed by a winning Overhead Smash to set up that D.G.P., and then the hold was sure to follow) and Martinelli was broken (15-Love then point for point until 30-All...and it should be noted that Omar had a winning volley along the way...then came Frank hitting a well-placed winning lob to make it Break Point and that was where Spin hit a roller over the net to make it Deuce, but then came another Break Point and the break) to fall to 2-5! Samara was broken (Love-30 where Spin made a superb get only to have Frank trump him with an even better winner for 15-30, but the break came on Double Break Point) to have his team's lead cut to 5-3, but then came the game of the match with Stealth on serve. The first two points were both excellent, extended rallies that led to a Love-30 score. Omar then hit a winner for 15-30 and then it was soon 30-All. But then it went to Break/Match Point where Frank blew a volley to make it Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, 2nd Break/Match Point, 3rd Deuce, Game Point, 4th Deuce, 3rd Break/Match Point, 5th Deuce, Game Point where once again Spin made another miraculous get only to have Frank reply with an answer for the 6th Deuce, then came the 4th Break/Match Point where Frank hit a rolling return over the net-cord to drop on the opposition's side in victory! Championship Court hosted this from 7:10 to 7:49.
The Skinny: Spin did not come prepared to play tennis (i.e. did not bring his racquet with him). Anna remedied this by offering him the racquet of her boyfriend Stan. He must have liked it a lot because he played very well with it. At the beginning of the contest, we let Anna choose her partner. She chose Frank and it was fortunate for both of them as Samara was having a good day.
During much of this, it was Nate hitting against Leo and Gen on Center Court. Then, Victor left Capan and Fernandes to continue hitting without him. They continued right until it was time for us to B.S. with them. They finally stopped hitting at 8:05 in near darkness.
From there, Spin entertained the remaining troops (i.e. Samara, Fernandes and Capan) until they all left at 8:20. At this time, Frank was simply too exhausted to go up to Cedar Grove. So he decided to call it a night and head home.
As it turns out, C.G. did not need him there anyway as the session went fine without him.
The Cedar Grove Results:
Marijus Kuzavas over Mike Kazlauskas, 6-4! No Aces.
2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:
Marijus Kuzavas over Dino Celis, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, to successfully defend his # 5 Rank in the Advanced Division! Marijus: 1 Ace in the 3rd Set.
Super Mario says: This was a very good fight. Many of the games went to multiple Deuces, so it could have gone either way.
Samara's Notes: I applaud Marijus for his increased role in our league this season and thank him for senind in this result (as did Dino). I also congratulate him on this victory.
Jose Gonzales/Brenda Jordan over Doinks Srinivasan/Natalie Guzman, 6-1! No Aces.
Edwin Ortega/Doinks Srinivasan over Jose Gonzales/Natalia Sout, 6-2! No Aces.
Jose Gonzales/Natalia Sout over Edwin Ortega/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-3! No Aces.
Samara's Notes: I thank Marijus, Dino, Doinks and Jose for all the above. We now turn this report over to Kris.
By the time, I hit the tennis courts at about 7:30pm, all the courts were occupied with Courts 1 and 2 taken by a couple of kids taking lessons.
Dino was hitting the ball with Natalie Guzman and a Doubles Match was going on between Brenda Jordan and Kevin Doyle against Dawn Peterson and Kathy Sheldon on the adjacent court.
We had quite a few players on the sidelines waiting their turn. I checked with the guys giving lessons how long they intended to occupy the court as there were 8 players waiting to play. This expedited their exit.
Anish Mehta/Santosh Reddy over Kris Srinivasan/Ryan Pianciek, 6-2! No Aces.
It was a poor start for me and I could have used a lengthy warm-up. As Joe Rodrigues was waiting,
I let him team up with Ryan for subsequent sets. Lou La Forgia and Mike Kaz got to play against Chris
Chiaro and Praful Nair. After a set, it was Lou and Praful against Chris and Moka Pathan.
On the other side, Doinks and Edwin got to play against Jose and Natalia, winning the first One-Setter and losing the next. She played a set before this teaming up with Natalie, I think.
Then, there was the singles match between Dino and Marijus. I got to see a bit of this match and it was a good tussle between the two. I did miss out on a lot of the action and it turned out to be a bummer of a night for me, but we sure got a boatload of our players in action which indeed made the atmosphere the place to be. Cheers!
Samara's Notes: I thank all those that contributed to this report, but I also find it very disappointing to know that there were so many other results that went unreported. Oh well…
All in all, it was another exciting session under the lights at Cedar Grove.
All the best,
Frank Samara
"Samara hosts 10 at RHP, Kuzavas-Celis part of 15 (official) at C.G.!":
GTA Wednesday Night Tennis took place at two locations: Robin Hood Park in Clifton (with "Hollywood" Frank Samara acting as the host and The Cedar Grove Courts (with "Papa K" Kris Srinivasan acting as the host and also featuring a full 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match between "Super Mario" Marijus Kuzavas and "Coach" Dino Celis). In addition to the report from Kris, Marijus and Dino both sent in their result (from Marijus there was another score and also some commentary) and "Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan and "Latino Heat" Jose Gonzales also sent in some scores directly.
Earlier in the day, Samara announced that he would be somewhat of a late arrival at RHP (he stated he hoped to arrive by 5:45 and got there at 5:50). One broken promise, however, was that he would also go up to Cedar Grove to host that session as well (more on that later).
When Frank rolled up to RHP, he saw all three courts filled with GTA players...and this made him happy.
On Championship Court, "Automatic" Anna Mazur and "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan were engaged in an extended hitting session that would eventually lead to a couple of Singles One-Setters.
On Center Court was the already in-progress Doubles One-Setter featuring "ME" Michel Encarnacion and "Stealth" Omar Santos versus "Lucky" Leo Victor and "The Vin Man" Vinnie De Benedetto.
And on the Entrance Court, "Holy Moly" Mike Mole was having a hitting session with "Nasty" Nilay Patel. When Samara asked Mole if he had his usual action with Capan, Mike said not this time around. Instead, he played with some non-GTA guy whose name he did not know (subsequently, the "Unknown Tennis Player" handed him a defeat).
Frank took Nilay's side in hitting against Mike, but then Mole had to leave at 6pm. It then became a hitting session of just two until Samara suggested a Singles One-Setter to Patel and Nilay accepted.
"Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes arrived at 6:20. Ten minutes later, "The Sultan of Swing" Raj Shah strolled into the park solely to make a cameo appearance as he had his young son Armaan with him.
The tenth and final official competitor of the night to arrive was "Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli at 6:50. He came sans racquet, but that situation would soon be remedied.
The RHP Results:
Michel Encarnacion/Omar Santos over Leo Victor/Vinnie De Benedetto, 6-4! Vinnie: 1 Ace on Omar (what Vin himself described as a "dead ball" serve). Vin estimated that this one got underway on Center Court at 5:40. It ended at 6:25.
Anna Mazur over Genalin Capan, 6-1! No Aces. Championship Court hosted this one from 6:05 to 6:25.
Frank Samara over Nilay Patel, 6-1! Frank: 1 Ace. It went like this: Frank held serve (started off with two un-returned serves on the way to Triple Game Point, but then a great/get winner by Nilay followed by yet another winner eventually brought the game to Deuce, then came another Game Point and the hold), Nilay was broken (Frank hit a scorching return for Love-30, Double Fault for Triple Break Point and then another Double Fault for the Love break), Samara held at Love as he started off with an un-returned serve and then hit a short, drop shot-like serve for 30-Love and then had another un-returned serve along the way and then Patel was broken again (Frank blew a volley for 15-Love, it then went to 15-All, Double Fault for 15-30, then came Double Break Point and the break) to fall to 0-4. Then The Wood held again (started with a Double Fault, it then went to Love-30 and straight to Game Point and then the hold) to take a 5-0 lead! Nasty Nilay then scrapped his way onto the scoreboard as it went 30-Love, shifted to Game Point, Deuce where an un-returned serve set up Game Point and then came the hold for 1-5. But then Frank held at Love as two un-returned serves led to Triple Game/Match Point where he had yet another un-retuned serve to seal the deal on a Love hold and end the match. We played this on the Entrance Court from 6:10 to 6:33.
Leo Victor/Nathan Fernandes over Michel Encarnacion/Omar Santos, 6-1! Michel: 2 Aces (one on each); Nathan: 1 Ace on Michel. Center Court hosted this one from 6:30 to 6:50.
Genalin Capan over Anna Mazur, 6-4! No Aces. This was conducted on Championship Court from 6:30 to 7:04.
Michel Encarnacion/Vinnie De Benedetto over Leo Victor/Nathan Fernandes, 6-3! No Aces. This took place on Center Court from 6:52 to 7:19. After this, it was Nate going solo in a hitting session with Leo and Gen. When Leo left, it was just Nathan vs. Jane.
Frank Samara/Anna Mazur over Omar Santos/Dan Martinelli, 6-3! Spin: 1 Ace on Anna. Here's the breakdown: Omar held (an amazing volley by Spin set up Triple Game Point which got cut down to Game Point after Omar blew a volley, but then came the hold), Anna held (a winning lob for Anna to start the game and then Frank had a monster of an Overhead Smash on the way to Triple Game Point, but then Frank blew a volley to make it Double Game Point, but then came the hold), but then Spin was broken (he started with a corner Ace on Anna, but then it shifted straight to Double Break Point as Frank hit a passing shot winner to set that up and then Frank hit a winning volley for the break) for 1-2. Frank held at Love after Omar blew a volley to set up Triple Game Point to put his team up 3-1, but Santos held again (un-returned serve for 30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point, Game Point where Spin hit a nice Backhand Volley to secure his partner's hold) to pull to 2-3. Mazur held (15-Love, 15-All and then onto Double Game Point after Frank hit a winning volley followed by a winning Overhead Smash to set up that D.G.P., and then the hold was sure to follow) and Martinelli was broken (15-Love then point for point until 30-All...and it should be noted that Omar had a winning volley along the way...then came Frank hitting a well-placed winning lob to make it Break Point and that was where Spin hit a roller over the net to make it Deuce, but then came another Break Point and the break) to fall to 2-5! Samara was broken (Love-30 where Spin made a superb get only to have Frank trump him with an even better winner for 15-30, but the break came on Double Break Point) to have his team's lead cut to 5-3, but then came the game of the match with Stealth on serve. The first two points were both excellent, extended rallies that led to a Love-30 score. Omar then hit a winner for 15-30 and then it was soon 30-All. But then it went to Break/Match Point where Frank blew a volley to make it Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, 2nd Break/Match Point, 3rd Deuce, Game Point, 4th Deuce, 3rd Break/Match Point, 5th Deuce, Game Point where once again Spin made another miraculous get only to have Frank reply with an answer for the 6th Deuce, then came the 4th Break/Match Point where Frank hit a rolling return over the net-cord to drop on the opposition's side in victory! Championship Court hosted this from 7:10 to 7:49.
The Skinny: Spin did not come prepared to play tennis (i.e. did not bring his racquet with him). Anna remedied this by offering him the racquet of her boyfriend Stan. He must have liked it a lot because he played very well with it. At the beginning of the contest, we let Anna choose her partner. She chose Frank and it was fortunate for both of them as Samara was having a good day.
During much of this, it was Nate hitting against Leo and Gen on Center Court. Then, Victor left Capan and Fernandes to continue hitting without him. They continued right until it was time for us to B.S. with them. They finally stopped hitting at 8:05 in near darkness.
From there, Spin entertained the remaining troops (i.e. Samara, Fernandes and Capan) until they all left at 8:20. At this time, Frank was simply too exhausted to go up to Cedar Grove. So he decided to call it a night and head home.
As it turns out, C.G. did not need him there anyway as the session went fine without him.
The Cedar Grove Results:
Marijus Kuzavas over Mike Kazlauskas, 6-4! No Aces.
2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:
Marijus Kuzavas over Dino Celis, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, to successfully defend his # 5 Rank in the Advanced Division! Marijus: 1 Ace in the 3rd Set.
Super Mario says: This was a very good fight. Many of the games went to multiple Deuces, so it could have gone either way.
Samara's Notes: I applaud Marijus for his increased role in our league this season and thank him for senind in this result (as did Dino). I also congratulate him on this victory.
Jose Gonzales/Brenda Jordan over Doinks Srinivasan/Natalie Guzman, 6-1! No Aces.
Edwin Ortega/Doinks Srinivasan over Jose Gonzales/Natalia Sout, 6-2! No Aces.
Jose Gonzales/Natalia Sout over Edwin Ortega/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-3! No Aces.
Samara's Notes: I thank Marijus, Dino, Doinks and Jose for all the above. We now turn this report over to Kris.
By the time, I hit the tennis courts at about 7:30pm, all the courts were occupied with Courts 1 and 2 taken by a couple of kids taking lessons.
Dino was hitting the ball with Natalie Guzman and a Doubles Match was going on between Brenda Jordan and Kevin Doyle against Dawn Peterson and Kathy Sheldon on the adjacent court.
We had quite a few players on the sidelines waiting their turn. I checked with the guys giving lessons how long they intended to occupy the court as there were 8 players waiting to play. This expedited their exit.
Anish Mehta/Santosh Reddy over Kris Srinivasan/Ryan Pianciek, 6-2! No Aces.
It was a poor start for me and I could have used a lengthy warm-up. As Joe Rodrigues was waiting,
I let him team up with Ryan for subsequent sets. Lou La Forgia and Mike Kaz got to play against Chris
Chiaro and Praful Nair. After a set, it was Lou and Praful against Chris and Moka Pathan.
On the other side, Doinks and Edwin got to play against Jose and Natalia, winning the first One-Setter and losing the next. She played a set before this teaming up with Natalie, I think.
Then, there was the singles match between Dino and Marijus. I got to see a bit of this match and it was a good tussle between the two. I did miss out on a lot of the action and it turned out to be a bummer of a night for me, but we sure got a boatload of our players in action which indeed made the atmosphere the place to be. Cheers!
Samara's Notes: I thank all those that contributed to this report, but I also find it very disappointing to know that there were so many other results that went unreported. Oh well…
All in all, it was another exciting session under the lights at Cedar Grove.
All the best,
Frank Samara
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