Gen hosts 6 at RHP, Doyle-Solano part of 12 at C.G.!
GTA Monday Night Tennis took place at Robin Hood Park in Clifton (hosted by “The S Bomber” Genalin Capan) and then at The Cedar Grove Courts (where “Kevlar” Kevin Doyle and “Big George” Jorge Solano got together for their GTA Intermediate Invitational Round of 22 Match and then “Papa K” Kris Srinivasan acted as host of the balance of the session).
We will first go to the report from Gen, then the result sent in by Jorge and then to the recap from Kris.
GTA Monday Night Tennis was once again feeling more like early summer than spring with a high temperature around 78 to 80 degrees. It was sunny and hot with no shade on the RHP courts during this time.
Mike Mole and I arrived at the courts by 4:20. We ended up hitting from 4:30 to 5:20. Then immediately after, we started a Singles One-Setter.
Raj Shah arrived around 5:30 dressed in jeans as he intended on just making a cameo, but then he ended up hitting and then playing an official One-Setter. He agreed to play with a loaner racquet from me.
Then within 10 minutes of Raj's arrival, we had Jay Phoenix, Leo Victor and Nilay Patel all walk onto the courts. Raj and Jay started hitting on Center Court. Leo and Nilay joined in and eventually it led to a Men's Doubles One-Setter. During this time, Mike and I were still playing our One-Setter.
The RHP Results:
Mike Mole over Genalin Capan, 6-1! Mike: 2 Aces; Gen: 1 Ace!
We played this one from 5:20 to 5:55. Mike went up 2-0. Then the next game was a battle. It went to at least 8 Deuces. Mike had 5 Break Point opportunities and I finally converted on my 3rd Game Point to win a game. Mike made me earn that one game (no bagel!) Then Mike won the next 4 straight games to close out the set. Once our set was done, we continued hitting for another 15 minutes before Mike called it a night.
Raj Shah/Leo Victor over Jay Phoenix/Nilay Patel, 6-3! No Aces. This one ended at 6:25.
After the last match, Leo and I took one side and had a hitting session with Raj until 7pm and that concluded the session with a total of 6 competitors.
Samara’s Notes: I thank Gen for once again acting as the host at RHP and providing us with this report. It reminds me of the old days.
We now go to the score from Jorge and will then turn this report over to Kris.
The Cedar Grove Results:
GTA Intermediate Invitational Round of 22 Match:
Jorge Solano over Kevin Doyle, 6-3, 6-3, to become the New # 27 Ranked Player in the Intermediate Division plus advance to The Round of 16 of The GTA Intermediate Invitational Tournament! No Aces (apparently).
The Big George report: We started it around 6pm. Each set was about 35 minutes long and we concluded it by 7:15.
Samara’s Notes: I thank Jorge for sending in that score and congratulate him on his victory. Kevin was also impressive in defeat as Solano has more tennis experience than Doyle does.
And now we will let Papa K take it away!
We had a decent tennis session on a beautiful summer-like night. It was great to see Nithin Poosala back in action as well as Big Mike Kazlauskas as well after quite sometime.
Mike Kaz was hitting against Brenda Jordan and Dawn Peterson when we hit the courts shortly after 7pm. Soon after, Doyle came over after his Singles Match to make it a foursome.
2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Challenge Match:
Kevin Doyle/Brenda Jordan over Mike Kazlauskas/Dawn Peterson, 6-4, 6-3, to successfully defend their # 10 Rank in the Mixed Doubles Division while Kazlauskas/Peterson entered the division as the New # 29 Ranked Team! No Aces (apparently).
Sairaj Srinivasan/Nithin Poosala over Kris Srinivasan/Greg Swierczek, 6-4! No Aces. It was the official GTA Return of Nithin Poosala.
It was a great match that saw Sairaj in his element just like Peter Corso had shown his improved skills a day earlier. Greg was smooth, but it was my erratic play that cost us dearly. Nithin did well, especially not having played for a while. One of Sairaj's serves to Greg was particularly impressive, serving on the tee and moving away. Greg had to lunge for the return that was easily put away by Nithin at the net.
Kris Srinivasan/Nathan Fernandes over Sairaj Srinivasan/Nithin Poosala, 6-2! No Aces.
It was a lot closer match than the score indicates. Nate, with his deft touch, was a handful to deal with for his opponents.
Nathan Fernandes over Nithin Poosala, 6-2! No Aces (apparently).
It was a great Singles One-Setter which saw well-contested points and the score looks to be deceptive as well. Nithin started off well going up 40-Love before Nate inched back point by point to take the break. I liked the way Nithin constructed some of his points, but he couldn't convert on some of the overhead opportunities and some of his shots went just long. Nate is almost back to the form that he was in prior to his UK sojourn. The "King of Consistency" was sharp with his slices, placements and even getting back some terrific shots by Nithin. Smart play is an essential weapon in Nate's arsenal besides consistency. Good match! A rematch is going to be equally interesting.
Tito Castolo/Doinks Srinivasan over Mike Kazlauskas/Greg Swierczek, 6-4! No Aces (apparently).
It was another good match that saw quite a few shots from the big men sail long, mostly from Kaz. It was the six and a half footers against the five and a half footers! The length of the court should have been adjusted accordingly...LOL!
Kris Srinivasan/Greg Swierczek leading Tito Castolo/Doinks Srinivasan, 5-4 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)! No Aces.
We were leading 4-Love only to blow it away. It was a great comeback by them with plenty of good points. Greg was solid. Tito was cunning as a fox and Doinks has been playing amazing tennis these days. She has also improved playing at the net. I, for my part, kept the match alive and first it looked like we would run away with the match...:-). As luck would have it, Doinks was serving with Match Point in our favor. The lights went off just then and it looked like Greg had to remain winless despite being in a winning situation in all the matches that he played! Alas, such is the case on some days. It didn't help that I played more with the rim of my racquet than the strings...well it looks worn out (the rim!).
Cheers!
Samara’s Notes: I thank Kris for hosting and providing us with his traditional reporting (I missed his more descriptive recaps). It turned out to be quite the night of GTA Tennis!
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
The official GTA Rankings have now changed and are as follows:
Rick Dean has been eliminated from the Non-Competing Men’s Division for inactivity.
The following team has been eliminated from the Doubles Division for inactivity: Lou La Forgia and Tito Castolo.
The two following teams have been eliminated from the Women’s Doubles Division for inactivity: Sam Suy/Karen Yennie and Brenda Jordan/Sally Pillay.
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