"Anish-Rob at HP, Scott-Shah, MXD2 part of 23 (2 New) at C.G.!":
GTA Monday Tennis took place at two locations: an early afternoon session at Holster Park in Clifton (featuring the conclusion of the in-progress Grove Cup Quarterfinal Match between "Steppin' to the AM" Anish Mehta and "Double R" Rob Ryan, with both sending in details or commentary) and the usual evening session at The Cedar Grove Courts (hosted by "Papa K" Kris Srinivasan with "Bravo" Brenda Jordan, "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan and "The Great" Scott Bergenfeld sending in additional scores and/or details as it featured the Grove Cup Round of 16 Match with Bergenfeld facing "The Sultan of Swing" Raj Shah and then the MXD2 Semifinal Match as Capan teamed with "Instant" Moka Pathan to take on Tito "Touch" Castolo and "Dominant" Dawn Peterson).
So we will first see how Mehta-Ryan concluded at HP and then head up to C.G. for all the details from there via Kris, Brenda, Gen and Scott.
The Holster Park Result:
Grove Cup Quarterfinal Match:
Rob Ryan over Anish Mehta, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, to become the New # 5 Ranked Player in the Advanced Division while advancing to The Semifinals of The Grove Cup Tournament! Rob and Anish: 1 Ace each.
The AM News: The 1st Set was played on Saturday morning at Holster Park. He got out to a quick 2-0 lead, but I was able to break him a few times to come back and win it. After the 1st Set, we stopped play due to the extreme heat.
We met up again today to finish the match at Holster Park (we finished it by 2pm) under normally hot conditions. We were both playing with the same strategy in mind in order to avoid getting overpowered, but he executed way better than me. He became a human wall of consistency while I was a human error factory today. Rob would probably come out on top in a power contest as well, although maybe that would have been a more fun match. He quickly took both sets at 6-2. I wish him luck for the rest of the tournament.
The Rob Report: I just want to add that Mr. Mehta is a true gentleman of sport because I did offer up the forfeit to him when I decided to pull the plug on the possible risk of heat stroke on Saturday but he was nice enough to allow continued play another day. Even though today was no picnic, the heat index was around 90 instead of 120 the first day that we played.
I would like everybody to just heed the warning that playing in this type of weather, you must be careful because I've seen people go down and it isn't pleasant for the person at that moment. As I have done in the past, anyone playing at RHP that feels they may need water or just a cool spot to relax in, I offer to anyone to come across the street to my house for some relief.
Again, Anish, great match! See you on the courts!!!
Samara's Notes: I thank both Anish and Rob for their timely reporting and all of the details and commentary. I also congratulate Mr. Ryan on a hard-fought victory.
We now head up to Cedar Grove where we will first report the scores submitted by Brenda as I believe they occurred earliest in the evening. We will then turn this report over to Kris as he leads with the Double Main Event (where we will get additional details from both Scott and Gen).
The Cedar Grove Results:
Rob Ryan/Joe Rodrigues over Kevin Doyle/Brenda Jordan, 6-0! No Aces (apparently).
Chirs Chairo/Brenda Jordan over Joe Rodrigues/Kevin Doyle, 6-4! No Aces (apparently).
Kevin Doyle/Brenda Jordan over Rob Ryan/Dawn Peterson, 6-4! No Aces (apparently).
Samara's Notes: I thank Brenda for submitting those scores. And now we let Papa K take it away!
It was a jam-packed session in Cedar Grove with a very good chance of me missing some scores along the way. We had the Grove Cup Round of 16 Match, the MXD2 Semifinal Match besides the regular ones that kept the courts busy from 6pm through the night until the very end. It was indeed a busy night that also saw two new players and a surprise visit by Rob Ryan.
Grove Cup Round of 16 Match:
Raj Shah over Scott Bergenfeld, 6-0, 6-2, to become the New # 12 Ranked Player in the Advanced Division while advancing to The Quarterfinals of The Grove Cup Tournament! Scott: 1 Ace in the 1st Set.
The Say from Papa K: It was over and done by the time I got to the courts (which was late). It was a quick 1st Set, but the second one had more rallies and fight from Scott.
The Great Scott Report: I had no energy and was completely off my game. He played very consistent and deserved to win easily. Honestly, I shouldn't have played at all as I was loaded up on antibiotics from having strep throat. No excuses though. Raj opted to let me reschedule and I declined. I will definitely be out of commission for the next few days. Props to Raj on a well-played match!
Samara's Notes: I thank Scott for his additional commentary and congratulate Raj on an impressive win. We now go back to Kris, but Gen's notes will follow this next match.
MXD2 Semifinal Match:
Tito Castolo/Dawn Peterson over Moka Pathan/Genalin Capan, 6-3, 6-4, to become the New # 1 Ranked Team in the Mixed Doubles Division while advancing to The Finals of The MXD2 Mixed Doubles Tournament! Moka: 1 Ace on Dawn in the 2nd Set.
The Say from Papa K: Tito weaved his magic and, with steady support from Dawn, had a big lead in both sets. It was 3-Love in the 1st Set and then they were up 5-2 in the 2nd Set, sitting pretty. It was backs to the wall for Moka and Gen throughout the match, but a two straight games winning streak in the 2nd Set to get to 4-5 didn't carry them further. Gen was quite competitive and Moka was probably well below his best to stamp his authority. Still, it was a good match and a great win for Tito and Dawn.
Gen's Notes: In the 1st Set they went up 3-0, it was cut to 3-2 and then 4-3 before they went on to close the set (took them 3 Set Points to do it). The 2nd Set featured quite a few long games. They took the lead at 2-1, 2-2 (at this moment, we were tied up after many multi Deuce games), 3-2, 4-2 and 5-2. We took two straight games to get closer at 5-4, but then I was broken on serve as they won it on the 2nd Match Point!
It was a tough match (it ran from 6:35 to 8pm). We had some great rallies. The 1st Set took about 35 minutes and the 2nd Set took 45 minutes. Dawn and Tito didn't miss much. They were too good. They played more consistently. Dawn was solid in her game. Tito was precise with his shot placement at the net. Meanwhile, we had far too many errors on our side. Congrats to them!
Samara's Notes: I thank Gen for her timely reporting and solid details. I congratulate Tito and Dawn on an impressive victory. We now go back to Kris for the balance of this report.
Raj Shah/Senthil Kumar over Nathan Fernandes/Scott Bergenfeld, 7-6 (7-4)! No Aces.
This was a very competitive match that went all the way. It looked like Raj was not done with Scott...:-).
Michel Encarnacion/Dinesh Viswanathan over Kris Srinivasan/Sairaj Srinivasan, 6-4! No Aces. It was the official GTA Debut of Dinesh Viswanathan.
Michel played an almost error-free game and was ably assisted by Dinesh, Senthil's nephew. Dinesh played very well with proper forehand and backhand shots. After the initial hiccup, his serves started coming in well and he was pretty good in some gets. Sairaj did have his say on some attacking shots that gave them very little time to react...:-). I could have done better to close out on quite a few of those opportunities that could have made a difference in the result.
Samara's Notes: I remember Senthil bringing a nephew up to The Wayne Bubble in the off-season in between this season and last year. I was quite impressed with his game, but never got his name. My guess is that this is the same nephew. I'm glad to see he is now officially in the GTA. Back to Kris we go.
2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Nathan Fernandes/Senthil Kumar over Raj Shah/Ryan Pienciak, 6-4, 6-3, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 46 and # 47 Ranked Teams respectively! Raj: 2 Aces on Senthil!
With Nate as his partner, Senthil was able to play freely and execute his shots.
Lou La Forgia/Joe Rodrigues over Chris Chiaro/Chris Majowski 7-5! No Aces (apparently). It was the official GTA Debut of Chris Majowski.
They picked Majowski as the fourth player as he was waiting to play singles with his friend. Lou did trouble him with his serves, but instead of closing the set quickly, it got extended somewhat.
2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Chris Chiaro/Joe Rodrigues over Lou La Forgia/Kris Srinivasan, 6-1, 6-2, to successfully defend their # 32 Rank in the Doubles Division! No Aces.
It was a forgettable night for Lou and I may as well forget it...:-). We were both unsettled and it was one of those nights where we didn't perform well. Joe was brilliant throughout the session and Chris displayed his usual array of shots. An attacking return on my serve and a couple of shots bisecting me and Lou were particularly noteworthy.
2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:
Rob Gawley/Doinks Srinivasan over Dinesh Viswanathan/Laura Gawley, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 STB (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)! No Aces (apparently).
Welcome to the world of Rob Gawley where we would see Dinesh completely change his game. Rob's slices and drop serves surely affect many players and Dinesh looked like a victim too...:-). He couldn't execute the shots I got to see in our match, but it was a good experience all the same. They played a very close and competitive match and were at one set a piece when they decided upon the Super Tiebreak (first to get to 10 points and win by two), but there still wasn't enough time to complete it! Good debut for Dinesh and an exciting finish for the night as all players felt undefeated.
Overall, it was an incredible night of non-stop jamming in Cedar Grove! Yeah, mon! Cheers!
Samara's Notes: Such a shame that last one did not meet its proper conclusion as it certainly would have been a Nominee for Mixed Doubles Match of The Year at season's end. Oh well!
Much thanks to Kris for the spectacular hosting duties that he almost always performs on behalf of the GTA up at Cedar Grove! And, again, thanks to all the others who contributed to this report as well.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
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