"Samara hosts 8 at AP, Kris/Gen host 9 at C.G.!:
There were two sessions of GTA Sunday Tennis: the usual morning one at Albion Park in Clifton (hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara), and then the usual night session at The Cedar Grove Courts (hosted by "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan, but with an additional result reported by "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan).
And now for how the session at Albion unfolded.
Samara pulled up to the curb at 10:50. Down on the courts, he saw a hitting session going on between "DC3" David Cardenas and "Big George" Jorge Solano on the North Court. And on the South Court, "MC" Mike Carucci was practicing his serve alone.
So Samara stepped onto South Court to enter into a hitting session with Carucci. Mike told Frank he would have to leave around 11:40 (he had arrived at the courts at 10:40).
When nobody else arrived by 11:05, Frank and Mike decided to shift over to the North Court to face Jorge and David in a Doubles One-Setter.
At 11:25, Capan and her friend "Volley Girl" Anna Kropiewnicki walked down to the courts and soon took Center Court for a lengthy hitting session with one another.
"Coach" Dino Celis made his arrival at 11:35, but first he had to have a bite to eat. But five minutes later when that first Doubles One-Setter ended and Carucci headed home, Celis stepped onto the court to hit against both Solano and Cardenas. Ten minutes later, a second Doubles One-Setter got underway with Dino teaming with Frank to take on Jorge and David.
At 11:55, "Big Jake" Rich Jachens was a surprise arrival. After his usual stretching routine, he joined the ladies on Center Court to enter into their hitting session. He had to shake off some rust as it has been a while since he last played.
The second Doubles One-Setter ended exactly at 12:30. At that time, both Solano and Cardenas left. This allowed Celis to shift over to Center Court to enable some Mixed Doubles to take place there. Samara was content to lie along the back area of the North Court to watch the action from there.
This last One-Setter finished at exactly 12:59. Jachens left at that time. Everyone was taking a break and talking. It seemed like the session was over and done. But then at 1:05, "Holy Moly" Mike Mole made his way down to the courts and soon started hitting against Gen and Anna on Center Court.
After Dino and Frank both left at 1:25, the session on Center Court soon converted to Canadian Doubles. But they never got a fourth player to enable any official action. And thus, Mole is left out of the official count of eight official competitors at the session.
Let's now get to all the Albion action!
The AP Results:
Jorge Solano/David Cardenas over Frank Samara/Mike Carucci, 6-3! David: 2 Aces (one on each)! It went like this: David was broken (Jorge blew an overhead and then Frank hit a passing shot winner for 30-Love which was where an un-returned serve made it 15-30, but then came Double Break Point where Frank blew an overhead to make it Break Point and then an un-returned serve made it Deuce and then another un-returned serve set up Game Point, but then it was a Double Fault for Deuce and then another Double Fault for Break Point and then came the break) and then Frank held serve (Frank hit an aggressive winner to go up 15-Love, it was then 15-All where Frank hit a passing shot winner for 30-15 and then David hit a blast of a winning return for 30-All, but then came Game Point and the hold) for a 2-0 lead. Jorge held (un-returned serve for 15-Love where Frank hit a winning drop shot return for 15-All and then on the way to Double Game Point it was David hitting a whopper of an Overhead Smash and then he duplicated that feat to secure his partner's hold) and Mike was broken (15-Love shifted to 15-30 after Jorge made an amazing get and then it was 30-All where Jorge hit a winning Overhead Smash for Break Point and then came the break) to level it at 2-2. Cardenas then held at Love as he hit a truly un-returnable serve and then hit an equally amazing winner, then another un-returned serve followed by a second un-returnable serve, but Samara was broken again (Jorge hit a winning lob return for Love-15, then it was 15-All where Mike blew an overhead and then David hit a winning return on the way to Double Break Point where Mike then blew a volley to allow the break) to fall to 2-4. Solano was then broken at Love after hitting a Double Fault for Love-30 and this cut his team's lead to 4-3, but then Carucci was broken again (Double Fault for Love-30, then it went to Triple Break Point, Double Break Point and then an ill-timed Double Fault to break himself) and then DC3 held again (started with a big corner Ace on Mike, then it was 30-Love where Mike hit an awesome passing shot return for 30-15 and then Jorge blew a volley for 30-All, then it was Game/Mike Point where a precise Ace hit the back of the T to end this one) to get the win! We played this on the North Court from 11:10 to 11:40.
Jorge Solano/David Cardenas over Dino Celis/Frank Samara, 7-5! No Aces. Here's how it went down: Dino held serve (15-Love, 15-All and then onto Double Game Point as Dino had made an absolutely amazing get/winner combo to get there and then he hit a passing shot winner for the hold), Jorge held (an un-returned serve for 15-Love where Frank then hit a passing shot winner for 15-All, but then it went right to Double Game Point as Frank blew an overhead along the way and then David would be the one to hit a winning Backhand Volley to secure hi s partner's hold), Frank held at Love with two un-returned serves along the way and then David also held as he started with a near ace on Dino and then David hit a winning Backhand Volley for 30-Love only to then hit a Double Fault to make it 30-15 where another one of those truly un-returnable serves set up Double Game Point and then came the hold as we were all on serve at 2-2! Celis was the first to be broken (Jorge hit a winning lob for Love-15, then an un-returned serve made it 15-All only to have it go straight Double Break Point, but then another un-returned serve and a winner by Dino brought it to Deuce where David hit a winning volley for Break Point and then David hit a much more impressive winner for the break), but Solano held again (David blew a volley for Love-15, but then things shifted to 30-15 after David hit a blistering winner, but then Frank hit a winning drop shot return for 30-All only to have it go to Game Point and the hold) as his team took a 4-2 lead. Samara responded with a Love hold that began with an un-returned serve to pull to 3-4, but then Cardenas held again (an un-returnable serve and a winning volley from Jorge led to Triple Game Point, but then there was a Double Fault to cut the lead to Double Game Point and then another un-returnable serve locked down the hold) for 5-3. Coach then had a Love hold as he started with an un-returned serve, Jorge blew a volley and then another un-returned serve secured the hold for 4-5. Big George was then broken (started with a Double Fault and it then went point for point until 30-All as David hit a wining volley, but then he blew a volley as well along the way and then it was Game/Match Point, but that was saved by Celis/Samara to make it Deuce where Dino hit a hellacious winning volley to make it Break Point and then came the break) to tie things up again, this time at 5-5, but so was Hollywood once again (David started off with a drop shot winner for Love-15 and it then was 15-All, 15-30, Double Fault for Double Break Point and then came the break) to fall to 5-6. DC3 then held a third time in this one (Dino hit an awesome winner for Love-15, but then there was an un- returned serve for 15-All, then 15-30 and another un-returned serve for 30-All, Game/Match Point, Deuce and then the 2nd Game/Match Point where Jorge hit a winning Backhand Victory for the win! We played this on the North Court from 11:50 to 12:30.
Dino Celis/Anna Kropiewnicki over Rich Jachens/Genalin Capan, 6-2! No Aces. The basic breakdown: Genalin held, Dino held, Rich was broken and Anna was broken for 2-2. From there, Capan was broken but Celis held again for 4-2. Jachens was broken again (30-Love shifted to Break Point and then a Double Fault to end it) and Kropiewnicki held (Anna hit a winner to set up Double Game/Match Point where Dino then hit the winner to secure his partner's hold as they got the win) to end it! This was played on Center Court from 12:32 to 12:59.
The Skinny: Anna has earned the moniker of "Volley Girl" as she is very effective hitting volleys at the net. She seems to be very comfortable there in Doubles. She also has a very consistent two-handed backhand.
Gen later said that she, Anna and Mike played Canadian Doubles until 2:45.
We now head up to Cedar Grove for the full report from Kris along with an additional result with details from Gen. The first score comes from Gen and she seems to be more on point on this one than Kris was as he admitted when he sent all the weekend's results at once and he was a little hazy on some of it.
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The Cedar Grove Results:
Kris Srinivasan/Genalin Capan over Jose Gonzales/Sairaj Srinivasan, 7-6 (7-4)! No Aces.
Gen's Notes: We started it at 7:48 and it lasted 52 minutes. I only played one Doubles One-Setter on Sunday night.
Samara's Notes: I thank Gen for the clarification and we now go to Kris for the rest.
Dino Celis/Kris Srinivasan over Jose Gonzales/Dan Martinelli, 6-4! No Aces.
Mike Kazlauskas and Andrew Troung played Singles on the other side.
Samara's Notes: THIS JUST IN - Mike has reported the scores that he had with Andrew. They had intended to play it as a full 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match, but since Kazlauskas was still part of the GTA Intermediate Title Tournament at that time…we had to separate it into two One-Setters.
Mike Kazlauskas over Andrew Truong, 6-4! Mike: 2 Aces.
Mike Kazlauskas over Andrew Truong, 6-0! Mike: 2 Aces.
The Kaz says: Andrew is a really good player who has a solid backhand and my strategy was to keep all my shots on his forehand side. It paid off. Plus, I was hitting all my forehand shots the right way…in other words, I was "feeling it!"
Samara's Notes: I thank Mike for reporting those scores…better late than never. And now we go back to Kris for one last remark with some additional details that I forgot to add the first time around.
The Dwights got to have a hitting session. It was good to see The Dwights in action as Junior was teaming with his mom to face his dad and uncle. I should have invited all of them in to play with us. They sure did have a lot of fun with much on-court heckling. Also, Dino got to coach Doinks.
Samara's Notes: I thank Kris for all he does for the GTA up at Cedar Grove.
All the best,
Frank Samara
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