"Chris-Dean, Norm/Tito-Frank/Vin at RHP, Kris hosts 9 (1 New) at C.G.!":
This session of GTA Sunday Tennis featured fluctuating weather conditions as the day started off with light rain in the overnight/early morning hours which was followed by cloudy and cool conditions. Then that gave way to a somewhat hot and humid setting only to then be greeted with a windy, cool-down period.
The temperature range throughout the session must have been from 60 to 70 degrees give or take a little either way. As such, many players stayed away due to the uncertain circumstances and the turnout was lower than expected (only nine official competitors).
Earlier in the week, it had been announced that the recently vacated GTA Doubles Championship would be up for grabs in a match featuring the top two contending teams: Norman Taclob/Vito Castolo versus Frank Samara/Vinnie De Benedetto.
Samara was the first to arrive at 9:55. He was happily surprised to see that the courts were mostly dry except for a couple of puddles near the fences. But the playing area on all the courts was ready for action. Once he took his place on Championship Court, he sent text messages to Taclob, Castolo and De Benedetto to assure them that RHP was OK for play.
All three sent text replies back to him to confirm they would attend.
At 10:15, "Chito" Nick Inciong pulled up to the courts just looking to play whatever he could. Hot on his heels were both "Kid Crush" Chris Chiaro and "Lean" Dean Delgado. And another five minutes after that, De Benedetto made his way toward the courts.
We now had five players, so Frank and Vin discussed which one should play in a Doubles One-Setter and it was De Benedetto who opted out to allow Samara to play.
After about a ten minute hitting session, a Doubles One-Setter got underway featuring Chiaro and Samara taking on Delgado and Inciong. Vinnie watched the entire match. And during this initial One-Setter, "Big Jake" Rich Jachens made a quick cameo appearance as he walked Chloe past the courts.
The One-Setter ended just a couple of minutes before 11am. At that time, Norm and Tito showed up together (you know what they say: "The team that arrives together stays together," or something like that).
Chris and Dean shifted over to Center Court for what started out as a One-Setter, but ended up as a full 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match. Meanwhile, Nick was content to watch the GTA Doubles Championship Match. It officially got underway at 11:07.
Jachens returned to the park at 11:25, but this time around it was to play tennis. Unfortunately for Big Jake, Chiaro and Delgado had just turned their One-Setter into a full Challenge Match at that time. So it ended up being Jachens hitting against Inciong on the Entrance Court.
"Kaboom" Raj Boddu was a surprise arrival at 11:35. He entered into the hitting session on the Entrance Court. Raj later said he first went to Cedar Grove, but nobody was playing there (it is still odd to think that those four courts go unoccupied pretty much every Sunday morning).
At 11:55, Inciong, Chiaro and Delgado all left for the day. But Raj and Rich would not have to wait too long for Doubles action as the GTA Doubles Championship Match ended exactly at 12:03. From there, Norm left, but said he would soon come back for Tito who was still looking to play more.
Samara opted out to allow Boddu and De Benedetto to team up against Jachens and Castolo. That one ran from 12:07 to 12:35. Then, it was Vin who left for the day.
From there, Samara and Boddu teamed to take on Jachens and Castolo in what would be the last official action of the day at RHP.
During that one, "Double R" Rob Ryan made a cameo appearance at 12:45. Five minutes later, "Coach" Dion Celis also did the same.
That last One-Setter of the day ended exactly at 1:18. Raj and Rich left promptly, but Tito had to wait for a ride as Norm never came back to pick him up for a return home (Tito's wife eventually took him home).
Frank, Dino and Rob had a bull session that lasted until 2pm. Rob confirmed what Chris had told Frank earlier in the session - that he will forego his immediate rematch for the GTA Championship this month. That now allows New GTA Champion: "Instant" Moka Pathan to put the Title on the line against his next Top Contender, Chiaro.
That will be a rematch of sorts as Pathan defeated Chiaro in last year's Grove Cup Tournament, but then went on to lose to Ryan in the Finals which also served as the match to re-establish the GTA Championship.
During the bull session, "The Uni-Bomber" Uni Mendoza arrived at 1:45 with his daughter Natasha and her older sister (whose name escapes me at this time). They took the Entrance Court for a hitting session. Uni told us his shoulder is feeling better this season.
Just minutes after The Mendozas arrived, Derek "Bruiser" Bronisz and an unknown player took Championship Court. We never had the chance to ask Derek where he has been along with his stepson, "Lightning" Lukasz Krzesiewicz and their buddy "The PM" Paul Mysliwiec.
Let's get to the scores!
The RHP Results:
Chris Chiaro/Frank Samara over Dean Delgado/Nick Inciong, 6-2! Nick: 1 Ace on Frank. It went like this: Nick was broken (Love-15, an Ace up the T against Frank for 15-All, but then straight to Double Break Point where an un-returned serve made it Break Point, but then came the break), Frank was broken (a winning return from Nick for Love-15, then 15-All, but then straight to Double Break Point where Chris made an amazing get/volley combo for Break Point and then an un-returned serve made it Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point and the break), Dean was broken (a winner from Nick for 15-Love, then a Double Fault for 15-All and that was where Frank hit a winning volley for 15-30, then Double Break Point, the break came on Break Point) and Chris was broken at Love as on Triple Break Point he hit what should have been a winning drop shot only to see Nick rush to the net and make amazing get/winner combo!) as none of us could hold serve at 2-2! Inciong was broken again (15-Love to 15-30, Double Fault for Double Break Point where Chris hit a winner for the break), but Samara was the first to hold and it was at Love to take a 4-2 lead for his team! Delgado was broken again (15-Love, 15-All and then two un-returned serves brought it to Double Game Point, it was Game Point where Frank hit a drop shot winner to make it Deuce and then came Break Point and the break) and Chiaro held (there were two un-returned serves on the way to Triple Game/Match Point and that was where Chris blew a volley to make it Double Game/Match Point, it then went to Game/Match Point, but that was where the hold came to finally seal the deal) for the victory! We played this on Championship Court from 10:30 to 10:58.
The Skinny: Although he may not have hit his usual amount of winners, Chiaro was still the dominant force in this one as his game play achieved many forced errors from the opposition.
2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:
Chris Chiaro over Dean Delgado, 6-2, 6-1, to successfully defend his # 3 Rank in the Advanced Division! No Aces. This was contested on Center Court from 11:01 to 11:45 with the 2nd Set starting at 11:25.
GTA Doubles Championship Match:
Norman Taclob/Tito Castolo over Frank Samara/Vinnie De Benedetto, 6-1, 6-3, to become the New GTA Champions! Norm: 2 Aces in the 2nd Set (one on each)!
1st Set: Frank was broken (Love-15 shifted straight to Double Game Point after Frank hit a winning lob followed by an impressive passing shot winner, but then it shifted to Deuce as Tito had back-to-back winning Overhead Smashes along the way and then on Break Point it was Tito once again hitting a winning Overhead Smash), Norman held (a winning lob from Norm and an un-returned serve eventually led to Triple Game Point where Frank hit a drop shot winner to make it Double Game Point, but that was where Tito hit a winning Overhead Smash for the hold), Vinnie was broken (Love-30 shifted to 30-All where Norm hit a drop shot winner to set up Break Point and then Norm hit another winner to earn the break), Tito held (Love-15 shifted straight to Double Game Point as Tito hit a winner and a winning Backhand Volley along the way, then Vin hit a winner for Game Point, but then came the hold) and Samara was then broken at Love as Tito hit a winning Backhand Volley and a winning passing shot return along the way to what was starting to look like an absolute rout with Taclob/Castolo up 5-0! Taclob was then broken (Love-15 and an un-returned serve for 15-All, but then straight to Double Break Point where Frank hit a winning Overhead Smash for the break) to allow the opposition onto the scoreboard, but De Benedetto was broken again as Tito hit a winning lob for Love-15, it was Love-30 where Norm blew a volley for 15-30, but then came Double Break/Set Point and the break as this initial set ended at exactly 11:28 (it got underway on Championship Court at 11:07).
2nd Set: Tito was broken at Love as Frank hit a winner on the way to Triple Break Point and then Tito blew a volley to break himself, Vinnie was broken (Vin hit a winning lob for 15-Love, but then it shifted to 15-30 as Norm hit a drop shot winner along the way, it was then 30-All and then Break Point where Tito hit a winning volley for the break), but Norman was the first to hold in this set (as Tito hit a winning volley, Norm hit a winning volley and then Tito hit another winning volley to make it Triple Game Point, it was then Double Game Point where Vin hit a winning lob for Game Point, then it was Deuce, Break Point where Norm nailed Frank with a corner Ace to bring it back to 2nd Deuce which was where Tito hit a winning volley for Game Point and then Tito did the exact same thing again to secure his partner's hold) and that made it 2-1. Frank also held (Tito hit a winning volley for Love-15, but then it went point for point until 30-All as Tito hit one more winning volley along the way there, but then we had Vin hit a winning Overhead Smash to make it Game Point where an un-returned serve secured the hold) to level the set at 2-2. Castolo held (un-returned serve for 15-Love, then it was 30-Love where Tito blew a volley for 30-15, it went to Double Game Point where Vin hit a winning Overhead Smash to make it Game Point, but then came the hold) and De Benedetto was broken again (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point where Tito hit a winning volley for the break) to go down 2-4. Taclob was broken (Love-30 where he hit an Ace up the T against Vin for 15-30, but then Tito blew a volley to set up Double Break Point and then came the break) to have his team's lead cut to 4-3. But from there, Samara was also broken (Love-15 where Vin hit a winning lob for 15-All, but then Norm hit three consecutive drop shot winners which took it all the way through Double Break Point and earned the break) and Tito Touch held again (15-Love shifted to 15-30 as Vin hit a winning lob along the way, but then it shifted again and went to Game/Match Point which is where this one ended) to take the victory and the Titles that were up for grabs as this one ended exactly at 12:03!
The Skinny: Norm and Tito got off to a hot start as Frank and Vin were starting to fear getting entirely swept off the court. Getting one game before dropping the 1st Set may not seem like much, but it was a moral victory. After that, the 2nd Set felt very close until the bottom dropped out at the end. The tandem of Taclob and Castolo is very effective and they play Doubles in the proper manner as each player seeks to get up to the net and then force the opposition to either lob them or pass them. Sometimes we were able to do this successfully, but usually it was too much to overcome. Congratulations to both Norm and Tito as the match was closet than it looks...yet still, it was quite the convincing victory.
The Consequences: Now Norm and Tito will be told to hold off on defending the Titles until a new Top Contender emerges from the upcoming M2 Men's Doubles Tournament. In that event (details soon to be announced), Former GTA Doubles Champs: Chiaro and Raj Shah will be given a Wild Card/Top Seed entry as they never lost the Titles on the court. From there, Samara/De Benedetto will be the 2nd Seed and we will our way down the ranks of the Doubles Division until we can invite a total of 16 Teams (obviously with no one player being repeated along the way). Once the brackets/matches are announced, those matches can be played anywhere and at any time (provided they are within a reasonable time period given the weather circumstances at that time).
Raj Boddu/Vinnie De Benedetto over Rich Jachens/Tito Castolo, 6-1! No Aces. Here's the basic breakdown: At 1-1, Tito was broken in a multiple Deuce game that resulted in a 1-2 score. Then Vin held, Rich was broken and Raj held (Game Point, Deuce, Double Fault for Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to go up 5-1. Then, Castolo was broken again (Triple Break/Match Point, Double Break/Match Point where Tito hit a winner to make it Break/Match Point, then it was Deuce where Tito blew another volley attempt to set up the 4th Break/Match Point where Raj hit a very impressive passing shot winner to earn the victory!) to take the loss. This was conducted on Championship Court and it lasted from 12:07 to 12:35.
Rich Jachens/Tito Castolo over Frank Samara/Raj Boddu, 6-4! Tito: 1 Ace on Raj; and Raj: 1 Ace on Rich. It went like this: Tito held (Tito hit a winner for 15-Love, then 15-All where Tito hit a sideline Ace on Raj to go up 30-15 where Tito hit another winner to make it Double Game Point, but then he blew a volley to cut it to Game Point, but then he hit an un-returned serve to secure the hold) and Frank was broken as he got off to a Love-30 start which was where Raj hit his big Kaboom-style Overhead Smash for the point and on the way to 30-All, but then Tito hit a drop shot that was not a winner but enough to lead to Break Point, then Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce where Rich hit a very impressive winner to make it Break Point and then came the break) to get off to an 0-2 start. Rich was broken at Love, but Raj was also broken (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 and then a service-line Ace against Rich made it Double Game Point, but then it was cut down to Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point, 3rd Deuce, Game Point, 4th Deuce, Break Point and the break) to fall to 1-3. Castolo was broken (Tito hit a drop shot winner for 15-Love, but then he blew two volleys on the way to Double Break Point, the break came on Break Point) and Samara held (30-Love shifted to 30-All, but on Game Point it was Raj who hit a highly impressive passing shot winner to secure his partner's hold) to level the scene at 3-3! Jachens held (a winning volley by Tito for 15-Love, then a Double Fault for 15-All, but then it went straight to Double Game Point as Tito hit a winning Overhead Smash along the way and then that hold came on D.G.P.) to go up 4-3, but Boddu also held (a truly un-returnable serve for 15-Love, a Double Fault for 15-All, but then another un-returnable serve on the way to Double Game Point where Raj hit yet another powerful passing shot winner to secure the hold) to knot the score once more at 4-4! But Tito Touch held (a winning volley by Tito for 15-Love, it was then 15-All where Frank blew a volley and then Rich hit a very nice passing shot winner of his own on the way to Double Game Point where Rich hit another winner to secure his partner's hold) and then Hollywood was broken (a winning volley by Tito made it Love-30, it shifted to 30-All after Frank hit a drop shot winner, but then came Break/Match Point where Rich hit a winning return to end it) to take a tough loss! We played this one on Championship Court from 12:40 to 1:18.
The Skinny: The main difference between this One-Setter and the one prior to it (where Boddu teamed with De Benedetto rather than Samara) was the much-improved play from Jachens in the latter one. In the prior one, Rich was trying to shake off the rust and he lacked a lot of confidence. Tito was also making some rare mistakes as perhaps he was trying to overachieve in an attempt to carry the team. But Big Jake came up big in his second opportunity of the day and it was some of the best play we have seen from him in quite a while. It was also nice to see Mr. Boddu back at the courts of RHP as he no longer lives close to the area. We hope to see more of him even as we realize it is not something we should expect all the time.
It was a very fun yet productive session at Robin Hood Park.
We now turn this report over to Kris.
The Cedar Grove Results:
We did have some tennis on Sunday even though Saturday pretty much survived the rains that were expected to curtail our tennis. We didn't get to play on Saturday focusing on other plans.
We were quite a late show for the evening session that we had originally planned to commence at 4pm. First to come was Natalia Sout, followed by Jose Gonzales, Senthil Kumar, Mike Sindler, Joe Rodrigues, good old Spin (aka Dan Martinelli), Mary Rosado, my wife Doinks and myself. So there were a couple of new players to play with us in Cedar Grove and we welcome them to our league.
The Cedar Grove Results:
Mike Sindler/Doinks Srinivasan over Senthil Kumar/Natalia Sout, 6-2! No Aces (apparently).
This was the first match among our players. I believe there was one prior to this involving Herb Reiner, Melvin Hyman, Jose Gonzales and Mike Sindler (perhaps?). We got to see Mike for the first time here. Normally a clay court player, Mike played solid tennis and we got to see more interesting matches subsequent to this one.
Jose Gonzales/Joe Rodrigues over Senthil Kumar/Mike Sindler, 6-2! No Aces (apparently).
Senthil Kumar/Joe Rodrigues over Jose Gonzales/Mike Sindler, 6-4! No Aces (apparently).
Joe Rodrigues/Mike Sindler over Jose Gonzales/Senthil Kumar, 6-4! No Aces (apparently).
These were close and competitive matches that saw all the players doing a great job. Joe was the man of the day. Per Senthil, Joe was the most consistent player. They had some nice rallies, gets and put-aways. Joe had hurt his feet which had limited his movements. Senthil is in good form and that reflected in his game.
2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:
Kris Srinivasan/Natalia Sout over Dan Martinelli/Doinks Srinivasan, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, to become the New # 30 Ranked Team in the Mixed Doubles Division! No Aces.
This was a full and very competitive match that saw lots of twists and turns, with plenty of fun for all. In all the sets, we started off taking the first two games before the comeback from Spin and Doinks. Spin did a lot of sprinting and made some amazing gets. Doinks was brilliant with both her baseline and net plays. She came on aggressively and some of her approaches to the net were putting great pressure on us. But Natalia did splendidly well hitting aggressive shots that Doinks couldn't handle from the net and also a beautiful dipping shot that evaded her racquet. Doinks also had nice topspin shots over my head on Natalia's serves and, besides that, some down-the-line shots that both Spin and Doinks dished out on me. In the last set, perhaps Spin had lost a couple of springs in his step and this time around, we kept extending our lead to seal the deal. We did have Mary Rosado, cheering us for all the good shots with both Spin and I bellowing for all the winners and misses.
Mary Rosado got to hit a bit with Senthil before we all played one last One-Setter.
Jose Gonzales/Doinks Srinivasan over Kris Srinivasan/Mary Rosado, 6-3! Jose: 1 Ace on Mary! It was the official GTA Debut of Mary Rosado.
Mary had some very nice ground-strokes that kept us in the game. Apparently, she hasn't served much but, with more practice, she is going to get cracking with her serves. She did have fun playing with us and I expect to see more of her playing with us.
Overall, it turned out to be fun for all on a relatively quiet night. Cheers!
Samara's Notes: As always, I thank Kris for consistently hosting, recruiting and reporting for the league up at Cedar Grove.
Samara signing off!
The official GTA Rankings have now changed and are as follows:
This session of GTA Sunday Tennis featured fluctuating weather conditions as the day started off with light rain in the overnight/early morning hours which was followed by cloudy and cool conditions. Then that gave way to a somewhat hot and humid setting only to then be greeted with a windy, cool-down period.
The temperature range throughout the session must have been from 60 to 70 degrees give or take a little either way. As such, many players stayed away due to the uncertain circumstances and the turnout was lower than expected (only nine official competitors).
Earlier in the week, it had been announced that the recently vacated GTA Doubles Championship would be up for grabs in a match featuring the top two contending teams: Norman Taclob/Vito Castolo versus Frank Samara/Vinnie De Benedetto.
Samara was the first to arrive at 9:55. He was happily surprised to see that the courts were mostly dry except for a couple of puddles near the fences. But the playing area on all the courts was ready for action. Once he took his place on Championship Court, he sent text messages to Taclob, Castolo and De Benedetto to assure them that RHP was OK for play.
All three sent text replies back to him to confirm they would attend.
At 10:15, "Chito" Nick Inciong pulled up to the courts just looking to play whatever he could. Hot on his heels were both "Kid Crush" Chris Chiaro and "Lean" Dean Delgado. And another five minutes after that, De Benedetto made his way toward the courts.
We now had five players, so Frank and Vin discussed which one should play in a Doubles One-Setter and it was De Benedetto who opted out to allow Samara to play.
After about a ten minute hitting session, a Doubles One-Setter got underway featuring Chiaro and Samara taking on Delgado and Inciong. Vinnie watched the entire match. And during this initial One-Setter, "Big Jake" Rich Jachens made a quick cameo appearance as he walked Chloe past the courts.
The One-Setter ended just a couple of minutes before 11am. At that time, Norm and Tito showed up together (you know what they say: "The team that arrives together stays together," or something like that).
Chris and Dean shifted over to Center Court for what started out as a One-Setter, but ended up as a full 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match. Meanwhile, Nick was content to watch the GTA Doubles Championship Match. It officially got underway at 11:07.
Jachens returned to the park at 11:25, but this time around it was to play tennis. Unfortunately for Big Jake, Chiaro and Delgado had just turned their One-Setter into a full Challenge Match at that time. So it ended up being Jachens hitting against Inciong on the Entrance Court.
"Kaboom" Raj Boddu was a surprise arrival at 11:35. He entered into the hitting session on the Entrance Court. Raj later said he first went to Cedar Grove, but nobody was playing there (it is still odd to think that those four courts go unoccupied pretty much every Sunday morning).
At 11:55, Inciong, Chiaro and Delgado all left for the day. But Raj and Rich would not have to wait too long for Doubles action as the GTA Doubles Championship Match ended exactly at 12:03. From there, Norm left, but said he would soon come back for Tito who was still looking to play more.
Samara opted out to allow Boddu and De Benedetto to team up against Jachens and Castolo. That one ran from 12:07 to 12:35. Then, it was Vin who left for the day.
From there, Samara and Boddu teamed to take on Jachens and Castolo in what would be the last official action of the day at RHP.
During that one, "Double R" Rob Ryan made a cameo appearance at 12:45. Five minutes later, "Coach" Dion Celis also did the same.
That last One-Setter of the day ended exactly at 1:18. Raj and Rich left promptly, but Tito had to wait for a ride as Norm never came back to pick him up for a return home (Tito's wife eventually took him home).
Frank, Dino and Rob had a bull session that lasted until 2pm. Rob confirmed what Chris had told Frank earlier in the session - that he will forego his immediate rematch for the GTA Championship this month. That now allows New GTA Champion: "Instant" Moka Pathan to put the Title on the line against his next Top Contender, Chiaro.
That will be a rematch of sorts as Pathan defeated Chiaro in last year's Grove Cup Tournament, but then went on to lose to Ryan in the Finals which also served as the match to re-establish the GTA Championship.
During the bull session, "The Uni-Bomber" Uni Mendoza arrived at 1:45 with his daughter Natasha and her older sister (whose name escapes me at this time). They took the Entrance Court for a hitting session. Uni told us his shoulder is feeling better this season.
Just minutes after The Mendozas arrived, Derek "Bruiser" Bronisz and an unknown player took Championship Court. We never had the chance to ask Derek where he has been along with his stepson, "Lightning" Lukasz Krzesiewicz and their buddy "The PM" Paul Mysliwiec.
Let's get to the scores!
The RHP Results:
Chris Chiaro/Frank Samara over Dean Delgado/Nick Inciong, 6-2! Nick: 1 Ace on Frank. It went like this: Nick was broken (Love-15, an Ace up the T against Frank for 15-All, but then straight to Double Break Point where an un-returned serve made it Break Point, but then came the break), Frank was broken (a winning return from Nick for Love-15, then 15-All, but then straight to Double Break Point where Chris made an amazing get/volley combo for Break Point and then an un-returned serve made it Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point and the break), Dean was broken (a winner from Nick for 15-Love, then a Double Fault for 15-All and that was where Frank hit a winning volley for 15-30, then Double Break Point, the break came on Break Point) and Chris was broken at Love as on Triple Break Point he hit what should have been a winning drop shot only to see Nick rush to the net and make amazing get/winner combo!) as none of us could hold serve at 2-2! Inciong was broken again (15-Love to 15-30, Double Fault for Double Break Point where Chris hit a winner for the break), but Samara was the first to hold and it was at Love to take a 4-2 lead for his team! Delgado was broken again (15-Love, 15-All and then two un-returned serves brought it to Double Game Point, it was Game Point where Frank hit a drop shot winner to make it Deuce and then came Break Point and the break) and Chiaro held (there were two un-returned serves on the way to Triple Game/Match Point and that was where Chris blew a volley to make it Double Game/Match Point, it then went to Game/Match Point, but that was where the hold came to finally seal the deal) for the victory! We played this on Championship Court from 10:30 to 10:58.
The Skinny: Although he may not have hit his usual amount of winners, Chiaro was still the dominant force in this one as his game play achieved many forced errors from the opposition.
2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:
Chris Chiaro over Dean Delgado, 6-2, 6-1, to successfully defend his # 3 Rank in the Advanced Division! No Aces. This was contested on Center Court from 11:01 to 11:45 with the 2nd Set starting at 11:25.
GTA Doubles Championship Match:
Norman Taclob/Tito Castolo over Frank Samara/Vinnie De Benedetto, 6-1, 6-3, to become the New GTA Champions! Norm: 2 Aces in the 2nd Set (one on each)!
1st Set: Frank was broken (Love-15 shifted straight to Double Game Point after Frank hit a winning lob followed by an impressive passing shot winner, but then it shifted to Deuce as Tito had back-to-back winning Overhead Smashes along the way and then on Break Point it was Tito once again hitting a winning Overhead Smash), Norman held (a winning lob from Norm and an un-returned serve eventually led to Triple Game Point where Frank hit a drop shot winner to make it Double Game Point, but that was where Tito hit a winning Overhead Smash for the hold), Vinnie was broken (Love-30 shifted to 30-All where Norm hit a drop shot winner to set up Break Point and then Norm hit another winner to earn the break), Tito held (Love-15 shifted straight to Double Game Point as Tito hit a winner and a winning Backhand Volley along the way, then Vin hit a winner for Game Point, but then came the hold) and Samara was then broken at Love as Tito hit a winning Backhand Volley and a winning passing shot return along the way to what was starting to look like an absolute rout with Taclob/Castolo up 5-0! Taclob was then broken (Love-15 and an un-returned serve for 15-All, but then straight to Double Break Point where Frank hit a winning Overhead Smash for the break) to allow the opposition onto the scoreboard, but De Benedetto was broken again as Tito hit a winning lob for Love-15, it was Love-30 where Norm blew a volley for 15-30, but then came Double Break/Set Point and the break as this initial set ended at exactly 11:28 (it got underway on Championship Court at 11:07).
2nd Set: Tito was broken at Love as Frank hit a winner on the way to Triple Break Point and then Tito blew a volley to break himself, Vinnie was broken (Vin hit a winning lob for 15-Love, but then it shifted to 15-30 as Norm hit a drop shot winner along the way, it was then 30-All and then Break Point where Tito hit a winning volley for the break), but Norman was the first to hold in this set (as Tito hit a winning volley, Norm hit a winning volley and then Tito hit another winning volley to make it Triple Game Point, it was then Double Game Point where Vin hit a winning lob for Game Point, then it was Deuce, Break Point where Norm nailed Frank with a corner Ace to bring it back to 2nd Deuce which was where Tito hit a winning volley for Game Point and then Tito did the exact same thing again to secure his partner's hold) and that made it 2-1. Frank also held (Tito hit a winning volley for Love-15, but then it went point for point until 30-All as Tito hit one more winning volley along the way there, but then we had Vin hit a winning Overhead Smash to make it Game Point where an un-returned serve secured the hold) to level the set at 2-2. Castolo held (un-returned serve for 15-Love, then it was 30-Love where Tito blew a volley for 30-15, it went to Double Game Point where Vin hit a winning Overhead Smash to make it Game Point, but then came the hold) and De Benedetto was broken again (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point where Tito hit a winning volley for the break) to go down 2-4. Taclob was broken (Love-30 where he hit an Ace up the T against Vin for 15-30, but then Tito blew a volley to set up Double Break Point and then came the break) to have his team's lead cut to 4-3. But from there, Samara was also broken (Love-15 where Vin hit a winning lob for 15-All, but then Norm hit three consecutive drop shot winners which took it all the way through Double Break Point and earned the break) and Tito Touch held again (15-Love shifted to 15-30 as Vin hit a winning lob along the way, but then it shifted again and went to Game/Match Point which is where this one ended) to take the victory and the Titles that were up for grabs as this one ended exactly at 12:03!
The Skinny: Norm and Tito got off to a hot start as Frank and Vin were starting to fear getting entirely swept off the court. Getting one game before dropping the 1st Set may not seem like much, but it was a moral victory. After that, the 2nd Set felt very close until the bottom dropped out at the end. The tandem of Taclob and Castolo is very effective and they play Doubles in the proper manner as each player seeks to get up to the net and then force the opposition to either lob them or pass them. Sometimes we were able to do this successfully, but usually it was too much to overcome. Congratulations to both Norm and Tito as the match was closet than it looks...yet still, it was quite the convincing victory.
The Consequences: Now Norm and Tito will be told to hold off on defending the Titles until a new Top Contender emerges from the upcoming M2 Men's Doubles Tournament. In that event (details soon to be announced), Former GTA Doubles Champs: Chiaro and Raj Shah will be given a Wild Card/Top Seed entry as they never lost the Titles on the court. From there, Samara/De Benedetto will be the 2nd Seed and we will our way down the ranks of the Doubles Division until we can invite a total of 16 Teams (obviously with no one player being repeated along the way). Once the brackets/matches are announced, those matches can be played anywhere and at any time (provided they are within a reasonable time period given the weather circumstances at that time).
Raj Boddu/Vinnie De Benedetto over Rich Jachens/Tito Castolo, 6-1! No Aces. Here's the basic breakdown: At 1-1, Tito was broken in a multiple Deuce game that resulted in a 1-2 score. Then Vin held, Rich was broken and Raj held (Game Point, Deuce, Double Fault for Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to go up 5-1. Then, Castolo was broken again (Triple Break/Match Point, Double Break/Match Point where Tito hit a winner to make it Break/Match Point, then it was Deuce where Tito blew another volley attempt to set up the 4th Break/Match Point where Raj hit a very impressive passing shot winner to earn the victory!) to take the loss. This was conducted on Championship Court and it lasted from 12:07 to 12:35.
Rich Jachens/Tito Castolo over Frank Samara/Raj Boddu, 6-4! Tito: 1 Ace on Raj; and Raj: 1 Ace on Rich. It went like this: Tito held (Tito hit a winner for 15-Love, then 15-All where Tito hit a sideline Ace on Raj to go up 30-15 where Tito hit another winner to make it Double Game Point, but then he blew a volley to cut it to Game Point, but then he hit an un-returned serve to secure the hold) and Frank was broken as he got off to a Love-30 start which was where Raj hit his big Kaboom-style Overhead Smash for the point and on the way to 30-All, but then Tito hit a drop shot that was not a winner but enough to lead to Break Point, then Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce where Rich hit a very impressive winner to make it Break Point and then came the break) to get off to an 0-2 start. Rich was broken at Love, but Raj was also broken (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 and then a service-line Ace against Rich made it Double Game Point, but then it was cut down to Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point, 3rd Deuce, Game Point, 4th Deuce, Break Point and the break) to fall to 1-3. Castolo was broken (Tito hit a drop shot winner for 15-Love, but then he blew two volleys on the way to Double Break Point, the break came on Break Point) and Samara held (30-Love shifted to 30-All, but on Game Point it was Raj who hit a highly impressive passing shot winner to secure his partner's hold) to level the scene at 3-3! Jachens held (a winning volley by Tito for 15-Love, then a Double Fault for 15-All, but then it went straight to Double Game Point as Tito hit a winning Overhead Smash along the way and then that hold came on D.G.P.) to go up 4-3, but Boddu also held (a truly un-returnable serve for 15-Love, a Double Fault for 15-All, but then another un-returnable serve on the way to Double Game Point where Raj hit yet another powerful passing shot winner to secure the hold) to knot the score once more at 4-4! But Tito Touch held (a winning volley by Tito for 15-Love, it was then 15-All where Frank blew a volley and then Rich hit a very nice passing shot winner of his own on the way to Double Game Point where Rich hit another winner to secure his partner's hold) and then Hollywood was broken (a winning volley by Tito made it Love-30, it shifted to 30-All after Frank hit a drop shot winner, but then came Break/Match Point where Rich hit a winning return to end it) to take a tough loss! We played this one on Championship Court from 12:40 to 1:18.
The Skinny: The main difference between this One-Setter and the one prior to it (where Boddu teamed with De Benedetto rather than Samara) was the much-improved play from Jachens in the latter one. In the prior one, Rich was trying to shake off the rust and he lacked a lot of confidence. Tito was also making some rare mistakes as perhaps he was trying to overachieve in an attempt to carry the team. But Big Jake came up big in his second opportunity of the day and it was some of the best play we have seen from him in quite a while. It was also nice to see Mr. Boddu back at the courts of RHP as he no longer lives close to the area. We hope to see more of him even as we realize it is not something we should expect all the time.
It was a very fun yet productive session at Robin Hood Park.
We now turn this report over to Kris.
The Cedar Grove Results:
We did have some tennis on Sunday even though Saturday pretty much survived the rains that were expected to curtail our tennis. We didn't get to play on Saturday focusing on other plans.
We were quite a late show for the evening session that we had originally planned to commence at 4pm. First to come was Natalia Sout, followed by Jose Gonzales, Senthil Kumar, Mike Sindler, Joe Rodrigues, good old Spin (aka Dan Martinelli), Mary Rosado, my wife Doinks and myself. So there were a couple of new players to play with us in Cedar Grove and we welcome them to our league.
The Cedar Grove Results:
Mike Sindler/Doinks Srinivasan over Senthil Kumar/Natalia Sout, 6-2! No Aces (apparently).
This was the first match among our players. I believe there was one prior to this involving Herb Reiner, Melvin Hyman, Jose Gonzales and Mike Sindler (perhaps?). We got to see Mike for the first time here. Normally a clay court player, Mike played solid tennis and we got to see more interesting matches subsequent to this one.
Jose Gonzales/Joe Rodrigues over Senthil Kumar/Mike Sindler, 6-2! No Aces (apparently).
Senthil Kumar/Joe Rodrigues over Jose Gonzales/Mike Sindler, 6-4! No Aces (apparently).
Joe Rodrigues/Mike Sindler over Jose Gonzales/Senthil Kumar, 6-4! No Aces (apparently).
These were close and competitive matches that saw all the players doing a great job. Joe was the man of the day. Per Senthil, Joe was the most consistent player. They had some nice rallies, gets and put-aways. Joe had hurt his feet which had limited his movements. Senthil is in good form and that reflected in his game.
2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:
Kris Srinivasan/Natalia Sout over Dan Martinelli/Doinks Srinivasan, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, to become the New # 30 Ranked Team in the Mixed Doubles Division! No Aces.
This was a full and very competitive match that saw lots of twists and turns, with plenty of fun for all. In all the sets, we started off taking the first two games before the comeback from Spin and Doinks. Spin did a lot of sprinting and made some amazing gets. Doinks was brilliant with both her baseline and net plays. She came on aggressively and some of her approaches to the net were putting great pressure on us. But Natalia did splendidly well hitting aggressive shots that Doinks couldn't handle from the net and also a beautiful dipping shot that evaded her racquet. Doinks also had nice topspin shots over my head on Natalia's serves and, besides that, some down-the-line shots that both Spin and Doinks dished out on me. In the last set, perhaps Spin had lost a couple of springs in his step and this time around, we kept extending our lead to seal the deal. We did have Mary Rosado, cheering us for all the good shots with both Spin and I bellowing for all the winners and misses.
Mary Rosado got to hit a bit with Senthil before we all played one last One-Setter.
Jose Gonzales/Doinks Srinivasan over Kris Srinivasan/Mary Rosado, 6-3! Jose: 1 Ace on Mary! It was the official GTA Debut of Mary Rosado.
Mary had some very nice ground-strokes that kept us in the game. Apparently, she hasn't served much but, with more practice, she is going to get cracking with her serves. She did have fun playing with us and I expect to see more of her playing with us.
Overall, it turned out to be fun for all on a relatively quiet night. Cheers!
Samara's Notes: As always, I thank Kris for consistently hosting, recruiting and reporting for the league up at Cedar Grove.
Samara signing off!
The official GTA Rankings have now changed and are as follows:
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