"Michel-Dennis part of 10 at RHP, Kris hosts 13 (2 New) at C.G.!":
GTA Wednesday Tennis took place in two locations: Robin Hood Park in Clifton (hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara and featuring the GTA Intermediate Invitational Round of 16 Match between "ME" Michel Encarnacion and Dennis "The Menace" Cabanatan) and at The Cedar Grove Courts (with "Papa K" Kris Srinivasan acting as host, but with Samara making a cameo appearance and picking up some scores along the way).
The weather was absolutely beautiful (sunny and upper 70 degree range), so the turnout was solid (10 at RHP, but only 13 at C.G., which normally would be stronger…but I think some suspected that Pickle Ball was already underway).
So we will first go to the full RHP recap, and then the scores that Frank collected in person followed by that balance that as sent in by Kris.
Samara pulled up to RHP at 5:25 (as promised). Upon his arrival, he saw that "C.A.T." Christine Toth was pulling away from the courts. Frank honked his horn at her several times, but to no avail (also neglected to mention in the Tuesday report that Christine had shown up at 5:45 for that session…but seeing that a Doubles One-Setter had just gotten underway, she did not want to be the "fifth wheel" and decided to leave).
As Frank walked toward the courts, he saw that Dennis was out on the Entrance Court hitting with the woman that I've long referred to as "the lone Asian lady." They were having quite the hitting session as Dennis was prepping for his match with Michel Encarnacion.
The other two courts were empty, so Samara went over to Championship Court to occupy it. Within five minutes, two interlopers took over Center Court (they would leave at 6:15).
When Encarnacion arrived at 5:35, the "lone Asian lady" made her way over to Samara (at the suggestion of Dennis) to give him her info (I had actually asked her for it last season when we met her friend Saori Ohi who ended up officially playing with us once). Her name is Sachiko Tokuda (aka Sachi) and she is now on our mailing list. I told her to mix in with us any time she so desires.
She then left the session as she saw that two of the three courts were already tied up with Men's Singles action. Meanwhile, Samara remained alone on Championship Court until 5:50 when "The Vin Man" Vinnie De Benedetto arrived.
The two of them had a hitting session, but were hoping for two more to play Doubles. Their hopes picked up a bit when "Lucky" Leo Victor walked out onto their court at 6:05. Frank and Vin then teamed up on the young (well, sort of…LOL!) lad.
At 6:15, Samara sent a text message to his buddy "Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli as he had said the night before that he would be present for this session. Just then, "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan pulled up to the courts.
She briefly made it a foursome until both "Latino Heat" Jose Gonzales and Jay "The Rising" Phoenix arrived at 6:25. Gen was hoping to have a hitting session with Jay while Jose was looking to play some Doubles.
Two young interlopers took over the Entrance Court at 6:35 mere minutes after the conclusion of the Encarnacion-Cabanatan match (more on that later). I also neglected to mention in the Tuesday report that these two same guys (they look like twins, but one brother seems a little bigger than the other) were there for that session as well.
They very rudely occupied the back area (near the entrance gate) of the Entrance Court while Michel and Dennis were still playing! I was tempted to go over there and admonish them about it, but one cross word from either one of them would have led to an ugly conclusion given the mood I have been in as of late. So I figured if Michel or Dennis was willing to let it go, so should I.
At 6:40, both Martinelli and "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes made their way onto the courts. This set up another foursome on Center Court and would eventually lead to some Doubles over there as well. This gave us a total of ten official players for the session.
It ended up being a lot of fun. There were also cameo appearances made by "The Z-Man" Dave Zapusek and "Big Jake" Rich Jachens as they walked their respective dogs around the park (Jachens had made a similar cameo appearance on Tuesday night as well).
Let's go to the scores!
The RHP Results:
GTA Intermediate Invitational Round of 16 Match:
Michel Encarnacion over Dennis Cabanatan, 6-1, 7-5 (Dennis retires while down 5-6), to successfully defend his # 11 Rank in the Intermediate Division while also advancing to the Quarterfinals of The GTA Intermediate Invitational Tournament! Dennis: 5 Aces! Michel: 1 Ace.
The Skinny: They got this one officially underway on the Entrance Court at 5:45 after a five minute hitting session. So I was shocked to see the entire match end at 6:33. Michel later explained that this was the continuation of the match as they had started it previously with Encarnacion up 4-1 in the 1st Set when Cabanatan busted his racquet and did not have a spare. I'm not sure why Dennis had to retire in the 2nd Set. It did not seem like it was due to injury. Perhaps he had some time constraints and had to leave at that time. I would hate to think it was because those two young ruffians decided to just place themselves on the court while the match was still taking place.
The Consequences: Encarnacion now advances to the Quarters to face "Steppin' to the AM" Anish Mehta. But they may not be able to get the match done in time as Michel is set to leave for a two week vacation in few days. If that match does not happen, then Encarnacion will have to withdraw from the tourney as Mehta will advance via a bye into the Semis where he will face "The Webmaster" Senthil Kumar. This is not yet entirely confirmed, but seems quite likely at this time.
Jose Gonzales/Leo Victor over Frank Samara/Vinnie De Benedetto, 6-2! Jose: 1 Ace on Vinnie. It went like this: Leo held serve (15-Love, 15-All where an un-returned serve and a winning volley from Jose made it Double Game Point, but that got cut down to Deuce after Vin made a winning Overhead Smash, but then it went back to Game Point and then the hold) and Vinnie was broken (Triple Break Point where Frank hit a drop shot winner for Double Break Point, but then came the break) to go down 0-2. Jose was then broken (15-Love, 15-All and onto Double Game Point as Leo hit a passing shot winner followed by another winner, but that got cut down to Deuce and then Vin hit a winning Overhead Smash for Break Point and then he hit yet another winning Overhead Smash for the break), but so was Frank (Love-30 shifted to 30-All with an un-returned serve along the way, but then came Break Point and the break) to fall to 1-3. Victor held again (un-returned serve for 15-Love and then point for point to Game Point which came after another un-returned serve, then it was Deuce where Jose hit a winning Overhead Smash for Game Point, 2nd Deuce where Jose hit a winning volley for Game Point and then another un-returned serve secured the hold) to take a 4-1 lead for his team. De Benedetto held serve (Love-15 shifted to Double Game Point with two un-returned serves, then it was on Game Point where Vin made an absolutely amazing get/winner combo to secure his own hold) to pull to 2-4. But from there, Gonzales held at Love as Frank blew a drop shot to start things off and then there was a service-line Ace on Vinnie followed by another un-returnable serve along the way and then Samara was broken again (back-to-back get/winner combos by Jose to counter attempted drop shot winners from Frank made it Love-30, but then Jose blew a drop shot and then an un-returned serve made it 30-All, then it was Break/Match Point where an un-returned serve made it Deuce which was where Leo hit a scorching passing shot return winner for 2nd Break/Match Point, then it was 2nd Deuce where Leo hit another winning return for the 3rd Break/Match Point where an un-returned serve made it 3rd Deuce, Game Point, 4th Deuce where Leo hit yet another amazing return winner for the 4th Break/Match Point where Jose hit an Overhead Smash to pick up the win! We played this one on Championship Court from 6:30 to 7:05.
The Skinny: It felt closer than the score suggests so Frank and Vinnie decided to ask for a rematch. And we will get to that one a little later.
Dan Martinelli/Nathan Fernandes over Jay Phoenix/Genalin Capan, 6-4! No Aces. Center Court hosted this one from 6:45 to 7:20. From there, Jay had to go. They had a hitting session where Gen was taking on both Jay and Spin at the same time. Then Nate suggested Canadian Doubles. They barely got that going when someone else would soon be come available so that they could then play some proper Doubles, but first…
Frank Samara/Vinnie De Benedetto over Jose Gonzales/Leo Victor, 6-4! No Aces. Here's how it went down: Leo was broken at Love as Vin got things started with a blast of a winning volley, Vinnie was broken (un-returned serve for 15-Love, Double Fault for 15-All where Jose hit a winner for 15-30, then 30-All, Break Point and the break), but Jose was the first to hold serve in this one (Love-15 shifted right to Double Game Point as Jose hit a winner and two un-returned serves along the way, it then went to Game Point and the hold) to go up 2-1. Frank finally held (two un-returned serves and a winning volley by Vin set up Triple Game Point where Jose hit a big-time passing shot return winner for Double Game Point, but then another un-returned serve secured the hold), but Victor had a Love hold where Jose hit a winning volley, there was an un-returned serve and then Jose hit a winning Overhead Smash to secure his partner's hold for a 3-2 lead. De Benedetto also held (Love-15 shifted to Double Game Point with two un-returned serves along the way, it was then Game Point where Jose hit a winning volley for Deuce, Game Point again, 2nd Deuce, Break Point, 3rd Deuce, Break Point, 4th Deuce, Game Point and finally the hold), but Gonzales held again (15-Love, Double Fault for 15-All and then straight to Double Game Point as Vin blew an overhead to set up the G.P., but then Frank blew an overhead where the shot was practically gifted to him with a bow on it to allow the hold) to go up 4-3. Samara also held again (un-returned serve for 15-Love where Jose smoked another passing shot return winner past Vin for 15-All, but then it was all un-returned serves from there as it went to Double Game Point and the hold) to knot the score once more at 4-4! Lucky Leo's luck ran out as he was finally broken (Love-30 where an un-returned serve made it 15-30, but then Double Break Point and the break) and The Vin Man held again (15-Love, Double Fault for 15-All, 30-15, 30-All where Vin hit a lucky lob winner to set up Game/Match Point and then came the hold and the win) to seal the deal! This one was also played on Championship Court and lasted from 7:06 to 7:42.
The Skinny: Vin was stunned to learn that his team had taken a 5-4 lead. He joked that he would then blow it and they would go on to lose it 5-7. But he kept his composure and was able to close it out on serve.
After this one, Jose left to head up to Cedar Grove while Vin left a little while later to head home. Leo was looking for more action, so he was invited onto Center Court to play some Doubles over there while Frank chose to just hang out and watch.
Leo Victor/Nathan Fernandes over Dan Martinelli/Genalin Capan, 6-2! No Aces. They were even to 2-2 and then Leo and Nate went up 5-2. Spin was on serve with his opponents now on the darker side of the court (the east side). The Doc went up 30-Love, but then it shifted to 30-All. It was then Game Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce where Nate hit a drop shot winner to set up Break/Match Point where Leo hit the winner to get the win! This one took place on Center Court from 7:43 to 8:12.
From there, there was a five-way bull session that lasted until 8:35. At that time, Frank hopped into Spin's car for the ride up to Cedar Grove. They were going just to watch a bit and collect scores as Martinelli indicated he would have to leave by 9:30 at the latest. This was fine with Samara whose allergies were beginning to kick back in once again.
They arrived there at 8:50 to see Courts One and Two filled with non-GTA players while GTA action was taking place on Courts Three and Four.
The Foundation (Samara/Martinelli) took the bench outside of Court Four and sat down to a nice man named Francois. Many of us have seen him and his friend, Wilson (who was one of the four out on Court Four at the time), up at the Cedar Grove Courts this season (usually hitting with one another on Court Three).
The other three out on Court Four with "The Whirlwind" Wilson Duval (I give him that name because he is seemingly in constant motion and deals out whipping shots) were Natalia "Nitro" Sout (teaming with Wilson) against Kris Srinivasan and Senthil Kumar.
And the four out on Court Three were Jose Gonzales teaming with "The Natural" Natalie Guzman against "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan and "Bravo" Brenda Jordan.
A couple of Doubles One-Setters had already concluded prior to the arrival of Samara and Martinelli. The final four competitors of the night (for a total of 13) were "French Frank" Francois Descorbeth, "Eddie O" Edwin Ortega, "Young Jon" Jonathan Hegarty (Ortega and Hegarty may have been alone on Court One or Two prior to coming over to Court Three) and "Coach" Dino Celis who was a late arrival at 9pm.
Samara left with Martinelli at 9:30. Kris sent in the balance of the results. Let's go to the scores!
The Cedar Grove Results:
Dean Delgado/Wilson Duval over Kris Srinivasan/Senthil Kumar, 6-4! Wilson: 1 Ace on Senthil. It was the official GTA Debut of Wilson Duval. This took place on Court Four.
Jose Gonzales/Natalie Guzman over Doinks Srinivasan/Brenda Jordan, 6-2! No Aces (apparently). They played this on Court Three and it went right into this next one.
Jose Gonzales/Natalie Guzman over Doinks Srinivasan/Brenda Jordan, 6-4! No Aces (apparently). This one finished on Court Three at 9pm.
Kris Srinivasan/Senthil Kumar over Wilson Duval/Natalia Sout, 6-2! Wilson: 1 Ace on Kris. This one got done on Court Four at 9:05.
Kris Srinivasan/Senthil Kumar over Edwin Ortega/Jonathan Hegarty, 6-2! No Aces. It was the official GTA Return of Jonathan Hegarty. This one got underway on Court Three at 9:10.
Wilson Duval/Francois Descorbeth over Dino Celis/Natalia Sout, 6-4! No Aces (apparently). It was the official GTA Debut of Francois Descorbeth. This one got going on Court Four at 9:10. Dino and Natalia had been up 3-2 right around the time of the departure of Samara and Martinelli.
Senthil Kumar/Jonathan Hegarty over Kris Srinivasan/Edwin Ortega, 6-2! No Aces.
The Say from Papa K: Another forgettable night for me, but Senthil was the one with the steady hand. You can say that The Webmaster did weave his magic. Cheers!
Samara's Notes: As always, I thank Kris for all he does on behalf of the GTA up at Cedar Grove. I also want to thank Senthil once again for acting as The Webmaster of the GTA's still relatively new website. If you haven't checked it out, go to http://gta-tennis.blogspot.com.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
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