5/17

“Gen hosts 6 at RHP, Kris hosts 5 at C.G.!”:

               

GTA Tuesday Night Tennis took place at two locations: Robin Hood Park in Clifton (hosted by “The S Bomber” Genalin Capan) and at The Cedar Grove Courts (hosted by “Papa K” Kris Srinivasan). 

We will first go to report from Gen and then the full recap from Kris.

We remained rain-free for the entire session at RHP despite the day being cloudy with threats of rain throughout the day.  There was a brief drizzle, but it never materialized to anything.

Mike Mole and Norman Taclob were the first two to get to the GTA Tuesday Tennis session which started around 3pm. The two just hit and no official One-Setter transpired.

Then Moka Pathan arrived at RHP by 4pm. When I arrived there by 4:35, Norman and Moka were hitting on Championship Court. Mike was taking a break. Mike and I started hitting on Center Court for 10 minutes to get me warmed up while Moka and Norm continued hitting. 

We started a Doubles One-Setter at 5pm, but we did not finish as Norman had to leave by 5:30.

The RHP Results:

Moka Pathan/Genalin Capan leading Norman Taclob/Mike Mole, 5-4 (Incomplete when Norm had to leave)!  Mike: 2 Aces (one on each in the same service game)!

This was a pretty competitive and tight set with some big serves and heavy hitting rallies. We started with both Mike and I holding serves. Then followed by Moka and Norm, we exchanged breaks for 2-2. Both Mike and I exchanged breaks for 3-3. Moka held after a battle and 7 Deuces for us to take the lead at 4-3. Norm held to level it 4-4. I was the last to serve and held for 5-4. We had to stop at this point. We were on serve and Mike was next up to serve. 

Moka Pathan over Mike Mole, 6-2!  No Aces.  They played this one from 5:35 to 6pm.  Mike left after this set. 

I sent a text to Rob Ryan to see if he was available to play while Moka and Mike were playing their One-Setter. Then 15 minutes later, Rob walked over and we started warming up on Center Court.

Nathan Fernandes was the last arrival at 6pm. Nate teamed with Rob to hit against me. After 10 minutes of warm-up, we started the next One-Setter. 

Rob Ryan/Nathan Fernandes over Moka Pathan/Genalin Capan, 6-0!  Rob: 1 Ace on Gen.  Guess Moka and I were hungry for a bagel…LOL!  This was played from 6:12 to 6:35. 

Moka was done playing which left the three of us on court.  We played Canadian Doubles.  Afterwards we ended up having a hitting session: Rob and I on one side working over Nate. Then Rob was done playing by 7:30.  Nate and I stayed behind to hit for another 15 minutes before calling it a night. 

Samara’s Notes: I thank Gen for hosting that session at RHP and providing us with her report.  We now head up to Cedar Grove to let Papa K take it away!

Here’s a quick recap.

The Cedar Grove Results:

Jorge Solano/Natalia Sout over Dan Martinelli/Natalie Guzman, 6-3!  No Aces.

Down 0-3, Spin and Nat came back well to tie the score 3-All.  But from there on it was all missed opportunities to close out games for the taking.  Jorge and Sout played steady and committed very few errors.

Jorge Solano/Natalia Sout over Kris Srinivasan/Natalie Guzman, 7-6 (7-3)!  No Aces.

Jorge was brilliant at the net and it only helped his cause with our feeding him constantly. Both Natalia and Natalie played well and if I had upped my game, we could have done a lot better. We did save 2 Match Points and won the game to force the TB, but again some very casual and loose play on our part put us behind with 3 more Match Points against us. We saved one more and that's all we could muster. Credit goes to Jorge and Natalia for their solid play and also to Natalie for her earnest efforts to prolong the rallies and some nice gets.  Cheers!

Samara’s Notes: As always, thanks to Kris for being the host with the most up at Cedar Grove and for consistently providing us with colorful and comprehensive reports.

Sincerely,

Frank Samara