"Kris hosts 12 (1 New) incl. Ryan-Jorge, Omar-Mole at C.G.!":
GTA Sunday Night Tennis took place at The Cedar Grove Courts (with "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan acting as the host) after an earlier rainout of The M-Dub Mixed Doubles Tournament which would have gotten started at 10am, but the overnight and early morning rains simply would not allow it.
Let's now go to the report from Kris.
The much anticipated M-Dub Tournament couldn't start with the rains have their say instead. It has been rescheduled for next Sunday as the weather seems to be good on that day, as of now. It looked like it would be a day of rest from tennis.
On hearing from Senthil Kumar showing interest to play and then with Nithin Poosala raring to swing his racquest, an e-mail was sent out to our players for a 6pm start of a session here. Mike Mole was the first to reply and then a good overall response meant some serious action despite the howling winds and the chill in the air.
The Cedar Grove Results:
Sairaj Srinivasan/Nithin Poosala over Senthil Kumar/Kris Srinivasan, 7-6 (7-2)! Sairaj: 1 Ace on Kris; and Nithin: 1 Ace on Senthil!
It was a very good match that saw a combative spirit from Nithin and Sairaj, especially after a big lead earlier in the match in our favor. Senthil played a major role to put us in the box seat with amazing rallies to some great shots by Nithin and Sairaj. It was close games in the beginning despite Sairaj double faulting away on his serve in the first game. I was broken easily to keep things balanced and at 2-All, Senthil was down serving Love-40 but single-handedly won the next three points to get to Deuce but then faced 2 more Break Points before he managed to hold his serve. This looked like to be the turning point for us, as we went on to win the next two games as well despite an Ace on each of us by Sairaj and Nithin. They were tight games and Sairaj started superbly and then there were great rallies. At 5-2, we looked to be closing out the set, but the good plays by Nithin and Sairaj paid dividends with some assist from me committing unforced errors. They went on to win the next 4 games and then it was a must-win game for us to take the match to TB. We did but in the TB, it was a clinical performance by Nithin and Sairaj to win with ease.
Greg Swierczek/Mike Mole over Kevin Doyle/Natalia Sout, 6-0! No Aces (apparently).
Greg Swierczek/Kevin Doyle over Mike Mole/Natalia Sout, 6-4! No Aces (apparently).
Greg Swierczek/Natalia Sout over Mike Mole/Kevin Doyle, 6-2! No Aces (apparently).
The last two matches were more balanced and Greg, who was a constant in all the wins tonight, was superbly assisted by Kevin in the second One-Setter and Natalia, who was brilliant in the third One-Setter they played. I was just an onlooker as I let the Nithin/Sairaj combo have another go against Senthil and Ryan Pienciak in their next match.
Senthil Kumar/Ryan Pienciak over Sairaj Srinivasan/Nithin Poosala, 6-3! No Aces (apparently).
It was yet another good match, but Sairaj dropped the ball with his double faults. Still, he had his amazing shots and kept it competitively tight with Nithin for the most part of the match. Ryan was punishing at the net and Senthil has earned himself the title of "Mr. Consistent" this season.
Nithin wanted me to pair up with him in the next One-Setter, but as Sachiko Tokuda had requested of me for her husband to play quite some time back, I let him team up with Nithin instead.
Senthil Kumar/Ryan Pienciak over Nithin Poosala/Tony Tokuda, 6-3! No Aces (apparently). It was the official GTA Debut of Tony Tokuda.
It was a close match at 3-2 in favor of Nithin and Tony as both the teams were balanced and either of them could win. Tony is a solid player and apparently is a coach as well in Wayne. It looked like Tony and Nithin might be having the slight edge, but then Ryan and Senthil proved otherwise, playing to their strengths.
Dino Celis had come just to watch and after watching the match that involved Greg and Natalia against Mole and Kevin, he left for the night without playing here. He had earlier played indoors and just came to chill out. As I was leaving, Omar Santos arrived and got to play Singles with Mike Mole.
Much earlier while Ryan was waiting for his turn, he saw Jorge Solano joining us and they got to play Singles on the other side. That result was as follows.
2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:
Ryan Pienciak over Jorge Solano, 6-0, 6-0, to successfully defend his # 19 Rank in the Intermediate Division! No Aces (apparently).
3 out of 5 Sets Challenge Match:
Mike Mole over Omar Santos, 6-0, 6-2, 6-3, to become both the New # 22 Ranked Player in the Advanced Division and the New # 5 Ranked Player in the Intermediate Division! Mike: 2 Aces (back-to-back) in the 3rd Set!
The Stealth Report: Mike was reluctant to report it because he crushed me.
Samara's Notes: I thank Omar for reporting that result and thank Kris for making me aware of it. Mike later reported it after Omar did as well. We now go to one last thought from Kris.
It turned out to be a night of decent action despite the heavy winds and chill in the air. Cheers!
Samara's Notes: I thank Kris for being the host with the most up at Cedar Grove.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
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