9/13/16:
"Mole-Santos, W2 Final part of 25 at C.G.!:
There was just one session of GTA Tuesday Tennis: the usual session (but it got an earlier than usual start) up at The Cedar Grove Courts as it began with a 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match between "Holy Moly" Mike Mole and "Stealth" Omar Santos (details provided by Omar) and then later hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara with some assistance from "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan.
The Main Event of the evening was the W2 Women's Doubles Tournament Final Match featuring GTA Women's Champion: Laura "The Aura" Gawley teaming with "Spicy" Sally Pillay to take on "The Argentine Machine" Fernanda Toker and "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan. The winning team would not only win the tourney, but also be crowned the New GTA Women's Doubles Champions.
Before we get to how the evening portion of the session unfolded, let's first report that earlier score of the Mole-Santos match.
The Cedar Grove Results:
2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:
Omar Santos over Mike Mole, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), to become both the New # 22 Ranked Player in the Advanced Division and the New # 10 Ranked Player in the Intermediate Division! Mike: 5 Aces in the 2nd Set!
The Stealth Report: We played at the old courts down the road. We started playing around 3:30 pm and finished the match at 5pm. I took command of the 1st Set which ended at 4pm.
In the 2nd Set, Mike started hitting his big serves and aced me a lot. I still took a 5-2 lead because of his errors and me winning most of the long rallies. He made a big comeback to take a 6-5 lead using his big serve and penetrating ground-strokes, but I held serve to force a Tiebreak and luckily won the match.
Samara's Notes: First off, I congratulate Omar on that impressive victory. And second, I thank him for providing us with such a comprehensive report. If Mole has constantly been in the conversation of likely Nominees for Most Improved Player of The Year at season's end, then certainly Santos should be in it as well.
Let's now recap all that transpired up at Cedar Grove later in the evening.
Samara pulled into the parking lot at 6:45, just as Capan was doing the same. On Court One, there were two outsiders (somewhat older gents) playing a full 2 out of 3 Sets Singles Match against one another.
On Court Two, "J-Bach" Jordan Bachvaroff was hitting against both "The Great" Scott Bergenfeld and "The Secret Weapon" Sairaj Srinivasan. Gen soon joined them to make it a foursome.
The bad news was out on Court Three and Court Four as The Pickle Ballers were back! There were signs on every gate along the fences that The Ballers would be back every Tuesday night from 6pm to 7:30.
At 6:50, "The Vin Man" Vinnie De Benedetto arrived and joined Samara on the bench alongside Court One. With the weather as beautiful as it was, he was happy to be patient and just wait for another court to open.
Five minutes later, "J-Rod" Joe Rodrigues also made his way to the bench. We soon learned that the four ladies ("Killer Kat" Kathy Sheldon, "Bravo" Brenda Jordan, "C.A.T." Christine Toth and "Dominant" Dawn Peterson) who all connected via e-mail to play their own Women's Doubles Match at 6:30 had to take their match to the two courts down the road once they got court-blocked by The Ballers.
Also arriving at the same time as Rodrigues was someone we had not seen at The Cedar Grove Courts since last autumn, "The Rain Maker" Richard Reicht. For the moment, all he could do was become part of the ever-growing logjam.
At 7:05, Kris came across the street right at the same time that Laura arrived. She approached the Pickle Ballers as she knew one of them (the name escapes me at this time). Laura then said we were actually fortunate that the Ballers were only occupying two of the courts as their permit gives them the right to all four if they want and need them!
As we were having this discussion, "The Natural" Natalie Guzman arrived at 7:10. It turns out that this same lady who had been talking to Laura had been a Cedar Grove High School coach of Natalie's.
Things soon started to look up, however, when The Ballers made their exit at 7:25 which freed up Courts Three and Four. As our players rapidly headed out there, the next wave of GTA competitors would soon arrive and lead to the second logjam of the night.
As all this was happening, the four ladies who had played Doubles down the road returned...but they were not anxious to step out on the courts as they had just played and wanted to give others the chance to do so.
Reicht and Guzman started hitting with one another on Court Three while Rodrigues and De Benedetto took one side of Court Four to hit against Srinivasan and Gawley on the other side of it.
At 7:35, "Coach" Dino Celis arrived and reported that he had started what was intended to be a full 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match against "Lean" Dean Delgado at the courts down the road (they had also been court-blocked by The Ballers). It instead ended up being an incomplete One-Setter as the sun sets early nowadays.
Arriving at the same time as Celis were all the following players: GTA Champion: "King Crush" Chris Chiaro, "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes, "Rowdy" Rob Gawley, "The Lethal Lefty" Lou La Forgia, "The Legendary" Chazz Weldon (he was only there to watch the W2 Final) and Toker.
Fernanda took her time getting out to the courts mainly because she thought her partner Gen had not arrived yet (she could not see Capan playing tennis out on Court Two as her focus was only on Court Four).
Meanwhile, Gen was sensing that her services were now needed over on Four as that would be the court to host the W2 Final. So Scott proposed a One-Point Tiebreak (as they had just went to 6-All in games). While this was a good idea for getting Capan off that court in a timely manner, it negated the official status of the contest as a One-Point Tiebreak (even with all parties in agreement with the idea) cannot be allowed to stand as a fully complete result.
So this one had to be filed under "Incomplete" along with the 5-All Celis-Delgado One-Setter and the 3-All Women's Doubles One-Setter (after a complete One-Setter) from down the road earlier in the evening.
At 7:50, "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan headed over to the courts having just finished a run. All she wanted to do was watch the action as well.
Two more players only making cameo appearances were "Mr. 500" Levy Lorenzo (arriving at 8:10) and "T-Rez" Tommy Reszkowski (arriving at 8:15).
Despite all the players who sat out of the action (including myself), we still ended up with an amazing total of 25 official competitors! Oh, what a night!
The rest of the results:
Brenda Jordan/Christine Toth over Kathy Sheldon/Dawn Peterson, 6-3! No Aces.
Brenda Jordan/Christine Toth tied with Kathy Sheldon/Dawn Peterson, 3-3 (Incomplete when they ran out of sunlight)! No Aces.
Dino Celis tied with Dean Delgado, 5-5 (Incomplete when they ran out of sunlight)! No Aces.
Scott Bergenfeld/Sairaj Srinivasan tied with Jordan Bachvaroff/Genalin Capan, 6-6 (but Scott and Sairaj did win that 1 point Tiebreak...this still goes down as Incomplete)! They got this one underway on Court Two at exactly 6:59. At 7:23, it was tied 3-3. It ended prematurely at 7:42.
Nathan Fernandes/Natalie Guzman over Dino Celis/Richard Reicht, 6-4! Dino: 1 Ace on Natalie. It was the official GTA Return of Richard Reicht. This one got started on Court Three at 7:40. The Nate/Nat combo were down 2-4 before taking four straight games for a nice comeback win that ended at 8:19.
Chris Chiaro/Rob Gawley over Joe Rodrigues/Vinnie De Benedetto, 6-4! Chris: 1 Ace on Joe; and Joe: 1 Ace on Chris! This was contested on Court Two from 7:51 to 8:32.
W2 Tournament Final/GTA Women's Doubles Championship Match:
Laura Gawley/Sally Pillay over Fernanda Toker/Genalin Capan, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2, to become the New 2-Time GTA Women's Doubles Champions and win the 2016 W2 Women's Doubles Tournament! Laura: 1 Ace on Gen in the 1st Set.
1st Set: Fernanda held serve (Sally blew a volley for 15-Love, Double Fault for 15-All, un-returned serve for 30-15, Sally blew an overhead for Double Game Point, Sally hit an awesome winning return to cut it to Game Point, but then another un-returned serve earned the hold), Laura held (Gen hit a winner for Love-15 and then Sally hit a winner for 15-All, then 30-15 where a corner Ace on Gen brought it to Double Game Point where another un-returned serve secured the hold), Genalin held (un-returned serve for 15-Love and then Laura blew a volley to make it 30-Love, but then Laura hit a winning volley for 30-15 and the shift was on all the way to Break Point, but then Sally blew a volley to bring it to Deuce and then Gen hit a winning volley to set up Game Point where Laura blew an overhead to allow the hold) and then Sally was the first to be broken (Love-15 where Laura blew a volley for Love-30 and then Gen hit a winning volley to set up Triple Break Point, but then an un-returned serve cut it to Double Break Point and then Laura hit a passing shot winner to bring it down to Break Point, but then a Double Fault dashed any hopes of a hold) to fall behind 1-3. From there, Toker held again (un-returned serve for 15-Love and then Sally blew an overhead to make it 30-Love where then Laura blew a volley to set up Triple Game point and then Gen hit a winning volley to make it a Love hold for her partner), Gawley was broken (back-to-back un-returned serves made it 30-Love, but then Gen hit a winning Backhand Volley to cut it to 30-15 where another un-returned serve set up Double Game Point only to have Laura blow an overhead to bring it to Game Point and then Laura blew a volley to make it Deuce where then Sally blew an overhead to set up Break Point where Sally then blew another overhead for the break) and Capan held again (un-returned serve for 15-Love, then Gen blew an overhead for 15-All where Laura hit a winning net-cord volley to make it 15-30, but then Sally blew a volley for 30-All, it was then Game/Set Point where Sally hit a winning Overhead Smash to bring it to Deuce where Gen then hit an amazing winning volley to set up the 2nd Game/Set Point where Laura then blew an overhead to allow the hold) to take the set! This set and match got underway on Court Four at 8pm and this one ended at 8:26. Two minutes later, they would start the next one.
2nd Set: Laura was broken (Laura blew a volley for Love-15, it then went to Love-30, 15-30 where Sally blew an overhead to make it Double Break Point and then came the break), Genalin was broken (Sally hit a winning Overhead Smash for Love-15, it was Love-30 where Laura hit a passing shot winner to set up Triple Break Point, then it was Double Break Point where Gen blew an overhead to break herself), but Sally was the first to hold serve in this set (un-returned serve for 15-Love and then Gen blew a volley to make it 30-Love only to have Laura hit a hellacious winning volley to set up Triple Game Point, but a Double Fault then made it Double Game Point which was where Gen blew an overhead to allow the hold) for 2-1. Fernanda was broken (Sally blew a volley for 15-Love, but then Laura hit another vicious winning volley to make it 15-All and then the first truly awesome rally of the match ended with a winning Backhand Volley by Sally for Double Break Point and then Laura hit a passing shot winner to get the break), Gawley held again (Sally hit a heated volley for 15-Love and then Laura tried to best her with a similarly scorching volley for 30-Love, it was then 30-15 where perhaps the new best rally of the match...featuring several amazing gets by Fernanda, but ultimately all for naught...made it Double Game Point, but then Laura blew an overhead to cut the lead to Game Point and then Sally blew an overhead to make it Deuce, but then an un-returned serve set up Game Point and then Laura secured her own hold with a winning Overhead Smash) and Capan was broken again (Love-15 where Gen hit another winning drop shot volley for 15-All and then it was 15-30 where another excellent and extended rally would end with a venomous volley by Sally to make it Double Break Point and then Laura scored with a winning passing shot return for the break) as now it was her team falling to 1-5. It seemed the first two sets would be an even trade, but then Pillay was broken (started with a Double Fault and then another amazing rally would end with one of Gen's best winning volleys of the night to make it Love-30 and then it was Triple Break Point where Gen would score with yet another of those winning drop shot volleys to make it a Love break) and Toker then held (Sally blew a volley for 15-Love, but then she redeemed herself with a blazing passing shot return for 15-All and that was where Fernanda would hit one of her famous winning get/lob combos to make it 30-15 where Sally then blew a volley to set up Double Game Point and then Gen hit a winning volley to secure her partner's hold) as her team pulled to 3-5. Then The Aura rose to the occasion with her second straight hold (a truly un-returnable serve for 15-Love, 30-Love, then Triple Game/Set Point and another actual un-returnable serve to get the Love hold, take the set and even the match) to level things and increase the drama at 8:56! Like the last time around, the next set would get underway two minutes later.
3rd Set: Fernanda held (Gen hit another awe-inspiring winning volley for 15-Love, it was then 15-All where Laura blew a volley to make it 30-15 and then a lengthy rally led to Double Game Point where Sally blew a volley to allow the hold), Laura held (a winning Overhead Smash by Laura for 15-Love, it was 15-All where another marathon rally took place and ended with a blown volley by Gen to make it 30-15 and then Sally hit an awesome and reactionary slam-dunk style winner while poised near the net to set up Double Game Point where Laura then came through with her own winner for the hold), Genalin held (Fernanda hit another one of her infamous get/lob combos for 15-Love and then an un-returned serve made it 30-Love where Sally then blew a volley to make it Triple Game Point, but then Laura had winning volley to cut it to Double Game Point where another un-returned serve locked down the hold) and Sally held (another wild rally ended with yet another sizzling net-cord volley winner by Laura to make it 15-Love and then Laura hit another winning volley for 30-Love, but then she blew a volley to cut the score to 30-15 where Sally hit a passing shot winner to make it Double Game Point and then came the hold) as all were on serve in this set at 2-2! Toker was the first to be broken (Love-15 where Sally hit an awesome winning return for Love-30 and then another seesaw rally made it 15-30, then it went to Double Break Point and then Break Point where Laura hit a passing shot winner for the break) to lose the lead at 2-3. And then came the lengthiest and most pivotal game of the match with Gawley on serve as Sally blew an overhead for Love-15 and then Gen hit a winning lob for Love-30, but then Sally replied with a sizzling winning volley for 15-30, it was then 30-All where Gen hit a winning Backhand Volley for Break Point, but then Laura hit a winning volley of her own to bring it to Deuce only to have Gen hit another winning volley to bring it back to Break Point and it then went to 2nd Deuce only to have Gen hi another winning volley for Break Point again, but then she blew a volley to make it 3rd Deuce and then she blew another volley to set up Game Point for the opposition, but then came Gen's redemption moment with an awesome passing shot return winner for the 4th Deuce where Sally hit a big-time winner of an Overhead Smash to set up Game Point which was where Gen blew a volley to allow the hold as the opposition went up 4-2! From there, Capan was broken (Sally blew an overhead for 15-Love and then Fernanda hit a winner for 30-Love, but then Gen blew a volley to make it 30-15, it was then 30-All where a great get by Fernanda led to an error from the opponents to allow them to go up Game Point, but then Laura hit a blistering passing shot winner to make it Deuce and then came a Double Fault to bring it to Break Point and then came the break) and then Pillay held again (Laura hit a winning Overhead Smash for 15-Love, it as 15-All where Laura hit a winning volley for 30-15 and then the last great rally of the match ended with an excellent winner by Sally to set up Double Game/Match Point which was where Laura blew an overhead to make it Game/Match Point, but then she redeemed herself with a winning volley for the win) for the come-from-behind victory to seal the deal, take the tournament and reclaim the gold! This match finished at 9:35.
The Skinny: This was an awesome match which was better than the topsy-turvy scoring may indicate. In the 1st Set, it seemed that both Laura and Sally were too "amped up" as each made several errors...often drilling would-be winners into the net (while also sailing some long as well). Meanwhile, Fernanda did her "Cool Hand Luke" thing along the baseline making great gets as if they were commonplace while her partner Gen was the steady hand at the net as many shots fired at her by the opposition would simply be blocked back as winning volleys.
For the 2nd Set, Gawley/Pillay switched up both their service sides of the court and their return of serve sides...and it all seemed to fall into place from there as they also switched up their overall philosophy. Going against their normal style of play and swinging away, they intentionally fell back a bit and started to play the game of their opposition (extended rallies featuring looping lobs, etc.). The strategy worked!
In the 3rd Set, Toker/Capan decided to switch up their service sides (while maintaining their return of service sides) in an attempt to shake things up a bit. It almost worked. In the aftermath of what seemed to be such a solid victory for Laura and Sally, it is easy to forget how close this last set was. Had Fernanda and Gen got the break back (after Toker was broken) in that marathon game against Gawley's serve, it would have been 3-3 rather than 4-2 and this one may have gone the difference...with a different result.
Samara's Notes: Congratulations to both Laura and Sally on an impressive and hard-fought victory! Also, kudos need to be offered up to both Fernanda and Gen on such a fine effort as well.
The Consequences: Since there are no Former Champs in this scenario, Gawley/Pillay are now free to defend their newly-won Titles against any team already ranked in the Women's Doubles Division.
Lou La Forgia/Kris Srinivasan over Marijus Kuzavas/Jordan Bachvaroff, 6-4! Lou: 1 Ace on Jordan. This one took place on Court One from 8:03 to 8:56.
Nathan Fernandes/Joe Rodrigues over Chris Chiaro/Rob Gawley, 6-4! Joe: 1 Ace on Rob; and Rob: 1 Ace on Joe! This battle was waged on Court Two from 8:36 to 9:26! Once Joe and Rob both left, this enabled Chris and Nate to face off in a Singles One-Setter...which we will get to later.
Lou La Forgia/Kris Srinivasan over Marijus Kuzavas/Jordan Bachvaroff, 6-1! Lou: 2 Aces (one on each)! Court One hosted this one from 8:45 to 9:15.
Lou La Forgia/Kris Srinivasan over Dino Celis/Jordan Bachvaroff, 6-2! No Aces. Again, Court One was the scene of the crime as the action took place from 9:25 to 9:50. After this, Dino and Kris hit with one another for the remaining time.
Nathan Fernandes leading Chris Chiaro, 5-2 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm with Nate on serve having just blown Match Point by dumping what should have been a certain winning volley into the net a la Andy Roddick at that Wimbledon Final against Roger Federer some years back and it had then gone to Deuce when it all went black)! No Aces.
What a way to end such an eventful night...with a cliffhanger! Had Nate sealed the deal while he could, it would have been quite the One-Set Upset. Was this One-Setter a preview of what is to come immediately following this year's Grove Cup Tournament? Only time will tell.
All in all, it was a memorable session...one for the record books!
All the best,
Frank Samara
"Mole-Santos, W2 Final part of 25 at C.G.!:
There was just one session of GTA Tuesday Tennis: the usual session (but it got an earlier than usual start) up at The Cedar Grove Courts as it began with a 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match between "Holy Moly" Mike Mole and "Stealth" Omar Santos (details provided by Omar) and then later hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara with some assistance from "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan.
The Main Event of the evening was the W2 Women's Doubles Tournament Final Match featuring GTA Women's Champion: Laura "The Aura" Gawley teaming with "Spicy" Sally Pillay to take on "The Argentine Machine" Fernanda Toker and "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan. The winning team would not only win the tourney, but also be crowned the New GTA Women's Doubles Champions.
Before we get to how the evening portion of the session unfolded, let's first report that earlier score of the Mole-Santos match.
The Cedar Grove Results:
2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:
Omar Santos over Mike Mole, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), to become both the New # 22 Ranked Player in the Advanced Division and the New # 10 Ranked Player in the Intermediate Division! Mike: 5 Aces in the 2nd Set!
The Stealth Report: We played at the old courts down the road. We started playing around 3:30 pm and finished the match at 5pm. I took command of the 1st Set which ended at 4pm.
In the 2nd Set, Mike started hitting his big serves and aced me a lot. I still took a 5-2 lead because of his errors and me winning most of the long rallies. He made a big comeback to take a 6-5 lead using his big serve and penetrating ground-strokes, but I held serve to force a Tiebreak and luckily won the match.
Samara's Notes: First off, I congratulate Omar on that impressive victory. And second, I thank him for providing us with such a comprehensive report. If Mole has constantly been in the conversation of likely Nominees for Most Improved Player of The Year at season's end, then certainly Santos should be in it as well.
Let's now recap all that transpired up at Cedar Grove later in the evening.
Samara pulled into the parking lot at 6:45, just as Capan was doing the same. On Court One, there were two outsiders (somewhat older gents) playing a full 2 out of 3 Sets Singles Match against one another.
On Court Two, "J-Bach" Jordan Bachvaroff was hitting against both "The Great" Scott Bergenfeld and "The Secret Weapon" Sairaj Srinivasan. Gen soon joined them to make it a foursome.
The bad news was out on Court Three and Court Four as The Pickle Ballers were back! There were signs on every gate along the fences that The Ballers would be back every Tuesday night from 6pm to 7:30.
At 6:50, "The Vin Man" Vinnie De Benedetto arrived and joined Samara on the bench alongside Court One. With the weather as beautiful as it was, he was happy to be patient and just wait for another court to open.
Five minutes later, "J-Rod" Joe Rodrigues also made his way to the bench. We soon learned that the four ladies ("Killer Kat" Kathy Sheldon, "Bravo" Brenda Jordan, "C.A.T." Christine Toth and "Dominant" Dawn Peterson) who all connected via e-mail to play their own Women's Doubles Match at 6:30 had to take their match to the two courts down the road once they got court-blocked by The Ballers.
Also arriving at the same time as Rodrigues was someone we had not seen at The Cedar Grove Courts since last autumn, "The Rain Maker" Richard Reicht. For the moment, all he could do was become part of the ever-growing logjam.
At 7:05, Kris came across the street right at the same time that Laura arrived. She approached the Pickle Ballers as she knew one of them (the name escapes me at this time). Laura then said we were actually fortunate that the Ballers were only occupying two of the courts as their permit gives them the right to all four if they want and need them!
As we were having this discussion, "The Natural" Natalie Guzman arrived at 7:10. It turns out that this same lady who had been talking to Laura had been a Cedar Grove High School coach of Natalie's.
Things soon started to look up, however, when The Ballers made their exit at 7:25 which freed up Courts Three and Four. As our players rapidly headed out there, the next wave of GTA competitors would soon arrive and lead to the second logjam of the night.
As all this was happening, the four ladies who had played Doubles down the road returned...but they were not anxious to step out on the courts as they had just played and wanted to give others the chance to do so.
Reicht and Guzman started hitting with one another on Court Three while Rodrigues and De Benedetto took one side of Court Four to hit against Srinivasan and Gawley on the other side of it.
At 7:35, "Coach" Dino Celis arrived and reported that he had started what was intended to be a full 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match against "Lean" Dean Delgado at the courts down the road (they had also been court-blocked by The Ballers). It instead ended up being an incomplete One-Setter as the sun sets early nowadays.
Arriving at the same time as Celis were all the following players: GTA Champion: "King Crush" Chris Chiaro, "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes, "Rowdy" Rob Gawley, "The Lethal Lefty" Lou La Forgia, "The Legendary" Chazz Weldon (he was only there to watch the W2 Final) and Toker.
Fernanda took her time getting out to the courts mainly because she thought her partner Gen had not arrived yet (she could not see Capan playing tennis out on Court Two as her focus was only on Court Four).
Meanwhile, Gen was sensing that her services were now needed over on Four as that would be the court to host the W2 Final. So Scott proposed a One-Point Tiebreak (as they had just went to 6-All in games). While this was a good idea for getting Capan off that court in a timely manner, it negated the official status of the contest as a One-Point Tiebreak (even with all parties in agreement with the idea) cannot be allowed to stand as a fully complete result.
So this one had to be filed under "Incomplete" along with the 5-All Celis-Delgado One-Setter and the 3-All Women's Doubles One-Setter (after a complete One-Setter) from down the road earlier in the evening.
At 7:50, "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan headed over to the courts having just finished a run. All she wanted to do was watch the action as well.
Two more players only making cameo appearances were "Mr. 500" Levy Lorenzo (arriving at 8:10) and "T-Rez" Tommy Reszkowski (arriving at 8:15).
Despite all the players who sat out of the action (including myself), we still ended up with an amazing total of 25 official competitors! Oh, what a night!
The rest of the results:
Brenda Jordan/Christine Toth over Kathy Sheldon/Dawn Peterson, 6-3! No Aces.
Brenda Jordan/Christine Toth tied with Kathy Sheldon/Dawn Peterson, 3-3 (Incomplete when they ran out of sunlight)! No Aces.
Dino Celis tied with Dean Delgado, 5-5 (Incomplete when they ran out of sunlight)! No Aces.
Scott Bergenfeld/Sairaj Srinivasan tied with Jordan Bachvaroff/Genalin Capan, 6-6 (but Scott and Sairaj did win that 1 point Tiebreak...this still goes down as Incomplete)! They got this one underway on Court Two at exactly 6:59. At 7:23, it was tied 3-3. It ended prematurely at 7:42.
Nathan Fernandes/Natalie Guzman over Dino Celis/Richard Reicht, 6-4! Dino: 1 Ace on Natalie. It was the official GTA Return of Richard Reicht. This one got started on Court Three at 7:40. The Nate/Nat combo were down 2-4 before taking four straight games for a nice comeback win that ended at 8:19.
Chris Chiaro/Rob Gawley over Joe Rodrigues/Vinnie De Benedetto, 6-4! Chris: 1 Ace on Joe; and Joe: 1 Ace on Chris! This was contested on Court Two from 7:51 to 8:32.
W2 Tournament Final/GTA Women's Doubles Championship Match:
Laura Gawley/Sally Pillay over Fernanda Toker/Genalin Capan, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2, to become the New 2-Time GTA Women's Doubles Champions and win the 2016 W2 Women's Doubles Tournament! Laura: 1 Ace on Gen in the 1st Set.
1st Set: Fernanda held serve (Sally blew a volley for 15-Love, Double Fault for 15-All, un-returned serve for 30-15, Sally blew an overhead for Double Game Point, Sally hit an awesome winning return to cut it to Game Point, but then another un-returned serve earned the hold), Laura held (Gen hit a winner for Love-15 and then Sally hit a winner for 15-All, then 30-15 where a corner Ace on Gen brought it to Double Game Point where another un-returned serve secured the hold), Genalin held (un-returned serve for 15-Love and then Laura blew a volley to make it 30-Love, but then Laura hit a winning volley for 30-15 and the shift was on all the way to Break Point, but then Sally blew a volley to bring it to Deuce and then Gen hit a winning volley to set up Game Point where Laura blew an overhead to allow the hold) and then Sally was the first to be broken (Love-15 where Laura blew a volley for Love-30 and then Gen hit a winning volley to set up Triple Break Point, but then an un-returned serve cut it to Double Break Point and then Laura hit a passing shot winner to bring it down to Break Point, but then a Double Fault dashed any hopes of a hold) to fall behind 1-3. From there, Toker held again (un-returned serve for 15-Love and then Sally blew an overhead to make it 30-Love where then Laura blew a volley to set up Triple Game point and then Gen hit a winning volley to make it a Love hold for her partner), Gawley was broken (back-to-back un-returned serves made it 30-Love, but then Gen hit a winning Backhand Volley to cut it to 30-15 where another un-returned serve set up Double Game Point only to have Laura blow an overhead to bring it to Game Point and then Laura blew a volley to make it Deuce where then Sally blew an overhead to set up Break Point where Sally then blew another overhead for the break) and Capan held again (un-returned serve for 15-Love, then Gen blew an overhead for 15-All where Laura hit a winning net-cord volley to make it 15-30, but then Sally blew a volley for 30-All, it was then Game/Set Point where Sally hit a winning Overhead Smash to bring it to Deuce where Gen then hit an amazing winning volley to set up the 2nd Game/Set Point where Laura then blew an overhead to allow the hold) to take the set! This set and match got underway on Court Four at 8pm and this one ended at 8:26. Two minutes later, they would start the next one.
2nd Set: Laura was broken (Laura blew a volley for Love-15, it then went to Love-30, 15-30 where Sally blew an overhead to make it Double Break Point and then came the break), Genalin was broken (Sally hit a winning Overhead Smash for Love-15, it was Love-30 where Laura hit a passing shot winner to set up Triple Break Point, then it was Double Break Point where Gen blew an overhead to break herself), but Sally was the first to hold serve in this set (un-returned serve for 15-Love and then Gen blew a volley to make it 30-Love only to have Laura hit a hellacious winning volley to set up Triple Game Point, but a Double Fault then made it Double Game Point which was where Gen blew an overhead to allow the hold) for 2-1. Fernanda was broken (Sally blew a volley for 15-Love, but then Laura hit another vicious winning volley to make it 15-All and then the first truly awesome rally of the match ended with a winning Backhand Volley by Sally for Double Break Point and then Laura hit a passing shot winner to get the break), Gawley held again (Sally hit a heated volley for 15-Love and then Laura tried to best her with a similarly scorching volley for 30-Love, it was then 30-15 where perhaps the new best rally of the match...featuring several amazing gets by Fernanda, but ultimately all for naught...made it Double Game Point, but then Laura blew an overhead to cut the lead to Game Point and then Sally blew an overhead to make it Deuce, but then an un-returned serve set up Game Point and then Laura secured her own hold with a winning Overhead Smash) and Capan was broken again (Love-15 where Gen hit another winning drop shot volley for 15-All and then it was 15-30 where another excellent and extended rally would end with a venomous volley by Sally to make it Double Break Point and then Laura scored with a winning passing shot return for the break) as now it was her team falling to 1-5. It seemed the first two sets would be an even trade, but then Pillay was broken (started with a Double Fault and then another amazing rally would end with one of Gen's best winning volleys of the night to make it Love-30 and then it was Triple Break Point where Gen would score with yet another of those winning drop shot volleys to make it a Love break) and Toker then held (Sally blew a volley for 15-Love, but then she redeemed herself with a blazing passing shot return for 15-All and that was where Fernanda would hit one of her famous winning get/lob combos to make it 30-15 where Sally then blew a volley to set up Double Game Point and then Gen hit a winning volley to secure her partner's hold) as her team pulled to 3-5. Then The Aura rose to the occasion with her second straight hold (a truly un-returnable serve for 15-Love, 30-Love, then Triple Game/Set Point and another actual un-returnable serve to get the Love hold, take the set and even the match) to level things and increase the drama at 8:56! Like the last time around, the next set would get underway two minutes later.
3rd Set: Fernanda held (Gen hit another awe-inspiring winning volley for 15-Love, it was then 15-All where Laura blew a volley to make it 30-15 and then a lengthy rally led to Double Game Point where Sally blew a volley to allow the hold), Laura held (a winning Overhead Smash by Laura for 15-Love, it was 15-All where another marathon rally took place and ended with a blown volley by Gen to make it 30-15 and then Sally hit an awesome and reactionary slam-dunk style winner while poised near the net to set up Double Game Point where Laura then came through with her own winner for the hold), Genalin held (Fernanda hit another one of her infamous get/lob combos for 15-Love and then an un-returned serve made it 30-Love where Sally then blew a volley to make it Triple Game Point, but then Laura had winning volley to cut it to Double Game Point where another un-returned serve locked down the hold) and Sally held (another wild rally ended with yet another sizzling net-cord volley winner by Laura to make it 15-Love and then Laura hit another winning volley for 30-Love, but then she blew a volley to cut the score to 30-15 where Sally hit a passing shot winner to make it Double Game Point and then came the hold) as all were on serve in this set at 2-2! Toker was the first to be broken (Love-15 where Sally hit an awesome winning return for Love-30 and then another seesaw rally made it 15-30, then it went to Double Break Point and then Break Point where Laura hit a passing shot winner for the break) to lose the lead at 2-3. And then came the lengthiest and most pivotal game of the match with Gawley on serve as Sally blew an overhead for Love-15 and then Gen hit a winning lob for Love-30, but then Sally replied with a sizzling winning volley for 15-30, it was then 30-All where Gen hit a winning Backhand Volley for Break Point, but then Laura hit a winning volley of her own to bring it to Deuce only to have Gen hit another winning volley to bring it back to Break Point and it then went to 2nd Deuce only to have Gen hi another winning volley for Break Point again, but then she blew a volley to make it 3rd Deuce and then she blew another volley to set up Game Point for the opposition, but then came Gen's redemption moment with an awesome passing shot return winner for the 4th Deuce where Sally hit a big-time winner of an Overhead Smash to set up Game Point which was where Gen blew a volley to allow the hold as the opposition went up 4-2! From there, Capan was broken (Sally blew an overhead for 15-Love and then Fernanda hit a winner for 30-Love, but then Gen blew a volley to make it 30-15, it was then 30-All where a great get by Fernanda led to an error from the opponents to allow them to go up Game Point, but then Laura hit a blistering passing shot winner to make it Deuce and then came a Double Fault to bring it to Break Point and then came the break) and then Pillay held again (Laura hit a winning Overhead Smash for 15-Love, it as 15-All where Laura hit a winning volley for 30-15 and then the last great rally of the match ended with an excellent winner by Sally to set up Double Game/Match Point which was where Laura blew an overhead to make it Game/Match Point, but then she redeemed herself with a winning volley for the win) for the come-from-behind victory to seal the deal, take the tournament and reclaim the gold! This match finished at 9:35.
The Skinny: This was an awesome match which was better than the topsy-turvy scoring may indicate. In the 1st Set, it seemed that both Laura and Sally were too "amped up" as each made several errors...often drilling would-be winners into the net (while also sailing some long as well). Meanwhile, Fernanda did her "Cool Hand Luke" thing along the baseline making great gets as if they were commonplace while her partner Gen was the steady hand at the net as many shots fired at her by the opposition would simply be blocked back as winning volleys.
For the 2nd Set, Gawley/Pillay switched up both their service sides of the court and their return of serve sides...and it all seemed to fall into place from there as they also switched up their overall philosophy. Going against their normal style of play and swinging away, they intentionally fell back a bit and started to play the game of their opposition (extended rallies featuring looping lobs, etc.). The strategy worked!
In the 3rd Set, Toker/Capan decided to switch up their service sides (while maintaining their return of service sides) in an attempt to shake things up a bit. It almost worked. In the aftermath of what seemed to be such a solid victory for Laura and Sally, it is easy to forget how close this last set was. Had Fernanda and Gen got the break back (after Toker was broken) in that marathon game against Gawley's serve, it would have been 3-3 rather than 4-2 and this one may have gone the difference...with a different result.
Samara's Notes: Congratulations to both Laura and Sally on an impressive and hard-fought victory! Also, kudos need to be offered up to both Fernanda and Gen on such a fine effort as well.
The Consequences: Since there are no Former Champs in this scenario, Gawley/Pillay are now free to defend their newly-won Titles against any team already ranked in the Women's Doubles Division.
Lou La Forgia/Kris Srinivasan over Marijus Kuzavas/Jordan Bachvaroff, 6-4! Lou: 1 Ace on Jordan. This one took place on Court One from 8:03 to 8:56.
Nathan Fernandes/Joe Rodrigues over Chris Chiaro/Rob Gawley, 6-4! Joe: 1 Ace on Rob; and Rob: 1 Ace on Joe! This battle was waged on Court Two from 8:36 to 9:26! Once Joe and Rob both left, this enabled Chris and Nate to face off in a Singles One-Setter...which we will get to later.
Lou La Forgia/Kris Srinivasan over Marijus Kuzavas/Jordan Bachvaroff, 6-1! Lou: 2 Aces (one on each)! Court One hosted this one from 8:45 to 9:15.
Lou La Forgia/Kris Srinivasan over Dino Celis/Jordan Bachvaroff, 6-2! No Aces. Again, Court One was the scene of the crime as the action took place from 9:25 to 9:50. After this, Dino and Kris hit with one another for the remaining time.
Nathan Fernandes leading Chris Chiaro, 5-2 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm with Nate on serve having just blown Match Point by dumping what should have been a certain winning volley into the net a la Andy Roddick at that Wimbledon Final against Roger Federer some years back and it had then gone to Deuce when it all went black)! No Aces.
What a way to end such an eventful night...with a cliffhanger! Had Nate sealed the deal while he could, it would have been quite the One-Set Upset. Was this One-Setter a preview of what is to come immediately following this year's Grove Cup Tournament? Only time will tell.
All in all, it was a memorable session...one for the record books!
All the best,
Frank Samara
No comments:
Post a Comment