12/13/16:
"Frank/John host 14 at The Bubble!:"
There was just one session of GTA Tuesday Night Tennis: the Night Owls session up at The Wayne Bubble. Co-hosts and cohorts "Hollywood" Frank Samara and "Mr. Arizona" John Incognito arrived together at 8:40.
Most of the players came fast and furious soon after that. We ended up with a total of fourteen official competitors. "Drill Instructor" Don Moya was never able to get involved in any of the action.
"The Webmaster" Senthil Kumar has provided some details on his One-Setters along the way.
Let's get to those scores now.
The Wayne Bubble Results:
2 out of 3 Set Mixed Doubles Match:
Sean McHugh/Kathy Sheldon over Kevin Doyle/Dawn Peterson, 6-3, 6-2, to become the New # 31 Ranked Team in the Mixed Doubles Division! No Aces (apparently). They were the first foursome to take a court and, after a fairly lengthy hitting session, they got this underway on Court Two at 9:15. It was over by 10:40.
Chris Chiaro/Ryan Pienciak over Lou La Forgia/Senthil Kumar, 7-5! Lou: 1 Ace on Ryan. Even though these guys got out onto Court One a little later than the Mixed Doubles tandems, they also got this one started at 9:15. Not sure when it ended as it went right into this next one.
Chris Chiaro/Ryan Pienciak over Lou La Forgia/Senthil Kumar, 6-3! No Aces. Also not sure when this one got done on Court One as they then switched teams and played a third One-Setter which we will get to later in this report.
The Untangled Web by Senthil: In the first One-Setter, Ryan held one of his service games while I didn't hold my serve in either One-Setter. A couple of times he brought his service game to Deuce, but couldn't hold. Ryan played a defensive game to keep his unforced errors low. Chris and Lou had solid shot-making and made amazing winners the whole night.
John Incognito/Dennis Cabanatan over Anish Mehta/Frank Samara, 6-4! No Aces. We decided to do the changeovers, but I only took enough time to note the flow of the games (not who hit what winners when): Frank held at Love, John held serve (Triple Game Point, the hold came on Double Game Point), Dennis held (Triple Game Point was cut down to Game Point, then there was a Double Fault for Deuce, but then came another Game Point and the hold) and Anish held (Love-15 went straight to Double Game Point and the hold) as we were all on serve at 2-2. Samara was the first to be broken (15-Love shifted to 15-30, then it was 30-All, Break Point, Deuce, Break Point again and then the break), but Incognito was also broken (30-Love shifted to 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Break Point and the break) to level things again, this time at 3-3. Mehta was also broken (started with a Double Fault, 15-All, another Double Fault for 15-30, then Double Break Point and the break), but Cabanatan held again (30-Love shifted to 30-All, Game Point and then the hold) to take a 5-3 lead for his team. Hollywood fought to hold (Love-15, 15-All and then it went right to Double Break/Match Point, Break/Match Point, Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to pull to 4-5, but then Mr. Arizona held as well (Triple Game/Match Point, Double Game/Match Point, it finally ended on Game/Match Point which was the 5th M.P. overall) to earn a hard-fought victory! We played this one on Court Three from 9:44 (we only started hitting at 9:40) to 10:12.
The Skinny: This was a close contest and the true difference maker was Dennis as he was the only one to hold serve twice. He has that lefty topspin kick serve that is hard to deal with and it proves to be quite an asset.
During all the above, "Sadistic" Syed Rashid and his buddy "The Sin Man" Mike Sindler were having an extended hitting session with one another on Court Four. After the previous Doubles One-Setter, John and Frank wanted to make sure to get them involved in some official action. So we shifted over from Court Three to Court Four with Incognito opting to team with Rashid while Samara would be paired with Sindler.
This also allowed Mehta and Cabanatan the chance to face each other in Singles again (as they did in a One-Setter last Tuesday). But first...
Lou La Forgia/Ryan Pienciak over Chris Chiaro/Senthil Kumar, 6-4! Ryan: 1 Ace on Senthil. As stated earlier, not sure when this one started or finished on Court One.
The Untangled Web by Senthil: The games went as follows - 1-1, 2-1, 2-2, 3-3, 4-3, 4-4, 5-4 and then 6-4. In the last game, Chris saved so many Match Points, but my unforced errors cost us the set. I was unable to have solid returns on Lou's serves.
Samara's Notes: I thank Senthil for his contributions to this report.
Dennis Cabanatan over Anish Mehta, 6-2! No Aces. This One-Setter got started on Court Three at 10:14. It finished with the exact same score as their encounter last week. They then went into another one. Since they never stated it to be a full 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match from the get-go, we are recording this as two separate One-Setters.
Dennis Cabanatan over Anish Mehta, 6-3! Anish: 3 Aces! This second one got done on Court Three just shy of 11pm.
The Skinny: Dennis said he was happy to only get Aced three times by Anish as he has a wicked serve. In fact, Cabanatan was pleased to still have his left arm intact after returning so many of those booming serves.
Samara's Notes: The fact that Cabanatan has now defeated a top competitor like Mehta in three consecutive One-Setters tells me that Dennis deserves a shot to make the leap to the Advanced Division next year...and as early in the season as possible, preferably.
John Incognito/Syed Rashid over Frank Samara/Mike Sindler, 7-6 (8-6)! No Aces. Once again, we made the changeovers, but I only noted the flow of the games...except for a few key moments that occurred in the Tiebreak. And it went like this: Frank held at Love, John was broken at Love and Mike went up 30-Love on serve which meant his team took the first ten points of the match! It then went to 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold for a 3-0 lead. Syed was broken (Love-15, 15-All and then straight to Double Break Point and the break) to fall to 1-4 as his team had only won two of the first 18 points thus far...it looked like they were heading toward Shutout City...and fast! But then Samara was broken to allow the opposition onto the scoreboard (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point got reduced to Deuce, Break Point and the break), but Incognito was broken again (Love-15, 15-All then onto Double Break Point and the break) to fall to 1-5! Sindler was also broken (Love-15, 15-All then onto Double Break Point, but then a bounce back to Deuce, Break Point again and the break) and Rashid held (Triple Game Point, the hold came on Double Game Point) to pull to 3-5. The Wood was shockingly broken at Love and then Mr. Arizona held (30-Love, 30-15 and then Double Game Point would be cut down to Deuce, but then another Game Point and the hold) to keep things alive at 5-5! When The Sin Man was broken again (Love-15 then point for point to Break Point and the break), it meant the opposing team had just won five straight games to now take the lead at 6-5! But then Sadistic Syed was broken in an epic battle of a game (30-Love then went straight to Break Point, then Deuce and all Break Points all the way until 3rd Deuce, then Game/Match Point, 4th Deuce, another Break Point and finally the break) to seemingly lose the momentum and allow the Tiebreak! In the Breaker: Frank was broken on his lone serve and then John was broken on his first but held his second serve for a 2-1 lead. Mike held his first, but then hit a Double Fault on his second to hand a 3-2 lead over to his buddy Syed who then held the first of his two serves for 4-2 at the changeover. He was then broken on his second to cut his team's lead to 4-3. Samara then held both of his serves to bring the lead over to his team at 5-4. And then came the rally of the match which drew the attention of the other players as they were leaving the courts. It was a marathon rally that started off cautious, but grew more intense and fast-paced as it grew older and it finally ended with Incognito hitting a winning volley to hold the first of his two serves and tie things up at 5-5! But he was then broken on his second serve as he served up a 6-5 lead and Match Point to Sindler. He was broken on the first of his two serves for 6-6 at the second changeover. Then came the second best rally of the match and it once again ended in favor of Incognito/Rashid with Rashid now taking over service with a 7-6 lead and Match Point (the 3rd M.P. overall). It was another rally that looked to be developing into the third epic point of the Breaker (and the match), but was cut short when John hit a roller over the net that dropped out of reach for a winner and a heartbreaking ending for his perplexed opponents! We played this on Court Four from 10:15 to 11:16...one hour and one minute long!
The Skinny: There is no official Comeback Set of The Year Award (though we sometimes recognize such things in H-Wood's Unofficial Awards for the year), but if there were...this would be a sure nominee (perhaps the outright winner). For the first four games (maybe even the first six), Syed was going for his sweeping forehands. The only problem was that he was sweeping most of them long and off the court. The Bubble was taking a pounding from many of them. But then he dialed it in and started hitting many winners as the other three players were pretty much consistent throughout the entire contest. Rashid was the key reason for the shift of momentum (i.e. the comeback) in this one. If he can just add some more consistency to his firepower, he will become dangerous.
In a season of so many great One-Set Doubles Matches, it is hard to know if this has enough going for it to be an official Nominee. At the very least, it will garner an Honorable Mention.
And, in the end, this session was quite honorable as well...as the end of the season draws ever so near.
All the best,
Frank Samara
"Frank/John host 14 at The Bubble!:"
There was just one session of GTA Tuesday Night Tennis: the Night Owls session up at The Wayne Bubble. Co-hosts and cohorts "Hollywood" Frank Samara and "Mr. Arizona" John Incognito arrived together at 8:40.
Most of the players came fast and furious soon after that. We ended up with a total of fourteen official competitors. "Drill Instructor" Don Moya was never able to get involved in any of the action.
"The Webmaster" Senthil Kumar has provided some details on his One-Setters along the way.
Let's get to those scores now.
The Wayne Bubble Results:
2 out of 3 Set Mixed Doubles Match:
Sean McHugh/Kathy Sheldon over Kevin Doyle/Dawn Peterson, 6-3, 6-2, to become the New # 31 Ranked Team in the Mixed Doubles Division! No Aces (apparently). They were the first foursome to take a court and, after a fairly lengthy hitting session, they got this underway on Court Two at 9:15. It was over by 10:40.
Chris Chiaro/Ryan Pienciak over Lou La Forgia/Senthil Kumar, 7-5! Lou: 1 Ace on Ryan. Even though these guys got out onto Court One a little later than the Mixed Doubles tandems, they also got this one started at 9:15. Not sure when it ended as it went right into this next one.
Chris Chiaro/Ryan Pienciak over Lou La Forgia/Senthil Kumar, 6-3! No Aces. Also not sure when this one got done on Court One as they then switched teams and played a third One-Setter which we will get to later in this report.
The Untangled Web by Senthil: In the first One-Setter, Ryan held one of his service games while I didn't hold my serve in either One-Setter. A couple of times he brought his service game to Deuce, but couldn't hold. Ryan played a defensive game to keep his unforced errors low. Chris and Lou had solid shot-making and made amazing winners the whole night.
John Incognito/Dennis Cabanatan over Anish Mehta/Frank Samara, 6-4! No Aces. We decided to do the changeovers, but I only took enough time to note the flow of the games (not who hit what winners when): Frank held at Love, John held serve (Triple Game Point, the hold came on Double Game Point), Dennis held (Triple Game Point was cut down to Game Point, then there was a Double Fault for Deuce, but then came another Game Point and the hold) and Anish held (Love-15 went straight to Double Game Point and the hold) as we were all on serve at 2-2. Samara was the first to be broken (15-Love shifted to 15-30, then it was 30-All, Break Point, Deuce, Break Point again and then the break), but Incognito was also broken (30-Love shifted to 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Break Point and the break) to level things again, this time at 3-3. Mehta was also broken (started with a Double Fault, 15-All, another Double Fault for 15-30, then Double Break Point and the break), but Cabanatan held again (30-Love shifted to 30-All, Game Point and then the hold) to take a 5-3 lead for his team. Hollywood fought to hold (Love-15, 15-All and then it went right to Double Break/Match Point, Break/Match Point, Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to pull to 4-5, but then Mr. Arizona held as well (Triple Game/Match Point, Double Game/Match Point, it finally ended on Game/Match Point which was the 5th M.P. overall) to earn a hard-fought victory! We played this one on Court Three from 9:44 (we only started hitting at 9:40) to 10:12.
The Skinny: This was a close contest and the true difference maker was Dennis as he was the only one to hold serve twice. He has that lefty topspin kick serve that is hard to deal with and it proves to be quite an asset.
During all the above, "Sadistic" Syed Rashid and his buddy "The Sin Man" Mike Sindler were having an extended hitting session with one another on Court Four. After the previous Doubles One-Setter, John and Frank wanted to make sure to get them involved in some official action. So we shifted over from Court Three to Court Four with Incognito opting to team with Rashid while Samara would be paired with Sindler.
This also allowed Mehta and Cabanatan the chance to face each other in Singles again (as they did in a One-Setter last Tuesday). But first...
Lou La Forgia/Ryan Pienciak over Chris Chiaro/Senthil Kumar, 6-4! Ryan: 1 Ace on Senthil. As stated earlier, not sure when this one started or finished on Court One.
The Untangled Web by Senthil: The games went as follows - 1-1, 2-1, 2-2, 3-3, 4-3, 4-4, 5-4 and then 6-4. In the last game, Chris saved so many Match Points, but my unforced errors cost us the set. I was unable to have solid returns on Lou's serves.
Samara's Notes: I thank Senthil for his contributions to this report.
Dennis Cabanatan over Anish Mehta, 6-2! No Aces. This One-Setter got started on Court Three at 10:14. It finished with the exact same score as their encounter last week. They then went into another one. Since they never stated it to be a full 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match from the get-go, we are recording this as two separate One-Setters.
Dennis Cabanatan over Anish Mehta, 6-3! Anish: 3 Aces! This second one got done on Court Three just shy of 11pm.
The Skinny: Dennis said he was happy to only get Aced three times by Anish as he has a wicked serve. In fact, Cabanatan was pleased to still have his left arm intact after returning so many of those booming serves.
Samara's Notes: The fact that Cabanatan has now defeated a top competitor like Mehta in three consecutive One-Setters tells me that Dennis deserves a shot to make the leap to the Advanced Division next year...and as early in the season as possible, preferably.
John Incognito/Syed Rashid over Frank Samara/Mike Sindler, 7-6 (8-6)! No Aces. Once again, we made the changeovers, but I only noted the flow of the games...except for a few key moments that occurred in the Tiebreak. And it went like this: Frank held at Love, John was broken at Love and Mike went up 30-Love on serve which meant his team took the first ten points of the match! It then went to 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold for a 3-0 lead. Syed was broken (Love-15, 15-All and then straight to Double Break Point and the break) to fall to 1-4 as his team had only won two of the first 18 points thus far...it looked like they were heading toward Shutout City...and fast! But then Samara was broken to allow the opposition onto the scoreboard (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point got reduced to Deuce, Break Point and the break), but Incognito was broken again (Love-15, 15-All then onto Double Break Point and the break) to fall to 1-5! Sindler was also broken (Love-15, 15-All then onto Double Break Point, but then a bounce back to Deuce, Break Point again and the break) and Rashid held (Triple Game Point, the hold came on Double Game Point) to pull to 3-5. The Wood was shockingly broken at Love and then Mr. Arizona held (30-Love, 30-15 and then Double Game Point would be cut down to Deuce, but then another Game Point and the hold) to keep things alive at 5-5! When The Sin Man was broken again (Love-15 then point for point to Break Point and the break), it meant the opposing team had just won five straight games to now take the lead at 6-5! But then Sadistic Syed was broken in an epic battle of a game (30-Love then went straight to Break Point, then Deuce and all Break Points all the way until 3rd Deuce, then Game/Match Point, 4th Deuce, another Break Point and finally the break) to seemingly lose the momentum and allow the Tiebreak! In the Breaker: Frank was broken on his lone serve and then John was broken on his first but held his second serve for a 2-1 lead. Mike held his first, but then hit a Double Fault on his second to hand a 3-2 lead over to his buddy Syed who then held the first of his two serves for 4-2 at the changeover. He was then broken on his second to cut his team's lead to 4-3. Samara then held both of his serves to bring the lead over to his team at 5-4. And then came the rally of the match which drew the attention of the other players as they were leaving the courts. It was a marathon rally that started off cautious, but grew more intense and fast-paced as it grew older and it finally ended with Incognito hitting a winning volley to hold the first of his two serves and tie things up at 5-5! But he was then broken on his second serve as he served up a 6-5 lead and Match Point to Sindler. He was broken on the first of his two serves for 6-6 at the second changeover. Then came the second best rally of the match and it once again ended in favor of Incognito/Rashid with Rashid now taking over service with a 7-6 lead and Match Point (the 3rd M.P. overall). It was another rally that looked to be developing into the third epic point of the Breaker (and the match), but was cut short when John hit a roller over the net that dropped out of reach for a winner and a heartbreaking ending for his perplexed opponents! We played this on Court Four from 10:15 to 11:16...one hour and one minute long!
The Skinny: There is no official Comeback Set of The Year Award (though we sometimes recognize such things in H-Wood's Unofficial Awards for the year), but if there were...this would be a sure nominee (perhaps the outright winner). For the first four games (maybe even the first six), Syed was going for his sweeping forehands. The only problem was that he was sweeping most of them long and off the court. The Bubble was taking a pounding from many of them. But then he dialed it in and started hitting many winners as the other three players were pretty much consistent throughout the entire contest. Rashid was the key reason for the shift of momentum (i.e. the comeback) in this one. If he can just add some more consistency to his firepower, he will become dangerous.
In a season of so many great One-Set Doubles Matches, it is hard to know if this has enough going for it to be an official Nominee. At the very least, it will garner an Honorable Mention.
And, in the end, this session was quite honorable as well...as the end of the season draws ever so near.
All the best,
Frank Samara
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