"Kumar-Mehta in Wayne, Kris-Suresh, Pathan-Chiaro part of 18 at C.G.!":
GTA Thursday Night Tennis took place at The Nellis Drive Courts in Wayne (hosted by "The Webmaster" Senthil Kumar and featuring his GTA Intermediate Invitational Semifinal Match against "Steppin' to the AM" Anish Mehta) and then a combined report of a morning and then an evening session up at The Cedar Grove Courts (hosted by "Papa K" Kris Srinivasan and featuring his full 3 out of 5 Sets Challenge Match against his buddy, Suresh Poosala, and then also the GTA Championship Match between New GTA Champion: "Instant" Moka Pathan and Former Champ: "Kid Crush" Chris Chiaro).
Let's go to the report from Senthil first (even though we are not going in true chronological order here) and then the C.G. report from Kris.
The Nellis Drive Result:
GTA Intermediate Invitational Semifinal Match:
Senthil Kumar over Anish Mehta, 6-3, 6-2, to successfully defend his # 11 Rank in the Advanced Division and his # 2 Rank in the Intermediate Division while also advancing to the Finals of the GTA Intermediate Invitational Tournament! Senthil: 1 Ace in the 1st Set; and Anish: 2 Aces in the 2nd Set!
The Woven Web: Anish and I agreed to play in Wayne around 7:30pm, but since I reached the courts early from work, we settled for 7pm as the start time. It was 86 degrees when we started the warm-up on Court 8. After a 10 minute warm-up, Senthil won the toss and started the match play around 7:10pm.
Senthil and Anish were able to hold the serve until 3-3. There were a couple of Deuce games. Senthil served for 4-3 and fought hard to hold the serve. The first service break helped Senthil to take the lead in the set 5-3 and Senthil served out the next game for 6-3.
In the first three games, Senthil was making lot of unforced errors and was struggling to handle Anish's topspin shots/fast serves. In those first three games, Anish won each of his service games (losing just a few points) as Senthil was struggling to hold his own service games. Luckily, the 8th game break helped Senthil to get the 1st Set.
The daylight may have played a role in Senthil's favor. We tried to turn on the lights, but they didn't work, so we had to move to the other side and take Court 2.
In the first three games, Senthil was making lot of unforced errors and was struggling to handle Anish's topspin shots/fast serves. In those first three games, Anish won each of his service games (losing just a few points) as Senthil was struggling to hold his own service games. Luckily, the 8th game break helped Senthil to get the 1st Set.
The daylight may have played a role in Senthil's favor. We tried to turn on the lights, but they didn't work, so we had to move to the other side and take Court 2.
After a few shots warm-up, we started the 2nd Set. Senthil broke Anish in the 1st game and held his serve for 2-0. Anish realized his shots were not getting the work done and started a more defensive game plan. There were a lot of 5 to 10 shot long rallies with heavy slices and baseline game from both players. But in a couple of instances, Senthil was lucky and got the score to a 5-1 lead. Anish was down 0-30 and started serving really strong and won the game to stay in the set. He served his two Aces in that game. Now the score was 5-2 where Senthil served for the match, 0-15, 15-15, 30-15, 40-15, and two big overhead shots by Senthil, but Anish's defense was admirable. And it was the 3rd put away shot that won the match for Senthil.
Samara's Notes: Congratulations to Senthil on such a hard-fought victory and also some major kudos to Anish who had a nice run through his very first tourney here in the GTA! I also want to thank The Webmaster for a very comprehensive write-up (as well as all he does for our website). He is now the first one into the Finals where he awaits the winner of the other Semi – Tony Shiao vs. Praful Nair!
And now we let Papa K take it away!
There was plenty of action here in Cedar Grove. As Suresh Poosala was going in the early afternoon, we played Singles in the morning.
We had a compelling Singles Match in the evening between Chiaro and Pathan. Coach Dino Celis showcased his coaching skills as he gave an exhausting drill to Natalie Guzman. I liked his drills and would be delighted to be a part of such drills.
Except for one court occupied by non-GTA folks, we were all over the courts and there was constant and continuous action with the warm atmosphere soaked in tennis action.
The Cedar Grove Results:
3 out of 5 Sets Challenge Match:
Kris Srinivasan over Suresh Poosala, 6-1, 6-4, 7-5, to successfully defend his # 10 Rank in the Intermediate Division while Poosala returned to the division as the New # 42 Ranked Player! Kris: 2 Aces (one each in the 2nd and 3rd Sets)!
The morning conditions are different, but there was no question that Suresh didn't play his "A" game. He was superb the night before, but strategic play from my side kept him from playing to his strengths. Still, he had some amazing gets and solid winners.
GTA Championship Match:
Chris Chiaro over Moka Pathan, 6-3, 6-3, to become The New 2-Time GTA Champion! Chris: 1 Ace in the 2nd Set.
It looked close, but Moka did say that Chris was brilliant and played clean tennis. It was a deserving victory for the Former Champ to go back to the top of the ladder.
Samara's Notes: I want to congratulate Chris (as I did directly when he first reported the score via text) on an impressive victory and a return to the top of the GTA "mountain" (aka the Advanced Division)! Given the fact that he has now done it twice and is getting a bit older now, maybe we should revise his moniker from "Kid Crush" to "King Crush!" It should also be noted that there are now two Former Champs in line for a rematch before anyone else can take a shot and that is both Pathan and "Double R" Rob Ryan. I will allow this threesome to work out the details.
And now we go back to Kris.
Praful Nair/Jane Fan over Dan Martinelli/Santosh Reddy, 7-6 (7-1)! Santosh: 1 Ace on Jane!
Another well-contested and close match that went the distance!
Kris Srinivasan/Lou La Forgia over Moka Pathan/Jose Gonzales, 6-3! No Aces.
It was a lovely match where the dominant play of Lou was ably assisted by decent play on my part. Jose was serving very well at first, but couldn't keep it up. Moka was steady, but we played aggressive to force some errors.
Lou La Forgia/Dave Zhu over Dwight Thomas Sr./Dwight Thomas Jr., 6-3! No Aces (apparently).
It was a superb match that saw all the players doing a fabulous job. Lou had the 'X' factor as The Dwights couldn't play strategically as usual and also their opponents were a force to deal with.
They did play another set that I believe was incomplete, but they thoroughly enjoyed the match that was well-contested and exciting.
Tito Castolo/Natalia Sout over Rob Gawley/Laura Gawley, 6-3! No Aces (apparently).
Tito Castolo/Natalia Sout leading Rob Gawley/Laura Gawley, 5-3 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)!
Tito was magical and Natalia was solid to take it to "The Dream Team" very well. It was a nice match that was engrossing.
Kris Srinivasan leading Doinks Srinivasan, 5-2 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)! No Aces.
Lethargic play, but we did see nice shots and gets from Doinks, but a few more unforced errors from her than usual.
Overall, it was a terrific night with GTA Tennis galore in C.G. Cheers!
Samara's Notes: As always, I thank Kris for all he does on behalf of the GTA up at Cedar Grove. Sorry that my personal life has kept me from getting up there recently as I do miss the action and atmosphere up there.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
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