9/2 Results

"Rizzo hosts 2 at NTC, Samara hosts 21 at C.G.!:

There were two sessions of GTA Friday Night Tennis: an early evening session at The Nutley Tennis Club hosted by "The Riz" John Rizzo and featuring three Singles One-Setters where he faced off against "Steppin' to the AM" Anish Mehta; and the usual later session up at The Cedar Grove Courts hosted by
"Hollywood" Frank Samara (with some assistance from the usual host, "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan). 

Before we go into the full report from Cedar Grove, let's first go to John for the recap from NTC.

The NTC Results:

John Rizzo over Anish Mehta, 6-4!  No Aces (apparently).

Anish Mehta over John Rizzo, 6-3!  No Aces (apparently).

Anish Mehta over John Rizzo, 6-4!  No Aces (apparently).

The Riz Report: This was never intended to be a full Challenge Match, just separate One-Setters.  I led by breaks in the 2nd and 3rd...so close!

Samara's Notes: I thank John for submitting these scores.  It is a shame that he has not done this more often throughout the past season as he has posted similarly impressive One-Set victories over other top players (Tony "Sure Shot" Shiao is the first to come to mind).  These sessions usually take place on weeknights and Rizzo returns home to exhausted to type up his results report at that time.  Then he gets to work the next morning and gets too busy and distracted...by the time he thinks about submitting the scores, it is too late!

Let's now recap all that transpired up at Cedar Grove.

Samara pulled into the parking lot at 7:10.  On Court One, he saw the usual sparring partners "The Ambidextrous Machine" Herb Reiner and Miroslav "Mirav" Glavic having a hitting session. 

On Court Two, Shiao was practicing his serve alone and waiting for his buddy "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak to arrive.

On Court Three there was a Singles One-Setter already in progress between "Lean" Dean Delgado and Jay "The Rising" Phoenix.

And on Court Four, "Big Kaz" Mike Kazlauskas and "ME" Michel Encarnacion were having a hitting session with "J-Bach" Jordan Bachvaroff and "The Vin Man" Vinnie De Benedetto.

Kazlauskas offered to leave Court Four in deference to Samara as Mike would then over to Court Two to hit with Tony.  But Frank needed to get situated first and note all the action that was already taking place.

At 7:15, Kris came across the street and went out onto Court Two to hit with Shiao.  Five minutes later, "The Webmaster" Senthil Kumar, "Latino Heat" Jose Gonzales and Pienciak all arrived at the same time.

Kumar and Kazlauskas headed over to Court Two with Pienciak trailing behind while Gonzales took the place of Big Kaz on Court Four.

"The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan came across the street at 7:25 just as Delgado-Phoenix finished.  This led to Doinks teaming with Dean to take on Frank and Ryan (Pienciak ended up becoming "the fifth wheel" on Court Two) as Jay decided to leave at that time.

"Mr. 500" Levy Lorenzo arrived at 7:35 and was the odd man out for a while until he was then able to hit with Herb and Mirav on Court One.  When Natalia "Nitro" Sout arrived at 7:50, she was able to make it a foursome on that same court.  Lorenzo asked three times along the way if they could play an actual set, but all Glavic wanted to do (as always) was just hit.

Somewhere around the 8:15 to 8:20 area, we had five players arrive all at once: Dennis "The Menace" Cabanatan, "Super Mario" Marijus Kuzavas, "Spicy" Sally Pillay, "Rowdy" Rob Gawley and the GTA Women's Champion: Laura "The Aura" Gawley.

"Coach" Dino Celis was the last to arrive at 8:40.  We ended up with a very impressive total of 21 official competitors!

The Cedar Grove Results:

Dean Delgado over Jay Phoenix, 6-4!  Dean: 1 Ace.  Dean estimated that they got this underway on Court Three soon after 6:30.  It ended at 7:25.

2 out of 3 Set Doubles Match:
Mike Kazlauskas/Senthil Kumar over Tony Shiao/Kris Srinivasan, 6-4, 6-0, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 45 and # 46 Ranked Teams!  Mike: 2 Aces on Kris in the 2nd Set.  This one officially got started on Court Two at exactly 7:24 and ended right at 8:32.

The Skinny: Perhaps the styles of Shiao and Srinivasan did not mesh well as a team.  Both felt that they did not play their best tennis.  In fact, Tony joked afterward that he should be sent back down to the Intermediate Division.

Jose Gonzales/Jordan Bachvaroff over Michel Encarnacion/Vinnie De Benedetto, 6-4!  Jose: 1 Ace on Vin; and Jordan: 1 Ace on Vin.  This one also got started at 7:24 and it finished on Court Four at 8:04.  At the outset, Michel made it clear that he wanted Vin as his partner.  VDB joked that he wasn't sure if that was the right decision on the part of Encarnacion.  Still, it was a close contest.

Frank Samara/Ryan Pienciak over Dean Delgado/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-4!  No Aces.  It went like this: Ryan was broken in a battle (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 after an un-returned serve and then an extended rally, it was then 30-All where an un-returnable serve set up Game Point, but then it went to Deuce, Game Point again where Doinks made a great get/passing shot winner combo for 2nd Deuce, then it went to Break Point where another truly un-returnable serve brought it back to 3rd Deuce, then it was Break Point again where Ryan hit a nice winner for 4th Deuce, then it was Game Point, 5th Deuce, Break Point where Ryan hit a monster of an Overhead Smash for 6th Deuce, but then came Break Point where Dean hit a winning drop shot return for the break, Dean held serve (Frank blew a volley and then an un-returned serve on the next point made it 30-Love, it then went to 30-15, Double Game Point, Game Point and the hold) and Frank was broken (an un-returned serve for 15-Love, then Ryan blew an overhead for 15-All and from there it was off and running to Double Break Point, then it was Break Point where Ryan blew a volley which caused the break) as his team got off to a 0-3 start!  Doinks was then broken (Ryan hit a hellacious winner for Love-15 and then there was a Double Fault for Love-30, it went to Triple Break Point, then Double Break Point where Ryan hit a winner for the break), Pienciak held (Ryan hit a winner for 15-Love and then it went point for point to Game Point as Frank blew a volley along the way, there was an un-returned serve and then Frank set up Game Point with a drop shot winner and then next came the hold) and Delgado was broken (started with a Double Fault, Love-30 shifted to 30-All, then it went to Break Point and the break) to level the score at 3-3!  Samara was broken again (Doinks hit a highly impressive return winner for Love-15, then it was Love-30 where Frank whipped out his winning Windmill Overhead Smash for 15-30, but then it went to Double Break Point, Break Point and the break), but Srinivasan was also broken again (15-Love, 15-All where an un-returned serve made it 30-15, but then a Double Fault for 30-All where Ryan hit a winner to set up Break Point and then came the break) to knot the score once more at 4-4.  The Lumberjack held again (15-Love, 15-All and then straight to Double Game Point where Ryan blew an overhead to cut his lead to Game point, but then he held with an un-returnable serve) and Lean Dean was broken again (Frank hit a winning volley to make it Love-30 and then it was Triple Break/Match Point where Dean blew what should have been an easy overhead to Love break himself) to get the "L!"  We played this on Court Three from 7:30 to 8:19.  Just when Delgado thought he had gotten out of his slump, it now threatened to pull him back in...LOL!  It was likely a wise decision to head home at that time.

Rob Gawley/Laura Gawley over Marijus Kuzavas/Sally Pillay, 6-1!  No Aces.  This one took place on Court Four from 8:12 to 8:42.

Jose Gonzales/Ryan Pienciak over Jordan Bachvaroff/Dennis Cabanatan, 6-3!  No Aces.  They played this on Court Three from 8:26 to 8:53.

Levy Lorenzo/Doinks Srinivasan over Senthil Kumar/Natalia Sout, 6-2!  No Aces.  This was contested on Court Two from 8:36 to 9:20.

Tony Shiao/Frank Samara over Mike Kazlauskas/Kris Srinivasan, 6-3!  Frank: 1 Ace on Mike.  Here's how it went down: Mike was broken (a truly un-returnable serve for 15-Love, then 30-Love, a Double Fault for 30-15, Double Game Point, Double Fault for Game Point, Double Fault for Deuce where Mike blew an easy overhead to make it Break Point, then 2nd Deuce, Game Point, 3rd Deuce, Break Point, 4th Deuce, Break Point, 5th Deuce, Break Point and finally the break), Frank was broken at Love in a game where he made all the Unforced Errors, Kris was broken (Mike blew a volley to make it Love-30, but then it shifted to 30-All with a passing shot winner from Kris along the way, then it was Break Point where Frank hit a winning passing shot return for the break) and Tony was broken (Mike hit a winning lob for Love-15 and then it was straight to Triple Break Point where an un-returned serve made it Double Break Point, but then came the break) as nobody could hold serve at 2-2!  Kazlauskas was broken again (another un-returnable serve for 15-Love, but then Kris blew two volleys on the way to Double Break Point and then came the break), Samara was also broken again (Mike hit a winning Overhead Smash for Love-15 and then came a slow Ace against Mike who simply misjudged it which made it 15-All and then Mike hit a winning Backhand Volley for 15-30 and then Frank scored with the patented Windmill Overhead Smash for 30-All and that was where an exciting rally featured a great get by Frank only to have Mike hit the winning volley to set up Break Point and then came the break), Srinivasan was the next to be broken again (Mike hit a monster Overhead Smash for 15-Love, but it shifted to 15-30 after Mike blew a volley, but then it shifted again to Game Point after Mike hit another winning Overhead Smash, but then there was a Double Fault for Deuce and then on Break Point it was Frank hit an excellent passing shot winner for the break), but Shiao was the first to hold serve (Mike hit a winning volley for Love-15, but that shifted to Double Game Point as Kris blew a volley and then Mike blew an overhead and then on that D.G.P. came a truly un-returnable serve for the first hold of the match) to go up 5-3!  Big Kaz was broken yet again (an un-returned serve for 15-Love, but then a Double Fault for 15-All which was on the way to Double Break/Match Point right after Tony hit an awesome passing shot winner to set it up, it then went to Break/Match Point which was where Tony hit a drop shot winner for the break and the win) to take a tough loss!  This battle took place on Court One from 8:37 to 9:19.

The Skinny: Tony and Mike were already hitting with one another while Frank and Kris were trying to decide what the teams should be.  Kazlauskas overheard this conversation, turned around and then said half-jokingly: "If you want to win, team with me!"  Srinivasan found this to be an interesting challenge as he said something to the effect of "with the way I'm playing tonight, I will put that theory to the test!"  So that is how the teams were decided.  Sloppy play was the soup of the day from all four players.  Samara had that one brutal Love break where he committed four consecutive Unforced Errors.  But that seemingly got most of the bad play out of his system as he was the first of the four to reverse his fortunes (Shiao said that his partner was playing more like a 26 year old rather than a 46 year old one) and then Tony responded in kind as he elevated his play as well.  The same could not be said for the other tandem.  Big Mike Kaz had many big moments, but he negated them with even more errors.  And Kris was even more erratic in his play.

Dino Celis/Laura Gawley over Marijus Kuzavas/Sally Pillay, 6-4!  No Aces.  These four played on Court Four from 8:45 to 9:22.

Jose Gonzales/Dennis Cabanatan over Ryan Pienciak/Rob Gawley, 6-2!  No Aces.  Court Three hosted this one from 8:56 to 9:25.

Senthil Kumar/Natalia Sout over Levy Lorenzo/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-4!  No Aces.  They started this one on Court Two at 9:22.  When Court One became available, they shifted over to One for the better lighting while the score was 1-0 (not sure as to which team had that lead).  Levy and Doinks were down 1-2, but then went up 3-2.  It was tied at 3-3, Lorenzo/Srinivasan reclaimed the lead at 4-3 only to then drop another two games to go down 4-5.  Levy was then on serve and it quickly went to Triple Break/Match Point where he hit an un-returned serve to make it Double Break/Match Point, but then came the break and the loss at 9:55! 

The Skinny: We already know how improved Senthil has become this season and that Doinks is always steadily on the rise with her abilities.  But the two standouts in this match seemed to be Natalia and Levy as they often battled each other with fast-paced forehands and backhands in many extended rallies.  This was an exciting One-Setter to watch.

Marijus Kuzavas/Kris Srinivasan tied with Laura Gawley/Sally Pillay, 5-5 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)!  Marijus: 1 Ace on Sally.  It started on Court Four at 9:26 and they did not have changeovers in the hopes of getting it finished, but alas it was not to be.

The Skinny: They decided to do this one "Battle of The Sexes" style as Laura and Sally know they need to keep teaming together to be match-ready for the ongoing W2 Women's Doubles Tournament.  Marijus and Kris jumped out to a 4-2 lead, but then the ladies found their "mojo" and would claw and crawl back until it became 5-5 before they lost the lights!

Jose Gonzales/Dennis Cabanatan tied with Ryan Pienciak/Rob Gawley, 4-4 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)!  No Aces.  Jose was on serve, but it was Ad-Out when the lights went out!

While no major matches were played, it was yet another exciting session of GTA Tennis at Cedar Grove.

All the best,
Frank Samara