4/25/16:
“The S Bomber” Genalin Capan acted as host of the session of GTA Monday Night Tennis at Robin Hood Park in Clifton. “Papa K” Kris Srinivasan acted as host of a similar session at The Cedar Grove Courts. But that later session also featured The GTA Intermediate Invitational Round of 16 Match between Jay “The Rising” Phoenix and “Big George” Jorge Solano (both of them sent in the result and Jorge provided some additional details). Also, “Dominant” Dawn Peterson sent in a couple of scores directly, but said that Kris would confirm some details.
We now turn this report over to Gen for the RHP recap. From there, we will head up to Cedar Grove for the multi-sourced report.
GTA Monday Night Tennis at RHP featured beautiful weather and five competitors.
Mike Mole and I were the first to arrive at the RHP courts at 4:30 with all three courts vacant. We did 30 minutes of hitting and then followed that with a Singles One-Setter. We were later joined by Raj Shah, Vinnie De Benedetto and Nathan Fernandes.
After Mike and I finished our One-Setter, there were a series of mini hitting sessions. Raj was dressed in his shirt and jeans and was just looking to make a cameo. He soon started hitting with Mike for 15 min then took a break to walk around the park. Then Vinnie and I took over to hit with Mike for 10 minutes before Mike made his exit.
It was down to just Vinnie and I having a hitting session for next 20 min until Nate arrived. Raj offered to play so we could get in an official Doubles One-Setter done before dark. Also, Dave Zapusek and Cujo stopped by to say “hi” as the two were walking around the park enjoying nice weather.
The RHP Results:
Mike Mole over Genalin Capan, 6-2! Mike: 3 Aces!
We started with both of us holding serve and then followed that with an exchange of breaks for 2-2. Then Mike took next 4 straight games for the win. We had a couple of games that were multi Deuces. He closed out the set on 3rd MP. We played this one from 5-5:35.
Nathan Fernandes/Vinnie De Benedetto over Raj Shah/Genalin Capan, 6-2! Raj: 2 Aces on Nate!
Raj asked Vinnie who he wanted on his team. Vinnie's reply was that he would take the young Nate as he needs someone to do the running. Vinnie hit some nice winners at the net. Thanks to Raj who did much of the running on our side of the court. This set was a lot of fun. When Raj served up the 2 aces on Nate, he called them "Welcome Back Nate!" aces. We played this last set from 6:35-7pm. For the rest of the session, Nate, Raj and I continued hitting.
Samara’s Notes: I thank Gen for hosting the RHP session and providing us with that report. We now head up to Cedar Grove for the report from Kris with additional details coming in from Jay, Jorge and Dawn. I thank everyone for their input.
The Cedar Grove Results:
GTA Intermediate Invitational Round of 16 Match:
Jay Phoenix over Jorge Solano, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5), to successfully defend his # 9 Rank in the Intermediate Division plus advance to the Quarterfinals of The GTA Intermediate Invitational Tournament! No Aces.
The Say from Jorge: Tonight's match started at 6:15pm. In the 1st set, I had the advantage being up 5-1 and I couldn't finish it and bring it to a Match Point. Jay made an excellent comeback and took the set at 7-5. In the following set, Jay had a 4-3 advantage over me, but I came back to tie it 4-4. We ended then our 6-6 Tiebreak with Jay winning 7-5. The match ended at 8:15. Congratulations to Jay on a terrific and very competitive match. Tennis is a game of mistakes and I couldn't finish and take the chances I had when I was ahead.
Samara’s Notes: I thank both of them for their feedback. I congratulate Jay on his hard-fought victory, but also give major kudos to Jorge for his solid effort. I also give Big George an additional thank you for the thoughtful details that he provided us. And now we go to Kris with an assist from Dawn.
Just a quick recap of the results, but I can't help mention the fact that Lou La Forgia was in such a fiery mood, his play was scintillating! Should I say he whipped the shots? Ripped the ball? Smoked them? It was all that and more!
It was a delight to watch his game. Both Chris Chiaro and Nithin Poosala were brilliant in their play as well which was evident in the last completed match of the night which ended up in a tight Tiebreak.
Praful Nair/Herb Reiner over Omar Santos/Natalia Sout, 6-0! No Aces (apparently).
Praful Nair/Santosh Reddy over Tito Castolo/Dawn Peterson, 6-3! No Aces (apparently).
Dawn said that these two teams then started another One-Setter in which her team was leading, but then Tito had to leave to go pick up his wife.
Chris Chiaro/Dawn Peterson over Praful Nair/Santosh Reddy, 6-2! No Aces (apparently).
Sairaj Srinivasan/Nithin Poosala over Kris Srinivasan/Herb Reiner, 6-2! No Aces.
Lou La Forgia/Nithin Poosala over Chris Chiaro/Santosh Reddy, 6-2! Chris: 1 Ace on Nithin!
Chris Chiaro/Lou La Forgia over Kris Srinivasan/Nithin Poosala, 6-0! No Aces. And full credit goes to Lou and Kris for that lopsided score. There was one point worthy of mention. Mighty Lou had one blistering cross-court shot that I intercepted at the net. The effect was a drop shot onto the other side that then ricocheted back onto my side. One time when you can actually go to the opponent’s side to play it!
Praful Nair/Natalia Sout over Omar Santos/Herb Reiner, 6-3! No Aces (apparently).
2 out of 3 Sets:
Omar Santos/Rob Gawley over Praful Nair/Natalia Sout, 6-4, 6-3! No Aces (apparently).
And then these two teams played an incomplete set which was cut short at 2 games apiece.
Chris Chiaro/Nithin Poosala over Kris Srinivasan/Lou La Forgia, 7-6 (7-4)! No Aces.
This was the match of the night as Lou continued to be rollicking and, with some assist from me initially, we had a healthy lead only to see a great comeback from Chris and Nithin.
With Spin (Dan Martinelli), Dino Celis and Laura Gawley on the sidelines cheering and goading, this only electrified the atmosphere as Chris and Nithin roared back into the game down 2-5 to win 4 consecutive games and the next one was a drama that fittingly ensured a Tiebreak that was handsomely won by Chris and Nithin.
This was a great match and a fine way to end the night.
We did have another 8 minutes remaining or so. Dino was sufficiently inspired to hit the ball with me.
Personally, I am happy that we took take Lou and Nithin away from a match they were about to start playing with Herb and Natalia.
Overall, it was a great night of GTA action and the man in the spotlight was without question the "Amazing Lou".
Samara’s Notes: As always, I thank Kris for all he does on behalf of the GTA up at Cedar Grove (often with an assist from his wife Doinks). That last one sounds like yet another possible Nominee for One-Set Doubles Match of The Year at season’s end.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
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