"Dean-Joe at HP, Samara hosts 22 (2 New) at C.G.!":
GTA Tuesday Night Tennis took place at both Holster Park (hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara and featuring the first of the Grove Cup Round of 32 Matches to be played…this one was between "Lean" Dean Delgado and "J-Rod" Joe Rodrigues) and The Cedar Grove Courts (also hosted by Samara with some assistance from the usual host there, "Papa K" Kris Srinivasan).
We will first recap how things went down at HP and then detail the big session up at C.G.
When Samara pulled into the parking lot down the hill from Holster Park at 5:35, Rodrigues was already there in his car getting ready for his match with Delgado.
Frank went uphill first and held the Entrance Court as two outsiders (a teenage boy and teenage girl) were playing on Center Court (they would leave at 6:10). Joe soon got on court as well and Samara and Rodrigues entered into a hitting session with one another around 5:40.
Ten minutes later, Delgado arrived and Samara stepped off to let the two of them hit instead.
At 5:55, "The Hitman" Tom La arrived and made his way toward the courts. Frank and Tom then went over to Championship Court to hit together.
The Delgado-Rodrigues match got underway at 6pm. Ten minutes later, GTA Champion: "King Crush" Chris Chiaro arrived and headed over to Championship Court to hit against both Frank and Tom.
This hitting session alternated between that two on one scenario and then rotating one on one hitting while the other would sit out to take a breather. The weather was nice, sunny and around 80 degrees. But it was also surprisingly windier than expected.
Chiaro, Samara and La never got a fourth player to enable any Doubles action. At 7:15, Tom decided to leave. Chris and Frank had one more one on one hitting session before Chris decided to leave for Cedar Grove (which he ended up doing at 7:30).
At 7:20, Uni and Dora Mendoza took Center Court for a hitting session together. Once Chiaro and Samara got off of Championship Court, the Mendozas shifted over to it so as not to bother the epic Deladgo-Rodrigues match.
At 7:40, three kids and a father (a guy who looked to be close to 300lbs.!) took Center Court. The battled between Dean and Joe ended just one minute after that.
Samara left the park at 7:50 (same time that Delgado did while Rodrigues was still recovering on the bench) to head up to Cedar Grove. And we will get to all of that later. But first we have…
The HP Result:
Grove Cup Round of 32 Match:
Dean Delgado over Joe Rodrigues, 7-5, 6-4! No Aces. This was not a rank defense for Delgado as Rodrigues is solely in the Intermediate Division.
The score does not do this match justice! Joe saved 9 Set Points in the 1st Set before ultimately going down to the tenth! That set started at 6pm and ended at 7:02 – one hour and two minutes long! The 2nd Set started much like the first…an exchange of breaks and then each player holding serve as the set grew older. But on the second go-round, that additional break of serve came a little bit sooner. Still, it was a very hard-fought match. And even though it ended in straight sets, it may possibly be a Nominee for Singles Match of The Year at season's end.
Congratulations to Dean on a hard-fought victory, but also kudos to Joe on a spirited effort. Every year, Rodrigues comes so close to finally making the leap into the Advanced Division. I truly hope that one of the "bridge" players (i.e. those simultaneously ranked in both the Advanced and the Intermediate Divisions) gives him a shot at their rank (once they are also no longer in the Grove Cup) as Joe truly is at that level as well. He has been for quite some time now, actually.
When Samara pulled into the parking lot at The Cedar Grove Courts at 8:05, he saw Court One filled with four non-GTA players (the usual Polish guys, I think). On Court Two, it was Kris teaming with "Mr. 500" Levy Lorenzo against "Coach" Dino Celis and "The Natural" Natalie Guzman.
On Court Three, it was Chiaro teaming with "The Secret Weapon" Sairaj Srinivasan against Dwight Thomas Sr. and Dwight Thomas Jr. (aka The Dwights…though it really should be The Thomases).
And on Court Four were two more gentlemen that we had not seen before at the courts (we will end up seeing more of them as you will soon see).
Riding the bench alongside Court One were "Super Mario" Marijus Kuzavas, "Big Kaz" Mike Kazlauskas and "J-Bach" Jordan Bachvaroff. They reported an earlier score to Samara.
And sitting on the bench alongside Court Four were "The Lethal Lefty" Lou La Forgia, "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes and "Bravo" Brenda Jordan.
So we already had a packed house with just two of the four courts being used for GTA play…and more were still on the way!
"Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli arrived at 8:10. "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan made her way across the street just five minutes later. Tito "Touch" Castolo pulled into the lot at 8:30.
And the last two arrivals of the evening were "Instant" Moka Pathan and "2 Tall" Dave Zhu at 8:50. This gave us a total of 22 official competitors throughout the entire session…very impressive!
Speaking of impressive, that is a good word to describe the talents of the two men who were playing each other on Court Four. La Forgia approached them on a changeover to ask if they would be open to the idea of playing some Doubles. They were gracious enough to accept the proposal…provided they were given the time to finish their Singles action…just a couple more games.
They went onto play a set against Lou and Nate. At the end, their info was collected and this One-Setter served as their official GTA Debuts. Their names are Guy Dupoux and Cliff Pierre-Louis. Both are highly skilled players. Guy said he hasn't hit in about a year…so he will really be scary once he shakes off the rust. His serve is truly a sight to behold.
The Cedar Grove Results:
Jordan Bachvaroff/Nathan Fernandes over Marijus Kuzavas/Mike Kazlauskas, 6-4! Mike: 1 Ace on Nate. This one took place on Court Two (not sure of the start and stop times).
2 out of 3 Sets:
Kris Srinivasan/Levy Lorenzo over Dino Celis/Natalie Guzman, 6-2, 6-4! No Aces. Not sure when this one got underway on Court Two, but it ended exactly at 9:01.
Chris Chiaro/Sairaj Srinivasan leading Dwight Thomas Sr./Dwight Thomas Jr., 4-2 (Incomplete, when Jr. had to stop playing due to a very bad blister that had developed on his foot)! This was on Court Three. Sr. decided to continue on in a fashion where it was Canadian Doubles style rules (i.e. he hit to them utilizing the entire court to the Doubles lines while they had to hit back to him within the Singles lines).
Unfortunately, once Junior bowed out…we could no longer count this as an official result. We hope his injury is not serious as this father/son duo is scheduled to face Chiaro and "The Sultan of Swing" Raj Shah in the Quarterfinals of the M2 Men's Doubles Tournament.
Lou La Forgia/Nathan Fernandes over Guy Dupoux/Cliff Pierre-Louis, 6-0! Guy: 1 Ace on Lou (a big one)! It was the official GTA Debut of both Guy Dupoux and Cliff Pierre-Louis. This was played on Court Four from 8:31 to 8:56.
Do not let this lopsided score fool you. Both Guy and Cliff have very big game and the rallies were intense. This duo just needs to shake off some rust and gain more consistency. At that time, they will become dangerous. And they do seem interested in playing more with us in the future. So we gladly welcome them to the league.
Tito Castolo/Brenda Jordan over Sairaj Srinivasan/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-1! No Aces. This one took place on Court Three and lasted from 8:44 to 9:07.
Marijus Kuzavas/Mike Kazlauskas over Jordan Bachvaroff/Dave Zhu, 6-3! No Aces. They got this one underway on Court Two at 9:02 right after the four Polish guys left the court. Not sure when this one finished as they went into another one that would end up as incomplete (that score will finish this report).
2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Moka Pathan/Nathan Fernandes over Chris Chiaro/Lou La Forgia, 6-4, 0-6, 10-5 (STB)! Once they entered into a Super Tiebreak to decide the match, # 19 Rank in the Doubles Division of Chiaro and La Forgia was no longer on the line! Chris: 1 Ace on Moka in the 2nd Set! This one got started on Court Four at 9:05 and it was finished at 9:57.
Dino Celis/Frank Samara over Kris Srinivasan/Levy Lorenzo, 6-1! No Aces. It went like this: Levy was broken (15-Love then point for point to Game Point, Deuce, Break Point and the break) and Frank held serve (Love-15 then straight to Double Game Point and the hold) to go up 2-0. Kris held to get his team on the scoreboard (30-Love to 30-All, Game Point and the hold), but Dino also held (started with a Double Fault, but then it went right to Double Game Point and the hold) to go up 3-1. Lorenzo was then broken again (Love-15, 15-All, then onto Double Break Point and the break) and Samara held again, but this time at Love for a commanding 5-1 lead. Srinivasan was then broken and it was at Love as it came on Triple Break/Match Point! We played this one on Court Two from 9:09 to 9:29. In the interest of saving time, I did not note who hit what winners and when as I usually do. We decided to enter into a rematch…which we will get to in just a bit, but first…
Sairaj Srinivasan/Tito Castolo over Doinks Srinivasan/Brenda Jordan, 6-2! Tito: 2 Aces on Doinks! This "Battle of The Sexes" style One-Setter took place on Court Three and lasted from 9:10 to 9:35.
Dino Celis/Frank Samara over Kris Srinivasan/Levy Lorenzo, 6-2! No Aces. Here's how it went down: Frank held serve in a crazy battle (30-Love to 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce and then all Break Points until 5th Deuce, Game Point and the hold), Kris was broken at Love and Dino held (15-Love, 15-All then onto Double Game Point and the hold) to get off to a 3-0 lead. Levy held (Love-15 then shifted straight to Double Game Point, the hold came on Game Point) and Samara was broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point, the break came on Break Point) to have his team's lead cut to 3-2! But Srinivasan was broken again (Love-15 then point for point until 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Break Point and the break), Celis held at Love and Lorenzo was broken at Love as this one ended on Triple Break/Match Point with Dino and Frank taking the last ten straight points to race to the finish line! This one was also contested on Court Two and it lasted from 9:30 to 9:58.
Kris and Levy switched up both their sides of service and their return of service sides. It did seem to make a difference as this was definitely a closer contest. Mr. Lorenzo is quite the player and he is another recent welcome addition to the league.
Marijus Kuzavas/Mike Kazlauskas leading Jordan Bachvaroff/Dave Zhu, 3-2 (Incomplete when the lights went off at 10pm)! No Aces. Not sure when they went into this one on Court One, but they did not have the time to get it done.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
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