"Pillay-Toker TBC part of 21 (1 New) at C.G.!":
GTA Monday Night Tennis took place at The Cedar Grove Courts with "Hollywood" Frank Samara acting as host (with assistance from usual host, "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan).
With the peak temperature earlier in the day hitting 80 degrees, Samara decided that he had to take advantage of the summer-like weather and step up to act as host at C.G. He feared, however, that many outsiders (fair-weather tennis players, some) may have the same idea and swamp the courts.
When Frank pulled into the lot at 6:50, he was stunned to see three of the courts vacant. On Court Three, "Kevlar" Kevin Doyle was having a hitting session with "The Ambidextrous Machine" Herb Reiner.
Kevin said he had been there since 6:10 as "Coach" Dino Celis had issued an e-mail to the league seeking a hitting session around 6pm. Doyle never saw Celis there, however.
"Latino Heat" Jose Gonzales pulled into the lot right after Samara did. He went to go hit with Doyle and Reiner on Court Three. They wanted Samara to join them for Doubles, but Frank wanted to hold Court Four for the upcoming GAH6 Final Match between "Spicy" Sally Pillay and "The Argentine Machine" Fernanda Toker (set to start around 8pm).
At 7:05, Pillay arrived with her hubby "Super Mario" Marijus Kuzavas and Samara directed them to take Court Four. At the same time, "Big George" Jorge Solano pulled into the court.
Kris was coming across the street with his son, Sairaj (aka "The Secret Weapon"). And then we had GTA Champion: "King Crush" Chris Chiaro also arriving.
Chris took Sally's side in hitting against Marijus while Jorge and The Srinivasans went to Court One to start hitting and then Samara went over to Court Two to hold that one as he suspected the turnout to continue to increase dramatically and rapidly.
Kris soon called Chris over to Court One so that they could play a proper Doubles Match while Marijus could keep hitting with Sally one-on-one. That official action kicked things off at 7:19.
But we are jumping ahead just a bit. Celis arrived at 7:10 and had a bite to eat on the bench alongside Court One. His buddy, "Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli, arrived five minutes later and took a seat next to him. The Doc was hoping to only make an extended cameo appearance, but he would soon be called out to the courts.
Reiner left the hitting session on Court Three at 7:20, leaving Gonzales and Doyle behind. The two of them were hoping to play some Doubles. Samara still insisted he needed to hold Court Two by himself.
"Mr. 500" Levy Lorenzo arrived at 7:25 and Frank directed him to go to Court Three to get one player closer to some Doubles there. When Spin saw this, he was nice enough to make himself the fourth competitor on that court. They got that action underway at 7:35.
Around the same time, Dino headed over to Court Two to have a hitting session with Frank.
At 7:45, GTA Women's Champion: Laura "The Aura" Gawley arrived at 7:45. First, she took the bench alongside Court Four and it seemed as if she would be scouting out her two potential opponents (Pillay and Toker, as the GAH6 Winner would then face her for the GTA Women's Championship).
Toker made her arrival at 7:50 and started hitting with Pillay soon after as the two of them got ready for their match with one another. This led to both Marijus and Laura heading over to Court Two for some Doubles with Dino and Frank.
It was going to be Celis and Gawley going up against Kuzavas and Samara as that would be a way for the M-Dub Finalists to get more practice time teaming together as they prepare for that tourney's Final.
But when Frank saw "The Lethal Lefty" Lou La Forgia pull into the lot at 7:55, Samara called him over to Court Two to take his place instead as Frank had originally planned on watching the GAH6 Final and taking his usual notes along the way.
And then when "The Rainmaker" Richard Reicht arrived at 8pm, Celis did the same thing in letting Richard take his place on Court Two instead. Dino then joined Frank at the side of the net for the GAH6 Final which soon got underway exactly at 8:03.
Hot on the heels of the arrival of Reicht was Dennis "The Menace" Cabanatan. He soon got involved in official action when he replaced Gonzales on Court Three.
At 8:05, Tito "Touch" Castolo arrived just as "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan came across the street dressed in her street clothes. Nursing a bad case of tennis elbow, Tito looked satisfied to just ride the bench with Doinks.
But when Natalia "Nitro" Sout (his recent partner in the M-Dub Tourney) arrived just five minutes later, he soon became inspired to hit the courts and play after all.
At 8:40, "Teej" T.J. Shah and "Ragin" Rajan Shah arrived together. At this point, it was a good thing we had all four courts as they were definitely needed. Soon after, we saw a new face that we did not recognize. He sat on the bench alongside Court One for a while.
He turned out to be a friend of T.J. and Rajan. His name is Varun Patel (aka "The V.P.") and at 9pm, he was the last official competitor (the 21st) of the session.
This is now three consecutive sessions featuring 21 competitors up at Cedar Grove…quite amazing!
Even though the GAH6 Final got underway soon after 8pm, we will save it for the end of this report as it did not have time to finish…and it is the most dramatic and exciting way to finish this recap.
The Cedar Grove Results:
2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Chris Chiaro/Sairaj Srinivasan over Kris Srinivasan/Jorge Solano, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 59 and # 60 Ranked Teams respectively! No Aces. This one got started on Court One at 7:19 and ended exactly at 8:43.
Jose Gonzales/Dan Martinelli over Kevin Doyle/Levy Lorenzo, 6-2! No Aces. Court Three hosted this one from 7:35 to 8:02.
Dennis Cabanatan/Levy Lorenzo over Dan Martinelli/Kevin Doyle, 6-1! No Aces. This one also took place on Court Three and it lasted from 8:08 to 8:31.
Marijus Kuzavas/Laura Gawley over Lou La Forgia/Richard Reicht, 6-4! No Aces. This was contested on Court Two from 8:14 to 8:54.
Tito Castolo/Natalia Sout over Dennis Cabanatan/Levy Lorenzo, 7-5! No Aces. They played this on Court Three from 8:38 to 9:15.
2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Chris Chiaro/Kris Srinivasan over T.J. Shah/Rajan Shah, 6-2, 6-3, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 61 and # 62 Ranked Teams respectively! Chris: 1 Ace on Rajan in the 2nd Set! Like the previous full Doubles Match, this was played on Court One. It began at 8:54 and ended at 9:56.
Lou La Forgia/Varun Patel over Kevin Doyle/Rob Gawley, 6-2! Varun: 1 Ace on Kevin! It was the official GTA Debut of Varun Patel. They got this started on Court Two at 9pm and it finished at 9:24.
Lou La Forgia/Kevin Doyle leading Rob Gawley/Varun Patel, 5-4 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)! No Aces.
GAH6 Final Match:
Fernanda Toker leading Sally Pillay, 6-3, 5-7, 4-1 (Toker on serve at 2nd Deuce when the lights went out at 10pm)! No Aces (thus far). This one got underway on Court Four exactly at 8:03.
1st Set: Fernanda was broken (Sally hit back-to-back winners for Love-30, it was 15-30 where Sally hit another winner to set up Double Break Point and then she hit another winner for the break), Sally held serve (Sally hit a winner for 15-Love, it then went to 30-Love, shifted to 30-All, but then came Game Point and the hold) and Toker was broken again (Love-15, 15-All where Sally hit a winner for 15-30, then Double Break Point where Sally hit her most impressive winner yet for the break) to quickly find herself down 0-3 as her opponent was absolutely on fire! But then Pillay was also broken and it was at Love after she blew a volley to set up Triple Break Point and then The Argentine Machine held (30-Love, it was then 30-15 where Fernanda hit a winning lob to set up Double Game Point, it then went to Game Point, but then came the hold) to pull to 2-3. Spicy Sally was broken again (Love-30, Double Fault for Triple Break Point where Sally hit a winner to make it Double Break Point, but then came the break) and Fernanda then held again (un-returned serve for 15-Love, 15-All where Fernanda made a great get that led to 30-15, Double Game Point where Sally hit a winner to cut it to Game Point where an un-returned serve secured the hold) to take the lead for the first time at 4-3. Sally then suffered another Love break and Toker then held once more (Fernanda hit a winner for 15-Love, then at 30-Love Fernanda made a great get/winner combo to set up Triple Game/Set Point where Sally hit a winning lob to cut it down to Double Game/Set Point, but then came the hold) to take the set as she had just taken six straight games to completely shift the momentum and be one set up on her opponent at 8:37! The next set got going three minutes later.
2nd Set: Sally was broken (Sally hit a winner for 15-Love, but then it went straight to Double Break Point where Sally hit a drop shot winner for Break Point, but then came the break), Fernanda held again (an un-returned serve made it 15-Love, it was then 30-Love where Fernanda made an absolutely awesome get/volley combo to go up Triple Game Point, it went to Double Game Point where Fernanda secured her own hold with another winner) and then Pillay was broken yet again and it was once more at Love as she had hit a Double Fault to set up Love-30 along the way. Fernanda was now up 3-0 in this set, but what was more remarkable was the fact that she had now won nine straight games! Well, all good things must come to an end and so Toker was broken (Sally hit a winner for Love-15 and it was off and running to Triple Break Point, it was cut to Double Break Point where Sally hit one of her best winners yet for the break) to allow her opponent onto the scoreboard, but Spicy Sally was broken at Love yet again (Fernanda had hit a winner to set up Love-30 along the way) and now she found herself at 1-4! The Argentine Machine was broken again (an excellent rally opened the game at 15-Love and then an un-returned serve made it 30-Love, it then was 30-15 where Sally hit another one of those blistering winners to make it 30-All and then Sally hit another winner to set up Break Point where she then let a wicked return winner fly for the break) as Pillay pulled to 2-4 only to be broken at Love yet again and fall to 2-5! Fernanda was broken again (Sally hit a winner for Love-15 and then Fernanda made another one of her astounding gets which led to Sally blowing an overhead for 15-All, but then it went to 15-30 where Sally hit a winner to set up Double Break Point and then came the break) to have her lead cut to 5-3. Sally was on serve and another extended rally opened the game at 15-Love, it was 15-All where another marathon rally ended with Sally hitting a vicious winner for 30-15, then it was 30-All where Fernanda hit a winning drop shot return to set up Break/Match Point, but it went to Deuce and Sally hit a drop shot winner to set up Game Point and then she earned the hold to pull to 4-5 (saving one M.P. in the process)! Toker was broken yet again (15-Love, 15-All where Sally made an awesome get/lob combo much like Fernanda usually does and this now made it 15-30, it then went to 30-All and then Break Point saw another extended rally end with another powerful winner from Sally to get the break) to level the set at 5-5! Pillay held again (Fernanda hit a passing shot winner for Love-15 where another lengthy rally led to 15-All and then Fernanda made a great get only to have it answered by an amazing winner by Sally for 30-15 and then Sally hit an equally impressive winner to go up Double Game Point where an un-returned serve secured the hold) and The Argentine Machine was broken once more (Sally hit a net-cord aided return winner for Love-15, it was 15-All where another marathon rally led to 15-30 and then Sally hit another blast of a winner to set up Double Break/Set Point where an un-returned serve cut it down to Break/Set Point only to have Sally hit yet another winner to get the break) to drop the set and level the match at 9:30!
The players along with those nearby at the sidelines and the bench then had a group discussion to determine the best course of action. Since it was a Tournament Final, a full 3rd Set had to be played (the 10-Point Super Tiebreak was not an option). It was Marijus (Sally's husband) who was the most vocal about the ladies playing on rather than holding the entire 3rd Set for another time. During this debate, the ladies had a bit of a snack break which lasted three minutes (not helping their cause time-wise, for sure…but they needed it as exhaustion was setting in)…so the next set got started exactly at 9:33!
3rd Set: Sally held (Sally hit a big winner for 15-Love, it was 15-All where Sally hit another winner to go up 30-15, but then she blew a drop shot for 30-All only to hit a winning volley for Game Point and then she hit another winner for the hold), Fernanda held as well (Love-15 shifted to 30-15, it was 30-All where Fernanda made another great get only to have it answered by Sally with a winning Overhead Smash to set up Break Point where that rally led to Fernanda making her most impressive get/lob winning combo of the night to make it Deuce and then came Game Point and the hold), but Pillay was the first to be broken in this set (Love-15, then Love-30 where Fernanda hit an amazing blast of a return winner to set up Triple Break Point, but then an un-returned serve made it Double Break Point and then Sally hit a drop shot winner to bring it down to Break Point only to have Fernanda make another awesome get which led to her getting the break) for 1-2. Toker held again (un-returned serve for 15-Love, a winner by Sally for 15-All and then Sally blew another drop shot to make it 30-15 and it was in that next point where Fernanda made another one of her signature gets only to have Sally answer it with a winner for 30-All, but then came Game Point and the hold) to go up 3-1. Spicy Sally was then broken again (Sally hit an amazing passing shot winner for 15-Love and then another extended rally ended with yet another passing shot winner by Sally for 30-Love, it then shifted straight to Break Point where Fernanda made what may have been her best get/winner combo of the match to get the break) to fall to 1-4! The Argentine Machine was now on serve in a race against the clock to try to close out this game quickly in hopes of also doing the same with the set and match and she went up 15-Love and then hit a winner for 30-Love, but then Sally hit a whipping winner for 30-15 and then matched that with a whopper of a return winner for 30-All and then the next rally led to Sally ripping a shot that hit the top of the tape only to be denied and fall to the court on her side…the slapping impact just a couple of feet in front of Samara caused Frank to let out a Dice-like "Whoa!" and now it was Game Point in Fernanda's favor, but then it went to Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce and then lights out at 10pm!
The Skinny: The match was actually gaining in intensity as the 3rd Set grew older as both knew they were up against the clock. When Fernanda let that last service game go long and get away from her somewhat, the match's fate was sealed (in terms of it not getting completed) and Sally would live to see another day. But she is definitely up against it as this match will resume with Toker having a 4-1 lead and still being on serve at 2nd Deuce. Just two more points won can put Fernanda up 5-1…and that will be quite formidable for Pillay to face. But she did go on a five game run to come back to take the 2nd Set as she had saved a Match Point along the way…so anything is possible. It is also quite possible that once this gets finished (not yet scheduled for certain), we may be looking at another Nominee for Women's Singles Match of The Year at season's end!
Samara's Notes: What can we say…a cliffhanger ending to another awesome session at Cedar Grove that once again featured 21 different official competitors. Had I competed…had Dino played officially…we would have been looking at 23 actual players! Quite amazing, indeed!
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
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