"Shah-Ryan part of 4 at RHP, Mehta-Celis part of 16 at C.G.!":
GTA Thursday Night Tennis took place at two locations: Robin Hood Park as it featured the Grove Cup Semifinal Match between "The Sultan of Swing" Raj Shah and "Double R" Rob Ryan (Raj reported the result), but also a One-Setter between "Holy Moly" Mike Mole and "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan (Gen sent in that score) and then at The Cedar Grove Courts with "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan acting as the host and featuring a full 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Rematch between "Steppin' to the AM" Anish Mehta and "Coach" Dino Celis (Dino reported the result, but Kris also had his commentary on it).
Let's first go to the results from Raj and Gen and then get the report from Kris.
Rob and I met up at RHP to play our match at 4pm. We started around 4:25 and finished at 6:45. It was great to finish at that time, since we seem to be losing light quickly.
The RHP Results:
Grove Cup Semifinal Match:
Raj Shah over Rob Ryan, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, to successfully defend his # 2 Rank in the Advanced Division plus advance to the Finals of the Grove Cup Tournament! Raj: 2 Aces (1 in the 1st Set and 1 in the 2nd Set)!
The Sultan's Swing: It was a highly competitive match with a lot of twists and turns along the way coupled with smart, well-crafted points. I was completely spent by the end of the match. Rob is a very difficult opponent to play as he has a great tennis IQ and a variety of shots on the court. I thank Rob for accommodating my schedule to get this match done.
Gen was there hitting with Mike and they left after the 2nd Set was concluded.
Samara's Notes: I congratulate Raj on a very impressive victory and thank him for his timely reporting. I also offer kudos to Rob for a hard-fought effort. It sounds like these two may have once again come together to produce another possible Nominee for Singles Match of the Year at season's end.
And Raj provides us with the perfect segue to the score from Gen.
Mike Mole over Genalin Capan, 6-3! Mike: 3 Aces! We played this from 4:30 to 5pm.
Samara's Notes: I thank Gen for her very timely reporting as well. We now turn this report over to The K and let him take it away!
It was a lovely night for GTA Tennis and we got to see a decent amount of action on The Cedar Grove Tennis Courts featuring both Singles and Doubles matches all through the night. The highlight of the night was the Singles Challenge Match between Dino and Anish (and, of course, the earlier Grove Cup Semifinal between Raj Shah and Rob Ryan in Clifton).
The Cedar Grove Results:
Sairaj Srinivasan/Nithin Poosala over Joe Rodrigues/Christine Toth, 7-6 (7-3)! No Aces (apparently).
It was a very close and compelling match that saw Nithin, back in action after being away for a while, playing with Sairaj. Joe and Christine threatened to take the match away giving a good fight of it. It was a solid match that could have gone either way.
2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:
Dino Celis over Anish Mehta, 6-4, 7-5, to become the New # 9 Ranked Player in the Advanced Division! Anish: 4 Aces (2 in each set)!
From The Coach's Clipboard: We played from 7:45 to 9:20. He was up 4-1 in the 1st Set, but I was able to battle back to take it. The 2nd Set went down to the wire, but I managed to stay calm and execute my shots. It was a tough match with lots of great rallies and volleys.
The K has his say: It was a great win for Dino and a tough loss for Anish, especially after leading in both sets significantly to then not be able to close it out. Anish got to warm up by hitting the ball with Doinks before the match. As per Doinks, Anish was packing his shots with sheer power and looked deadly. He was for sure leading 4-1 in the 1st Set before Dino weathered the storm. I believe he was leading handily in the 2nd Set, too, before another comeback by Dino frustrated Anish and then he got tentative. Dino felt if Anish had played aggressively and kept believing in his game, he could have turned things back around in his favor. Despite the result, Anish gave Dino a good run.
Chris Chiaro/Natalie Guzman over Joe Rodrigues/Nithin Poosala, 7-6 (7-5)! No Aces (apparently).
This was another exciting match that went the distance. Chris was his usual aggressive self and he was superbly supported by Natalie. I got to watch some of Natalie's shots, both forehand and backhand. She was playing incredibly well. Joe and Nithin were no slouches either as they were pretty good themselves displaying great gets and lovely stroke-making.
2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Raj Shah/Mike Kazlauskas over Kris Srinivasan/Jordan Bachvaroff, 6-4, 6-2, to become the New # 48 Ranked Team in the Doubles Division! Raj: 2 Aces on Jordan in the 1st Set; and Mike: 1 Ace on Kris in the 2nd Set!
We started off very well, but failed to keep up our level of play as the match progressed. We did miss out on some opportunities, but also did well to break Raj in one of his service games after Raj was leading 40-Love. Kaz had some amazing serves, but it was Raj who picked up his serves to the next level as he aced Jordan twice in the same game!
The 2nd Set was a bummer of sorts as our level dropped and our backs were against the wall throughout the set. It proved to be too costly when I missed a few easy put-away shots at crucial times.
Edwin Ortega tied with Sukumar Mitra, 3-3 (scrapped to play Doubles instead)! No Aces (apparently).
As all the others were involved in Doubles, Edwin and Kumar played Singles only to scrap it (at least twice) to accommodate Doubles action.
Edwin Ortega/Richard Reicht over Sukumar Mitra/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-4! No Aces (apparently).
It was a close match where Doinks felt that her team was in a good position to win, but managed to let the other team see the finish line instead.
Kris Srinivasan/Edwin Ortega over Sukumar Mitra/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-4! Edwin: 1 Ace on Kumar!
Edwin played well, especially his serves. Kumar was attacking, especially in the beginning, but the law of averages caught up with him quickly...:-).
Kris Srinivasan/Edwin Ortega over Nithin Poosala/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-3! No Aces.
It was good to play against Nithin after quite some time. Edwin played proper shots and did well again on his serves. He got to some of the balls very well and Nithin and Doinks were not getting free points. Doinks played the deep shots well, but also ended up feeding me at the net every now and then. There was good play at the net by Nithin that also saw a smoking overhead punch that went to the fence.
Overall, it was a great night full of non-stop brisk action! Cheers!
Samara's Notes: As always, The K Man is the man with a plan up at Cedar Grove! We appreciate all he does for our league there.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
No comments:
Post a Comment