"W2 Semi part of 17 at C.G. as Frank/Kris host!":
GTA Thursday Night Tennis only took place at The Cedar Grove Courts (co-hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara and "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan and featuring the W2 Women's Doubles Tournament Semifinal Match between the teams of "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan/"Bravo" Brenda Jordan and "The Argentine Machine" Fernanda Toker/"The S Bomber" Genalin Capan).
Light but steady rain hit most of our area in the 5 o'clock hour. And at times, it was even a little more than just light. Streets were sufficiently wet and night tennis suddenly seemed in doubt.
A little before 6:30, Frank sent a text message to Kris to see if the courts at Cedar Grove had enough time to dry since the rains from before. Srinivasan confirmed that they had. In fact, his son Sairaj was already out there hitting with "The Pilot" Greg Swierczek.
Around the same time, Fernanda reached out to Doinks to find out that their match could still be played.
By the time that Samara could get up to Cedar Grove, it was 7:15 upon his arrival. The GTA already had official action underway on three of the four courts with just Court Two being occupied by some outsiders (who likely left somewhere between 8:30 and 9pm…the court remained vacant for the balance of the night).
On Court One, Sairaj was teaming with "The Great" Scott Bergenfeld to take on Kris and Greg.
On Court Four, "Steppin' to the AM" Anish Mehta and "Big Kaz" Mike Kazlauskas were facing Jay "The Rising" Phoenix and "J-Bach" Jordan Bachvaroff. This ended up becoming a full Doubles Match.
And on Court Three, the W2 Semi had just started about five minutes prior and GTA Women's Champion: Laura "The Aura" Gawley and "Kevlar" Kevin Doyle were sitting on the bleachers outside the fence near Court Three. So Samara joined them and got brought up to speed by both of them as he began taking notes. Kevin also reported a result that finished prior to Frank's arrival.
"Mr. 500" Levy Lorenzo arrived at 8pm and then "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes did the same five minutes later. They did not have to wait long to get involved in some official Doubles action as well.
"Coach" Dino Celis and "Rowdy" Rob Gawley were the last two arrivals of the night at 8:25 and that ended up giving us a total of 17 official competitors for the session (Samara never played).
The Cedar Grove Results:
Greg Swierczek/Brenda Jordan over Scott Bergenfeld/Kevin Doyle, 7-6 (7-3)! No Aces. Not sure of the start and stop times, but this took place earlier in the evening on Court One.
Scott Bergenfeld/Sairaj Srinivasan over Kris Srinivasan/Greg Swierczek, 6-4! Greg: 1 Ace on Sairaj. This was also played on Court One and had begun prior to Samara's arrival. It ended some time after, but do not know when as it led right into this next one.
Greg Swierczek over Kris Srinivasan, 6-2! Greg: 1 Ace. Another battle waged on Court One. Do not know the beginning and end times. It was actually going to be a full 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match, but with Greg up just 1-0 in the 2nd Set…both competitors agreed to scrap it in favor of some Doubles action which we will get to later in the report.
2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Anish Mehta/Mike Kazlauskas over Jay Phoenix/Jordan Bachvaroff, 6-1, 7-6 (7-3), as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 50 and # 51 Ranked Teams respectively! No Aces (apparently). The 1st Set was already underway at the time of Samara's arrival and it ended at 7:20. The match finished at exactly 8:03 on Court Four.
W2 Semifinal Match:
Fernanda Toker/Genalin Capan over Doinks Srinivasan/Brenda Jordan, 6-7 (7-3), 6-1, 6-3, to become the New # 10 Ranked Team in the Women's Doubles Division while advancing to The Finals of The W2 Women's Doubles Tournament! No Aces.
1st Set: Genalin held serve and Doinks was on serve as Samara arrived. She ended up being broken to go down 0-2. Fernanda was also broken (Brenda hit a winning volley for Love-15 and that was on the way to Triple Break Point, then it was Double Break Point where Gen hit a winning volley to make it Break Point, but then came the break), but then so was Brenda (Brenda hit a drop shot winner for 15-Love, it then went 30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point, Game Point where Brenda blew an overhead for Deuce and then came a moment to end the next point where Doinks and Brenda almost ran into one another going for the shot, but neither hit it…not sure who hit this quirky winner…but now it was Break Point and then Gen hit a winner for the break) to go down 1-3. Capan held again and this time it was at Love (after hitting an un-returned serve for 30-Love) as her team now took a 4-1 lead! Srinivasan held in a game where it started to drizzle (Doinks hit a winner for 15-Love, then it was 15-All where Brenda hit a winning Overhead Smash for 30-15 and then it was Double Game Point where Brenda hit an awesome volley to secure her partner's hold) and then Toker was broken again (Brenda hit a passing shot return for Love-30 and then Doinks hit a winning return of her own for Triple Break Point, it was then Double Break Point when Doinks hit another winning return for the break) to have her team's lead cut to 4-3. Jordan held in a fierce game (Love-15 where Doinks hit a winner for 15-All and then Doinks hit a net-cord winner for 30-15, it then went 30-All, Break Point where Doinks hit a winning semi-lob to make it Deuce and then there was an amazing get by Fernanda only to be answered with a winning volley from a waiting Brenda at the net to make it Game Point, but then Gen hit a winning Backhand Volley for 2nd Deuce where Brenda hit a winner for Game Point and then she secured her own hold) to knot the score at 4-4! The S Bomber was broken for the first time (Love-15, 15-All, 15-30 where Doinks hit a passing shot winner to set up Double Break Point, but then Gen hit a winner to cut it to Break Point, but then came the break) as her team lost their lead for the first time at 4-5 as the opposition had just taken four straight games! But The Marathon Woman was then broken at Love as Gen hit a winning volley for a Love-15 start and then Gen hit a winning Backhand Volley for Love-30 and then Gen hit a winning volley to set up Triple Break Point which then became one of the best rallies of the match, but it ended up in the returning team's favor and leveled things again, this time at 5-5! The Argentine Machine then had her first hold and it was at Love as she started things off with a very impressive winner and now her team had reclaimed the lead at 6-5. Then Bravo fought back with her second straight hold (Love-15 and then another excellent rally which led to 15-All and that was where Doinks hit an amazing winner to make it 30-15 where Brenda hit a winner of her own for Double Game Point, but then there was a tight Double Fault for Game Point, Deuce, Game Point again, 2nd Deuce and then one more Game Point before the hold) as they were now heading to the Tiebreak!
In the Breaker (which started at 7:57…the 1st Set began at 7:10): Genalin held her lone serve after it went un-returned, Doinks held the first of her two serves with a net-cord winner, but she was then broken on her second after Gen hit a very well-angled volley to gain a 2-1 lead for her team. Fernanda was broken on both of her serves after Brenda hit a winning volley to end each of those points as she now had a 3-2 lead for her team while she was about to go on serve. She held the first of her two serves after hitting another winner for 4-2 and then came the changeover. Brenda then hit another winning volley to hold her second serve as well as her team now had a fairly commanding 5-2 lead. Capan held the first of her two serves to pull to 3-5, but was then broken on her second to hand over a 6-3 lead Set Point situation to Srinivasan who then had an un-returned serve to close out this TB at 7-3. The time was now 8:04. There was then a fairly lengthy break while Fernanda had to tend to some matters. The next set got underway at 8:12.
2nd Set: Brenda was broken (Fernanda made a great get/winner combo for Love-15, then it was 15-All where Gen hit a winning volley for 15-30, then it was Double Break Point where Doinks hit a winner for Break Point and then Brenda hit a net-cord winner for Deuce, then it went to Game Point, 2nd Deuce where Gen hit another winning volley for Break Point, but then Brenda hit a winner for 3rd Deuce where Gen answered with a winning Backhand Volley for Break Point and then came the break), Fernanda held (15-Love, 15-All where Doinks hit a winner for 15-30, but then Gen hit a winning volley for 30-All, but Brenda replied with a winning volley of her own for Break Point, but then she blew the next volley to make it Deuce and then it was Game Point where Fernanda made another awesome get to a waiting Brenda, but this time she couldn't handle the pace and put the would-be volley into the net to allow the hold), Doinks was broken (Love-15 where Brenda hit another net-cord winner for 15-All, but then Brenda blew an overhead for 15-30 and that was where Gen hit another impressive volley for Double Break Point where Fernanda then hit a winning return for the break) and Genalin held (Brenda blew an overhead for 15-Love, it then went 15-All, 30-15, 30-All and Game Point where Brenda blew another overhead to allow the hold) for a somewhat commanding 4-0 lead. Jordan then held (15-Love, 15-All where Doinks hit a passing shot winner for 30-15, then it went to 30-All, Game Point and an un-returned serve for the hold) to get her team on the scoreboard in this set, but Toker held again (Brenda hit a winning volley for Love-15 and then she hit a winning return for Love-30 only to follow that with another winning volley for Triple Break Point, but then it went to Double Break Point where Gen had a winning volley of her own for Break Point and then it was Deuce where another exciting rally led to Break Point again, but Brenda blew a volley to make it 2nd Deuce and then came an un-returned serve to set up Game Point where Brenda blew a volley to allow the hold) to go up 5-1! And then Srinivasan was broken again and it was at Love as perhaps the best rally of the match ended with Gen hitting a winning volley for Love-30 and then Brenda blew a volley to set up Triple Break/Set Point where Gen then hit a winner for the break to take the set and level the match at exactly 8:43! The next set would get going just two minutes later.
3rd Set: Genalin was broken (Love-30, 15-30, 30-All where Doinks hit a winner for Break Point and then Brenda hit a winning volley for the break), Brenda was broken (Gen hit a winning volley for Love-15 and then it went Love-30, Triple Break Point where an un-returned serve made it Double Break Point, then it was Break Point and the break), but Fernanda was the first to hold in this set (Gen blew a volley for a Love-15 start, but then she hit a winning volley for 15-All and then an un-returned serve made it 30-15 which was where Gen blew another volley for 30-All and then Brenda hit a winning volley to make it Break Point, but then Gen hit a winning Backhand Volley for Deuce and then another un-returned serve set up Game Point where Doinks blew a volley to allow the hold) to go up 2-1. Doinks was broken (Doinks hit a winner for 15-Love, but then Brenda blew a volley for 15-All and then Fernanda hit a winner for 15-30 where Gen then hit a winning volley to set up Double Break Point and then came the break) and Capan held (Doinks blew a volley for 15-Love and then at 30-Love it was Gen hitting a winner to set up Triple Game Point, but then Gen blew a volley to make it Double Game Point and then it was cut down to Game Point, but then Gen hit a winning volley to secure her own hold) as her team now had a 4-1 lead for the third set in a row! Jordan held (15-Love, 15-All and then an excellent rally for 30-15 which was where Brenda blew a volley for 30-All, but then Gen also blew a volley to make it Game Point where Brenda once again blew a volley to make it Deuce and then Brenda hit a winning volley to set up Game Point where she then hit another winning volley to lock down her own hold) to pull to 2-4, but Toker held yet again (Gen blew a volley for Love-15, but then Brenda blew a volley for 15-All and then it was at 15-30 where an un-returned serve made it 30-All and then another exciting and extended rally led to Game Point and then came the hold) to take a fairly commanding lead at 5-2. Srinivasan replied with a hold of her own (Gen blew a volley for 15-Love, it then went 15-All, 30-15 where an un-returned serve set up Double Game Point and then Gen blew a volley to allow the hold) as her team pulled to 3-5 only to have The S Bomber hold again (Brenda blew a volley for 15-Love, then it was 15-All where another rally that could be argued as best rally of the match ended with a winning volley by Gen to go up 30-15 and then it was like an instant replay as another awesome rally ended with a winning volley by Gen and this set up Double Game/Match Point where an un-returned serve ended this war somewhat unceremoniously) to earn a very hard-fought victory at exactly 9:24 on Court Three!
The Skinny: You may see a lot of "blown volleys" by both Gen and Brenda above, but they also hit many winning volleys as well. Both ladies played aggressively at the net and the percentages reflected that. Meanwhile, Fernanda and Doinks took the roll of baseline runners for much of the contest. Toker did her usual awesome get-making thing while Srinivasan was hitting her looping forehand shots that often confounded her opponents (sometimes they are a hybrid of a lob and a forehand winner). For Doinks, she often had some of those sail long when she failed to get enough topspin on them to bring them down onto the court within the lines.
When Gen was getting down on herself as her team lost the momentum in the second half of that 1st Set, Fernanda then lit a fire under her ass with a passionate pep talk. It seemed to work as they then found a more balanced strategy moving forward with Capan taking more of the net duty with Toker content to cover much of the rest of the court. Jordan was equal to the task when it came to aggression up at the net and despite many errors I believe it to be Brenda's most impressive performance to date here in the GTA. She should be a Nominee for Most Improved Women's Player of The Year at season's end.
All in all, it was a highly competitive match that drew the interest of spectators (Laura, Kevin, Frank and Dino) along the way. Also, "The Legendary" Chazz Weldon kept checking in on scores via texts to Samara as he was hoping to come see the match, but had to work late. For some, there was a bit of surprise to the 1st Set score as they may have felt that the Fernanda/Gen tandem was a bit too formidable of a team to face. But matches are played on the court…not on paper…and the Srinivasan/Jordan duo did their thing which resulted in a very spirited comeback to take the early lead.
After the initial two sets, Brenda wanted to opt for the optional 10-Point Super Tiebreak (perhaps due to the fact that she had played a full Doubles One-Setter prior to this match), but she was overruled by the other three parties in the contest. The STB will not be an option in the Finals. Speaking of which…
The Consequences: Fernanda and Gen now find themselves in the Finals where they await the winners of the other pending Semi between the teams of Laura and "Spicy" Sally Pillay and "C.A.T." Christine Toth and "Dominant" Dawn Peterson. That match will not take place until after Labor Day Weekend (as Dawn is away at this time), so Toker and Capan will have to be content to play the waiting game for now.
Nathan Fernandes/Jordan Bachvaroff over Mike Kazlauskas/Levy Lorenzo, 6-3! No Aces. This was played on Court Four and lasted from 8:09 to 8:35.
Mike Kazlauskas/Jordan Bachvaroff over Nathan Fernandes/Levy Lorenzo, 6-4! Mike: 1 Ace on Levy. This was also contested on Court Four as it started at exactly 8:37 and finished at 9:16. Two minutes later, they launched into another set with the same teams. It perhaps could have been a match. We will check in with what happened a little later in this report.
Kris Srinivasan/Laura Gawley over Greg Swierczek/Rob Gawley, 7-5! No Aces. Kris and Laura were down 1-4 before making a very nice comeback! Not sure when this one began on Court One, but it finished sometime around 9:30.
Nathan Fernandes/Levy Lorenzo leading Mike Kazlauskas/Jordan Bachvaroff, 5-4 (Incomplete when the light went out at 10pm)! No Aces (apparently). Jordan wanted it noted that they were on serve at the time…in the hopes of leveling it at 5-5.
Kris Srinivasan/Laura Gawley leading Dino Celis/Rob Gawley, 5-1 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)! No Aces (apparently). They began this on Court Three at exactly 9:40. Frank and Fernanda were hoping to team up, but were too busy talking and lost the chance to take the court. Oh well.
Even though there were two cliffhangers, it ended up being a very satisfying session regardless.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
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