4/30/17:
"Norm/Tito-Ryan/Nick part of 17 (1 new) at AP, 11 play at C.G.!":
This Sunday featured two sessions of GTA Sunday Tennis: "Hollywood" Frank Samara hosted the morning session at Albion Park in Clifton (and it started earlier than 9am as "The A-Bomb" Andrew Truong and "Eddie O" Edwin Ortega kicked things off with two Singles One-Setters...and later a third...before The Main Event - GTA Doubles Championship Match between The Champs: "Stormin" Norman Taclob and Tito "Touch" Castolo and the Top Contenders: "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak and "Chito" Nick Inciong) and then "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan hosted a late-afternoon into evening session at The Cedar Grove Courts.
Before we get to that later session, let's first discuss how the first session unfolded.
Samara pulled up to the courts at 9:30am. He saw two of the three courts were already occupied. On the Center Court were two interlopers having a hitting session. And on the North Court, Castolo was warming up by hitting with Ortega. At this time, Truong reported the earlier results to Frank while Pienciak was on his back doing some yoga-style stretches. Soon after, Ryan took Edwin's place in hitting against Tito.
Inciong then arrived at 9:35 and soon joined the hitting session taking his partner's side.
Five minutes later, Taclob, "The Vin Man" Vinnie De Benedetto and Natalia "Nitro" Sout all separately headed down the hill and onto the courts. At the same time, Truong and Ortega headed down to the South Court to play a third One-Setter with one another (they had been willing to cut it to just a half-set to allow others to join them for Doubles, but Vin and Natalia were quite content to be spectators for the GTA Doubles Championship Match soon to unfold).
The epic battle got underway on the North Court at exactly 9:52. Eleven minutes later, Truong and Ortega finished that third One-Setter and came over to the North Court to join the crowd enthralled in the match.
It proved to be a mistake to not hold onto that court, however, as two young teenagers (they may have been twins) took over the South Court at 10:15. To top it off, they played horrendous tennis, took lengthy breaks (once asked if they were done, they said they were not and then dragged things on some more) and they ended up sticking around until 11:40. Thankfully, the other two left Center Court at 10:25 or else this session would have been a complete disaster!
At 10:25. "Big George" Jorge Solano, "Sadistic" Syed Rashid and GTA Champion: "King Crush" Chris Chiaro all made their way down to the courts separately. When Omar "Stealth" Santos arrived just five minutes later, Chiaro was also quite content to allow the other three guys to get some Doubles with Sout while he could witness the ongoing war between the top two teams in the league.
At 10:35, "Coach" Dino Celis arrived to begin a very extended cameo appearance (he is scheduled for meniscus surgery this coming Tuesday). Five minutes later, "Instant" Moka Pathan also made his way toward the courts.
At 10:45, "Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli did the same. And another five minutes later, "Bee Gee" Brad Gero came down the hill with a friend of his. His name is Mark Grammer (don't call him Kelsey! LOL!) and now we had a logjam situation as the two runts continued to run amuck on the South Court!
At 11:15, "The Chef" Sukumar Mitra made his way toward the courts after a fairly lengthy absence away from them (nobody had responded to his Open Challenge for some GTA Tennis on Friday morning, but he managed to play up at Cedar Grove on Saturday night). Had he not played this Sunday, he would have been eliminated from the GTA Rankings for inactivity. He got in just under the wire!
And at 11:35, "RK Fire" Rafaelo Kazakov was the final arrival of the day...giving us a total of 17 official competitors which is still fairly impressive, especially when one considers the gray and cool conditions.
Now, let's get to the scores!
The Albion Park Results:
Andrew Truong over Edwin Ortega, 6-2! No Aces.
Andrew Truong over Edwin Ortega, 6-4! No Aces.
Andrew Truong over Edwin Ortega, 6-1! No Aces.
The Skinny: The reason why this could not have been constructed as a Challenge Match is because Truong is still an active contender in the ongoing GTA Intermediate Invitational Tournament.
GTA Doubles Championship Match:
Norman Taclob/Tito Castolo over Ryan Pienciak/Nick Inciong, 6-4, 6-4, to complete their first successful GTA Doubles Championship defense of their first reign! No Aces.
1st Set: Ryan held serve (Love-15 where Nick then hit back-to-back passing shot winners to shift the score to 30-15, it was then 30-All where Tito blew an overhead to set up Game Point and then came the hold), Norman held at Love as he sandwiched a winner between two un-returned serves along the way, but Nick was the first to be broken (Norm blew a volley for 15-Love, Tito made a great get that led to 15-All, then a Double Fault for 15-30 where Norm blew another volley to make it 30-All, but then it went to Break Point where Tito nailed a winner for the break) to go down 1-2. Tito held (15-Love where Norm blew a volley for 15-All, then 30-15 where Norm blew yet another volley for 30-All, Game Point and the hold) to take a 3-1 lead for his team, but Pienciak held again (he scorched a Backhand Volley winner for 15-Love and then scored with a truly un-returnable serve for 30-Love and then Norm blew yet another volley to set up Triple Game Point, the hold then came on Double Game Point) to pull to 2-3, but Taclob also held again (Love-15 was where Tito hit a winning volley for 15-All and then came the best rally of the match up until that point where Tito ended it with a spectacular winning volley for 30-15, but then came a Double Fault for 30-All to be followed with an un-returned serve to set up Game Point, then Deuce and a truly un-returnable serve to set up another Game Point and that was where Tito hit yet another winning volley to secure his partner's hold) to go up 4-2. Inciong held this time around (Love-15, an un-returned serve for 15-All and then Tito blew a volley to make it 30-15, but then Ryan blew an overhead for 30-All, a Double Fault for Break Point and then it went to Deuce where another awesome extended rally ended with a wicked winner from Nick to set up Game Point and then Ryan secured his partner's hold with a winning volley) to pull to 3-4, but Castolo held again (Norm hit a winning Backhand Volley for 15-Love, Ryan hit a winning Overhead Smash for 15-All, then it was 30-15, 30-All and Game Point where Ryan blew a volley which allowed the hold) to go up 5-3! The Lumberjack held a third straight time despite starting off with a Double Fault as he then hit a truly un-returnable serve for 15-All which was followed by another un-returned serve for 30-15 and then he let loose with his usual "loose cannon" style Overhead Smash winner to set up Double Game Point and then came the hold to pull to 4-5, but Stormin' Norman also held a third straight time (Tito scored with an Overhead Smash winner almost as monstrous as what Ryan normally delivers to go up 15-Love and then another excellent rally led to 30-Love to be followed by an even great volley which saw Ryan unleash his Lumberjack-style chopping volley winner for 30-15 to be followed by still another awesome extended rally to make it 30-All which is where Norm blew a volley to set up Break Point only to answer that with an amazing passing shot winner to bring it back to Deuce and then Tito hit what must be described as a winning drop shot volley to set up Game/Set Point where Norm cooked up an even more impressive passing shot winner for the hold) to take the set! North Court hosted this set which got underway at 9:52 and ended exactly at 10:27. The only difference between the two teams was one lone break of serve. Three minutes later, the next set got underway.
2nd Set: Nick held (Norm blew a volley for 15-Love, but then Ryan blew a volley for 15-All only to have Norm blow another volley to make it 30-15 which was where Ryan blew another volley for 30-All and then Nick ended that exchange by hitting a winner to set up Game Point where Ryan scored with a walloping Overhead Smash winner to secure his partner's hold), Norman held (un-returned serve for 15-Love which was where Nick hit a roller over the tape winner for 15-All which was answered with a truly un-returnable serve for 30-15 and then Ryan blew a volley to set up Double Game Point, then there was a Double Fault to make it Game Point where Tito scorched a sizzling Overhead Smash winner to secure his partner's hold), Ryan held (Nick hit a winner for 15-Love, but then Norm hit a winning volley for 15-All and then Tito hit a winning Overhead Smash for 15-30 which was where Nick hit a winning volley for 30-All and then Tito blew an overhead to set up Game Point and then came the hold), but Tito was the first to be broken in this set (Ryan hit a scintillating volley winner for Love-15 and then Norm blew a volley for Love-30, it was then 15-30 where Tito also blew a volley to set up Double Break Point, it was then Break Point where Tito hit a winning volley to make it Deuce only to have Norm blow another volley for Break Point and then came the break) to go down 1-3! Inciong was also broken (started with a Double Fault, then Love-30 and Triple Break Point where Ryan hit yet another vicious volley winner to make it Double Break Point, but then another Double Fault sealed the deal on this service) to have his team's lead cut to 3-2, but then Taclob was also broken (Tito hit a winning Overhead Smash for 15-Love, Double Fault for 15-All, then an excellent rally led to 15-30 which was where Nick scored with a sweet passing shot winner to make it Double Break Point, but then Ryan blew an overhead to cut it to Break Point which was where Tito blew a volley to allow the break) to fall to 2-4. Pienciak was now broken...and now each player had been broken at least once with just Inciong now having been broken twice (Norm hit a big-time Overhead Smash winner for Love-15 and then yet another amazing rally led to 15-All, it was 15-30 where Tito hit a winning Overhead Smash to set up Double Break Point, but then it shifted to Deuce where Tito hit a passing shot winner for Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point yet again and then the break) and then Castolo held (Ryan hit a winning return for Love-15, but then Nick blew an overhead for 15-All and then the game kept going straight to Double Game Point and the hold) to knot the score at 4-4! Chito was broken a third time overall and this one was a true struggle (Ryan hit yet another venomous volley winner for 15-Love, it then went to 30-Love only to shift to 30-All where Nick hit another of his precise and poisonous passing shot winners to set up Game Point, but then it went to Deuce where Ryan hit a winning Overhead Smash for Game Point again, then 2nd Deuce where Tito hit a winning return to make it Break Point, but then Tito blew a volley for 3rd Deuce, it went to Break Point again, then 4th Deuce where another whopper of an Overhead Smash winner by Ryan now set up Game Point, but then came 5th Deuce where Ryan blew a volley to set up Break Point only for Ryan to unleash yet another wicked Overhead Smash winner to bring it to 6th Deuce, but then came Break Point and the break) for 4-5 and then The Storm held (Tito hit a winning Overhead Smash for 15-Love where Norm blew yet another volley to make it 15-All which was where Norm hit a roller over the net winner to go up 30-15 where an un-returned serve set up Double Game/Match Point which was where Ryan hit another chop volley winner to bring it down to Game/Match Point only to have yet another un-returned serve secure the hold) for an impressive and hard-fought straight-set victory as this one ended at 11:15!
The Skinny: This was the first time that Norm had played this season as he is now the father of two little ones. In fact, much like Mitra, he would also soon be nearing an inactivity elimination (though he still had some time to go having played a Non-Title Match late last fall). And like "The Sultan of Swing" Raj Shah the week before, the rust resulted in some errors (several blown volleys in Norm's case), but more often than not it was just a lack of confidence to hit solid Overhead Smashes or to be just a little off with the timing. What Taclob did do quite well despite the long layoff was serve strong and hit impressive ground-strokes from both sides. Tito was his usual "Prince of Poisonous Placement" as he had so much control of the ball (save a few atypical errors) and he was able to carry his team through the points and games where perhaps Norm was losing some focus and/or lacking some confidence. On the other side of the net, Ryan was a great force at the net for a second straight week...even if it did not always lead to game wins for his team. Nick was not quite as steady as he usually is and his failure to hold serve on three different occasions was the true difference-maker in this match. Still, both teams gave a great accounting of themselves and each entertained those that were watching. Despite it being a straight-set affair, due to the high quality of the on-court action and the overall drama that accompanied it all...this has a chance at being a Nominee for Doubles Match of The Year at season's end.
The Consequences: Taclob/Castolo are now free to defend their Titles against any team ranked in the Doubles Division until they are told to hold off once the upcoming M2 Men's Doubles Tournament is announced...but that won't happen until greater progress is made in the ongoing GTA Intermediate Invitational Tournament.
Omar Santos/Syed Rashid over Jorge Solano/Natalia Sout, 6-1! No Aces. They played this on Center Court from 10:44 to 11:20.
Chris Chiaro/Moka Pathan over Dan Martinelli/Vinnie De Benedetto, 6-0! No Aces. It should be noted that Vin was the one to pick the teams. When Spin and Vin won the rally for serve and the first point of the match, they knew they should go out on a high note...but they couldn't. Instead, this one lasted all of just 19 minutes on the North Court (11:17 to 11:36)!
Sukumar Mitra/Ryan Pienciak over Brad Gero/Mark Grammer, 6-0! No Aces. It was the official GTA Debut of Mark Grammer. Center Court hosted this one from 11:33 to 11:53.
Omar Santos/Jorge Solano over Rafaelo Kazakov/Syed Rashid, 6-1! Omar: 1 Ace on Rafaelo. They got this one underway on the North Court at 11:45, but I'm not sure when it was finished. I do know that Rafaelo took a hard fall in this one. He almost ended up on the corner of Center Court when he crashed face-first into the court's surface. To his credit, he got up and brushed himself off...took a little time to catch his breath and clear the cobwebs before returning to action.
Chris Chiaro/Vinnie De Benedetto over Moka Pathan/Frank Samara, 6-1! No Aces. The dirty lowdown: Frank was broken (Chris hit a wicked winner for Love-15, 15-All but then Moka blew a volley on the way to Double Break Point where Vin blew a volley to make it Break Point, but then came the break) and then Chris held (Love-15 shifted straight to Double Game Point as Vin hit a winning volley along the way and then he hit a winning Backhand Volley to secure his partner's hold) for a quick 2-0 lead. Moka held serve (Moka hit a winning volley for 30-Love and then Vin blew a volley to set up Triple Game Point where Chris hit another crushing winner to reduce that to Double Game Point, but then came the hold) for 1-2. Vinnie held (Love-15 shifted straight to Double Game Point where Frank hit a roller over the net which led to Game Point and then Moka hit a winning Overhead Smash to make it Deuce which was where Vin hit a roller over the tape winner to set up Game Point and then came the hold), but Samara was broken again (Chris hit another rocket of a winner for Love-30, then Moka hit a winning Overhead Smash for 15-30, then it was Double Break Point where Vin blew an overhead on the way to Deuce, then another Break Point and then the break) to fall to 1-4. Chiaro held again (Frank blew a volley for 15-Love, then Vin blew a volley to start the shift to 15-30 which was where an un-returned serve once again reversed the momentum as it went to Game Point, Deuce and then all Break Points until 3rd Deuce, Game Point, 4th Deuce, Game Point and the hold) and then Pathan was broken (Double Fault for Love-30, 15-30 where Vin hit a winning volley to set up Double Break/Match Point which was where Chris hit a killer of a winner for the break) to get the "L!" We played this on the South Court from 11:45 to 12:11.
Sukumar Mitra/Ryan Pienciak over Brad Gero/Mark Grammer, 6-1! No Aces. Center Court hosted this one from 11:54 to 12:10.
Ryan Pienciak/Brad Gero over Sukumar Mitra/Mark Grammer, 6-2! Ryan: 1 Ace on Mark. They switched up the teams (not the court) as this one was also played on Center Court (started exactly at 12:11, but not sure when it ended).
Chris Chiaro/Dan Martinelli over Moka Pathan/Frank Samara, 6-2! No Aces. Here's the breakdown: Moka was broken (15-Love where Chris hit a victimizing volley winner for 15-All, then 15-30 and a Double Fault to set up Double Break Point, the break came on Break Point) and Chris held (a winning volley by Chris was sandwiched between two un-returned serves to set up Triple Game Point, it was then on Double Game Point where Chris hit a winning volley to secure his own hold) for 2-0. Frank was broken (Spin hit a winner to make it Love-30, then it went to Triple Break Point before it was cut down to Deuce as Frank hit a winner and an un-returned serve along the way and then it was all Break Points until 3rd Deuce, Game Point, 4th Deuce, Break Point as Chris always hit a winning Overhead Smash on every Deuce that was then converted to Break Point) and then Spin held (a Chris winner was sandwiched between un-returned serves, the last one being truly un-returnable on the way to Triple Game Point, then it was Double Game Point where another un-returned serve secured the hold) to jump out to a 4-0 lead! Pathan held (an un-returned serve made it 30-Love which was where Chris hit a winner for 30-15, but then another un-returned serve set up Double Game Point where Frank blew his patented Windmill Overhead Smash to cut the lead down to Game Point, but then came the hold) to get onto the scoreboard, but then Chiaro held again...though this time it was a battle (Frank hit a winning Overhead Smash for Love-15 and then Spin hit a winning Overhead Smash for 15-All and it continued point for point to Break Point, then Deuce and all Game Points until 3rd Deuce, Break Point, 4th Deuce, Game Point and a wizardly winner from Chris for the hold...and I couldn't remember who hit what other winners once it went to Deuce) to increase his team's lead to 5-1! Samara held (15-Love where Chris hit the volley/drop shot winner combo much like Tito did earlier in the day to make it 15-All, but then it was straight to Double Game Point with an un-returned serve along the way and then came the hold) to pull to 2-5, but Martinelli then held again (Love-15 shifted straight to Double Game/Match Point as Moka blew an overhead and Chris hit a winner along the way and that was where the hold came) to get the win! We played this one on the South Court from 12:15 to 12:50.
Omar Santos/Syed Rashid over Rafaelo Kazakov/Vinnie De Benedetto, 6-0! No Aces. This one was played on the North Court from 12:35 to 12:55.
Brad Gero over Mark Grammer, 6-2! Brad: 1 Ace. Not sure when this one began on Center Court (it came hot on the heels of the previous Doubles One-Setter on this court) and not sure when it ended either as...
Spin, Dino and Frank all decided to leave at 12:55 and the above Singles One-Setter was still in progress. Meanwhile, the following Singles One-Setter was just getting underway on the South Court.
Chris Chiaro over Moka Pathan, 6-4! No Aces.
Samara's Notes: I thank both Brad and Chris for sending in the above scores via text. We now take it up to Cedar Grove and turn this report over to Kris.
GTA Sunday Night Tennis at Cedar Grove was a marathon session that stretched from 4:30 to 10pm!
After the Albion Park AM to PM session, I figured I was done for the day. However, Kris Srinivasan sent a text that people were gathering at CG for an early evening installment of CG tennis. I decided to pass.
A second text from Dino Celis informed me that GTA contingent was still at Cedar Grove at around 7:30. That was enough to motivate me to get in the car and head up to Cedar Grove.
Upon my arrival, "Coach" Dino Celis was giving instruction to Doinks Srinivasan as Mike Mole and Kris Srinivasan battled Don Moya and Janice Wang. It was a bit chilly and the T-shirt and shorts I wore were not cutting it.
Their match soon ended and Don and Janice took a break and photographed and examined the indigenous life at Cedar Grove. An enormous male mosquito perched himself on the fence. This bugger was huge. We also learned that Mike Mole is a part-time entomologist as he observed and classified the insect. Maybe his new moniker should be "Mr Science!"
I, Dan Martinelli, could not help putting in my two cents in as I told the crowd that it's the females that are the Draculas of the mosquito species. Janice got some really nice photos of the winged wonder.
This allowed for a battle between Mike and Doinks vs. Spin and Kris. At first, Mike said he was done after playing 6 sets of tennis. I told him I would do all the running if he and I teamed up. Kris decided for the sake of a happy family life, Doinks would team with Mike and Kris would team with Spin.
After this, there was one last epic battle with Doinks and Don facing Janice and Kris.
But first, here are the scores given to me from Kris before I arrived.
The Cedar Grove Results:
Laura Gawley/Brenda Jordan over Sairaj Srinivasan/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-3! No Aces (apparently).
Kris Srinivasan/Brenda Jordan over Mike Mole/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-4! Mike: 1 Ace on Brenda.
Mike Mole/Alex Roumi over Kris Srinivasan/Melvin Hyman, 6-4! No Aces.
Don Moya/Doinks Srinivasan over Mike Mole/Janice Wang, 6-4! No Aces (apparently).
Mike Mole/Janice Wang over Kris Srinivasan/Don Moya, 6-3! No Aces.
Kris Srinivasan/Mike Mole over Don Moya/Janice Wang, 6-3! No Aces.
Kris Srinivasan/Alex Roumi leading Mike Mole/Doinks Srinivasan, 2-1 (Incomplete when Alex had to depart)! No Aces.
Kris Srinivasan/Dan Martinelli over Mike Mole/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-3! Spin: 1 Ace on Mike.
The Spin From Spin: After winning the opportunity to serve, Kris wanted to see The Spin Doctor notch a few Aces. Before getting ready to deliver the first serve, Spin asked, "First in?" Doinks snapped back, "You played this morning so no first in!" Spin promptly delivered his first and only Ace to start it off, much to the delight of Kris. Everyone had their moments both good and bad, however Kris's serve found its mark to close out the set. Thanks to Mike for playing one more time.
Kris Srinivasan/Janice Wang over Don Moya/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-4! Don: 1 Ace on Kris.
The Spin From Spin: An epic battle, indeed! Don's serve is a thing of beauty. Just as beautiful is Janice's two-handed backhand which is accurate as well as devastating. That backhand proved the be the shot that sealed the deal in this contest. This match was waged with Spin and Dino looking on. Everyone had their brilliant moments as well as a few misfires. However, the match was fun to watch and the laughter and smiles were aplenty. The biggest shots came when Janice hit two of the sweetest backhand winners right on the corner to close out the contest. The amount of people present was low, but the action and fun were off the charts!
dmartinell@aol.com

Samara's Notes: Thanks to Spin for acting as host and providing us with this report and also kudos to Kris for the early assist.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com
862-596-3354
"Norm/Tito-Ryan/Nick part of 17 (1 new) at AP, 11 play at C.G.!":
This Sunday featured two sessions of GTA Sunday Tennis: "Hollywood" Frank Samara hosted the morning session at Albion Park in Clifton (and it started earlier than 9am as "The A-Bomb" Andrew Truong and "Eddie O" Edwin Ortega kicked things off with two Singles One-Setters...and later a third...before The Main Event - GTA Doubles Championship Match between The Champs: "Stormin" Norman Taclob and Tito "Touch" Castolo and the Top Contenders: "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak and "Chito" Nick Inciong) and then "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan hosted a late-afternoon into evening session at The Cedar Grove Courts.
Before we get to that later session, let's first discuss how the first session unfolded.
Samara pulled up to the courts at 9:30am. He saw two of the three courts were already occupied. On the Center Court were two interlopers having a hitting session. And on the North Court, Castolo was warming up by hitting with Ortega. At this time, Truong reported the earlier results to Frank while Pienciak was on his back doing some yoga-style stretches. Soon after, Ryan took Edwin's place in hitting against Tito.
Inciong then arrived at 9:35 and soon joined the hitting session taking his partner's side.
Five minutes later, Taclob, "The Vin Man" Vinnie De Benedetto and Natalia "Nitro" Sout all separately headed down the hill and onto the courts. At the same time, Truong and Ortega headed down to the South Court to play a third One-Setter with one another (they had been willing to cut it to just a half-set to allow others to join them for Doubles, but Vin and Natalia were quite content to be spectators for the GTA Doubles Championship Match soon to unfold).
The epic battle got underway on the North Court at exactly 9:52. Eleven minutes later, Truong and Ortega finished that third One-Setter and came over to the North Court to join the crowd enthralled in the match.
It proved to be a mistake to not hold onto that court, however, as two young teenagers (they may have been twins) took over the South Court at 10:15. To top it off, they played horrendous tennis, took lengthy breaks (once asked if they were done, they said they were not and then dragged things on some more) and they ended up sticking around until 11:40. Thankfully, the other two left Center Court at 10:25 or else this session would have been a complete disaster!
At 10:25. "Big George" Jorge Solano, "Sadistic" Syed Rashid and GTA Champion: "King Crush" Chris Chiaro all made their way down to the courts separately. When Omar "Stealth" Santos arrived just five minutes later, Chiaro was also quite content to allow the other three guys to get some Doubles with Sout while he could witness the ongoing war between the top two teams in the league.
At 10:35, "Coach" Dino Celis arrived to begin a very extended cameo appearance (he is scheduled for meniscus surgery this coming Tuesday). Five minutes later, "Instant" Moka Pathan also made his way toward the courts.
At 10:45, "Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli did the same. And another five minutes later, "Bee Gee" Brad Gero came down the hill with a friend of his. His name is Mark Grammer (don't call him Kelsey! LOL!) and now we had a logjam situation as the two runts continued to run amuck on the South Court!
At 11:15, "The Chef" Sukumar Mitra made his way toward the courts after a fairly lengthy absence away from them (nobody had responded to his Open Challenge for some GTA Tennis on Friday morning, but he managed to play up at Cedar Grove on Saturday night). Had he not played this Sunday, he would have been eliminated from the GTA Rankings for inactivity. He got in just under the wire!
And at 11:35, "RK Fire" Rafaelo Kazakov was the final arrival of the day...giving us a total of 17 official competitors which is still fairly impressive, especially when one considers the gray and cool conditions.
Now, let's get to the scores!
The Albion Park Results:
Andrew Truong over Edwin Ortega, 6-2! No Aces.
Andrew Truong over Edwin Ortega, 6-4! No Aces.
Andrew Truong over Edwin Ortega, 6-1! No Aces.
The Skinny: The reason why this could not have been constructed as a Challenge Match is because Truong is still an active contender in the ongoing GTA Intermediate Invitational Tournament.
GTA Doubles Championship Match:
Norman Taclob/Tito Castolo over Ryan Pienciak/Nick Inciong, 6-4, 6-4, to complete their first successful GTA Doubles Championship defense of their first reign! No Aces.
1st Set: Ryan held serve (Love-15 where Nick then hit back-to-back passing shot winners to shift the score to 30-15, it was then 30-All where Tito blew an overhead to set up Game Point and then came the hold), Norman held at Love as he sandwiched a winner between two un-returned serves along the way, but Nick was the first to be broken (Norm blew a volley for 15-Love, Tito made a great get that led to 15-All, then a Double Fault for 15-30 where Norm blew another volley to make it 30-All, but then it went to Break Point where Tito nailed a winner for the break) to go down 1-2. Tito held (15-Love where Norm blew a volley for 15-All, then 30-15 where Norm blew yet another volley for 30-All, Game Point and the hold) to take a 3-1 lead for his team, but Pienciak held again (he scorched a Backhand Volley winner for 15-Love and then scored with a truly un-returnable serve for 30-Love and then Norm blew yet another volley to set up Triple Game Point, the hold then came on Double Game Point) to pull to 2-3, but Taclob also held again (Love-15 was where Tito hit a winning volley for 15-All and then came the best rally of the match up until that point where Tito ended it with a spectacular winning volley for 30-15, but then came a Double Fault for 30-All to be followed with an un-returned serve to set up Game Point, then Deuce and a truly un-returnable serve to set up another Game Point and that was where Tito hit yet another winning volley to secure his partner's hold) to go up 4-2. Inciong held this time around (Love-15, an un-returned serve for 15-All and then Tito blew a volley to make it 30-15, but then Ryan blew an overhead for 30-All, a Double Fault for Break Point and then it went to Deuce where another awesome extended rally ended with a wicked winner from Nick to set up Game Point and then Ryan secured his partner's hold with a winning volley) to pull to 3-4, but Castolo held again (Norm hit a winning Backhand Volley for 15-Love, Ryan hit a winning Overhead Smash for 15-All, then it was 30-15, 30-All and Game Point where Ryan blew a volley which allowed the hold) to go up 5-3! The Lumberjack held a third straight time despite starting off with a Double Fault as he then hit a truly un-returnable serve for 15-All which was followed by another un-returned serve for 30-15 and then he let loose with his usual "loose cannon" style Overhead Smash winner to set up Double Game Point and then came the hold to pull to 4-5, but Stormin' Norman also held a third straight time (Tito scored with an Overhead Smash winner almost as monstrous as what Ryan normally delivers to go up 15-Love and then another excellent rally led to 30-Love to be followed by an even great volley which saw Ryan unleash his Lumberjack-style chopping volley winner for 30-15 to be followed by still another awesome extended rally to make it 30-All which is where Norm blew a volley to set up Break Point only to answer that with an amazing passing shot winner to bring it back to Deuce and then Tito hit what must be described as a winning drop shot volley to set up Game/Set Point where Norm cooked up an even more impressive passing shot winner for the hold) to take the set! North Court hosted this set which got underway at 9:52 and ended exactly at 10:27. The only difference between the two teams was one lone break of serve. Three minutes later, the next set got underway.
2nd Set: Nick held (Norm blew a volley for 15-Love, but then Ryan blew a volley for 15-All only to have Norm blow another volley to make it 30-15 which was where Ryan blew another volley for 30-All and then Nick ended that exchange by hitting a winner to set up Game Point where Ryan scored with a walloping Overhead Smash winner to secure his partner's hold), Norman held (un-returned serve for 15-Love which was where Nick hit a roller over the tape winner for 15-All which was answered with a truly un-returnable serve for 30-15 and then Ryan blew a volley to set up Double Game Point, then there was a Double Fault to make it Game Point where Tito scorched a sizzling Overhead Smash winner to secure his partner's hold), Ryan held (Nick hit a winner for 15-Love, but then Norm hit a winning volley for 15-All and then Tito hit a winning Overhead Smash for 15-30 which was where Nick hit a winning volley for 30-All and then Tito blew an overhead to set up Game Point and then came the hold), but Tito was the first to be broken in this set (Ryan hit a scintillating volley winner for Love-15 and then Norm blew a volley for Love-30, it was then 15-30 where Tito also blew a volley to set up Double Break Point, it was then Break Point where Tito hit a winning volley to make it Deuce only to have Norm blow another volley for Break Point and then came the break) to go down 1-3! Inciong was also broken (started with a Double Fault, then Love-30 and Triple Break Point where Ryan hit yet another vicious volley winner to make it Double Break Point, but then another Double Fault sealed the deal on this service) to have his team's lead cut to 3-2, but then Taclob was also broken (Tito hit a winning Overhead Smash for 15-Love, Double Fault for 15-All, then an excellent rally led to 15-30 which was where Nick scored with a sweet passing shot winner to make it Double Break Point, but then Ryan blew an overhead to cut it to Break Point which was where Tito blew a volley to allow the break) to fall to 2-4. Pienciak was now broken...and now each player had been broken at least once with just Inciong now having been broken twice (Norm hit a big-time Overhead Smash winner for Love-15 and then yet another amazing rally led to 15-All, it was 15-30 where Tito hit a winning Overhead Smash to set up Double Break Point, but then it shifted to Deuce where Tito hit a passing shot winner for Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point yet again and then the break) and then Castolo held (Ryan hit a winning return for Love-15, but then Nick blew an overhead for 15-All and then the game kept going straight to Double Game Point and the hold) to knot the score at 4-4! Chito was broken a third time overall and this one was a true struggle (Ryan hit yet another venomous volley winner for 15-Love, it then went to 30-Love only to shift to 30-All where Nick hit another of his precise and poisonous passing shot winners to set up Game Point, but then it went to Deuce where Ryan hit a winning Overhead Smash for Game Point again, then 2nd Deuce where Tito hit a winning return to make it Break Point, but then Tito blew a volley for 3rd Deuce, it went to Break Point again, then 4th Deuce where another whopper of an Overhead Smash winner by Ryan now set up Game Point, but then came 5th Deuce where Ryan blew a volley to set up Break Point only for Ryan to unleash yet another wicked Overhead Smash winner to bring it to 6th Deuce, but then came Break Point and the break) for 4-5 and then The Storm held (Tito hit a winning Overhead Smash for 15-Love where Norm blew yet another volley to make it 15-All which was where Norm hit a roller over the net winner to go up 30-15 where an un-returned serve set up Double Game/Match Point which was where Ryan hit another chop volley winner to bring it down to Game/Match Point only to have yet another un-returned serve secure the hold) for an impressive and hard-fought straight-set victory as this one ended at 11:15!
The Skinny: This was the first time that Norm had played this season as he is now the father of two little ones. In fact, much like Mitra, he would also soon be nearing an inactivity elimination (though he still had some time to go having played a Non-Title Match late last fall). And like "The Sultan of Swing" Raj Shah the week before, the rust resulted in some errors (several blown volleys in Norm's case), but more often than not it was just a lack of confidence to hit solid Overhead Smashes or to be just a little off with the timing. What Taclob did do quite well despite the long layoff was serve strong and hit impressive ground-strokes from both sides. Tito was his usual "Prince of Poisonous Placement" as he had so much control of the ball (save a few atypical errors) and he was able to carry his team through the points and games where perhaps Norm was losing some focus and/or lacking some confidence. On the other side of the net, Ryan was a great force at the net for a second straight week...even if it did not always lead to game wins for his team. Nick was not quite as steady as he usually is and his failure to hold serve on three different occasions was the true difference-maker in this match. Still, both teams gave a great accounting of themselves and each entertained those that were watching. Despite it being a straight-set affair, due to the high quality of the on-court action and the overall drama that accompanied it all...this has a chance at being a Nominee for Doubles Match of The Year at season's end.
The Consequences: Taclob/Castolo are now free to defend their Titles against any team ranked in the Doubles Division until they are told to hold off once the upcoming M2 Men's Doubles Tournament is announced...but that won't happen until greater progress is made in the ongoing GTA Intermediate Invitational Tournament.
Omar Santos/Syed Rashid over Jorge Solano/Natalia Sout, 6-1! No Aces. They played this on Center Court from 10:44 to 11:20.
Chris Chiaro/Moka Pathan over Dan Martinelli/Vinnie De Benedetto, 6-0! No Aces. It should be noted that Vin was the one to pick the teams. When Spin and Vin won the rally for serve and the first point of the match, they knew they should go out on a high note...but they couldn't. Instead, this one lasted all of just 19 minutes on the North Court (11:17 to 11:36)!
Sukumar Mitra/Ryan Pienciak over Brad Gero/Mark Grammer, 6-0! No Aces. It was the official GTA Debut of Mark Grammer. Center Court hosted this one from 11:33 to 11:53.
Omar Santos/Jorge Solano over Rafaelo Kazakov/Syed Rashid, 6-1! Omar: 1 Ace on Rafaelo. They got this one underway on the North Court at 11:45, but I'm not sure when it was finished. I do know that Rafaelo took a hard fall in this one. He almost ended up on the corner of Center Court when he crashed face-first into the court's surface. To his credit, he got up and brushed himself off...took a little time to catch his breath and clear the cobwebs before returning to action.
Chris Chiaro/Vinnie De Benedetto over Moka Pathan/Frank Samara, 6-1! No Aces. The dirty lowdown: Frank was broken (Chris hit a wicked winner for Love-15, 15-All but then Moka blew a volley on the way to Double Break Point where Vin blew a volley to make it Break Point, but then came the break) and then Chris held (Love-15 shifted straight to Double Game Point as Vin hit a winning volley along the way and then he hit a winning Backhand Volley to secure his partner's hold) for a quick 2-0 lead. Moka held serve (Moka hit a winning volley for 30-Love and then Vin blew a volley to set up Triple Game Point where Chris hit another crushing winner to reduce that to Double Game Point, but then came the hold) for 1-2. Vinnie held (Love-15 shifted straight to Double Game Point where Frank hit a roller over the net which led to Game Point and then Moka hit a winning Overhead Smash to make it Deuce which was where Vin hit a roller over the tape winner to set up Game Point and then came the hold), but Samara was broken again (Chris hit another rocket of a winner for Love-30, then Moka hit a winning Overhead Smash for 15-30, then it was Double Break Point where Vin blew an overhead on the way to Deuce, then another Break Point and then the break) to fall to 1-4. Chiaro held again (Frank blew a volley for 15-Love, then Vin blew a volley to start the shift to 15-30 which was where an un-returned serve once again reversed the momentum as it went to Game Point, Deuce and then all Break Points until 3rd Deuce, Game Point, 4th Deuce, Game Point and the hold) and then Pathan was broken (Double Fault for Love-30, 15-30 where Vin hit a winning volley to set up Double Break/Match Point which was where Chris hit a killer of a winner for the break) to get the "L!" We played this on the South Court from 11:45 to 12:11.
Sukumar Mitra/Ryan Pienciak over Brad Gero/Mark Grammer, 6-1! No Aces. Center Court hosted this one from 11:54 to 12:10.
Ryan Pienciak/Brad Gero over Sukumar Mitra/Mark Grammer, 6-2! Ryan: 1 Ace on Mark. They switched up the teams (not the court) as this one was also played on Center Court (started exactly at 12:11, but not sure when it ended).
Chris Chiaro/Dan Martinelli over Moka Pathan/Frank Samara, 6-2! No Aces. Here's the breakdown: Moka was broken (15-Love where Chris hit a victimizing volley winner for 15-All, then 15-30 and a Double Fault to set up Double Break Point, the break came on Break Point) and Chris held (a winning volley by Chris was sandwiched between two un-returned serves to set up Triple Game Point, it was then on Double Game Point where Chris hit a winning volley to secure his own hold) for 2-0. Frank was broken (Spin hit a winner to make it Love-30, then it went to Triple Break Point before it was cut down to Deuce as Frank hit a winner and an un-returned serve along the way and then it was all Break Points until 3rd Deuce, Game Point, 4th Deuce, Break Point as Chris always hit a winning Overhead Smash on every Deuce that was then converted to Break Point) and then Spin held (a Chris winner was sandwiched between un-returned serves, the last one being truly un-returnable on the way to Triple Game Point, then it was Double Game Point where another un-returned serve secured the hold) to jump out to a 4-0 lead! Pathan held (an un-returned serve made it 30-Love which was where Chris hit a winner for 30-15, but then another un-returned serve set up Double Game Point where Frank blew his patented Windmill Overhead Smash to cut the lead down to Game Point, but then came the hold) to get onto the scoreboard, but then Chiaro held again...though this time it was a battle (Frank hit a winning Overhead Smash for Love-15 and then Spin hit a winning Overhead Smash for 15-All and it continued point for point to Break Point, then Deuce and all Game Points until 3rd Deuce, Break Point, 4th Deuce, Game Point and a wizardly winner from Chris for the hold...and I couldn't remember who hit what other winners once it went to Deuce) to increase his team's lead to 5-1! Samara held (15-Love where Chris hit the volley/drop shot winner combo much like Tito did earlier in the day to make it 15-All, but then it was straight to Double Game Point with an un-returned serve along the way and then came the hold) to pull to 2-5, but Martinelli then held again (Love-15 shifted straight to Double Game/Match Point as Moka blew an overhead and Chris hit a winner along the way and that was where the hold came) to get the win! We played this one on the South Court from 12:15 to 12:50.
Omar Santos/Syed Rashid over Rafaelo Kazakov/Vinnie De Benedetto, 6-0! No Aces. This one was played on the North Court from 12:35 to 12:55.
Brad Gero over Mark Grammer, 6-2! Brad: 1 Ace. Not sure when this one began on Center Court (it came hot on the heels of the previous Doubles One-Setter on this court) and not sure when it ended either as...
Spin, Dino and Frank all decided to leave at 12:55 and the above Singles One-Setter was still in progress. Meanwhile, the following Singles One-Setter was just getting underway on the South Court.
Chris Chiaro over Moka Pathan, 6-4! No Aces.
Samara's Notes: I thank both Brad and Chris for sending in the above scores via text. We now take it up to Cedar Grove and turn this report over to Kris.
GTA Sunday Night Tennis at Cedar Grove was a marathon session that stretched from 4:30 to 10pm!
After the Albion Park AM to PM session, I figured I was done for the day. However, Kris Srinivasan sent a text that people were gathering at CG for an early evening installment of CG tennis. I decided to pass.
A second text from Dino Celis informed me that GTA contingent was still at Cedar Grove at around 7:30. That was enough to motivate me to get in the car and head up to Cedar Grove.
Upon my arrival, "Coach" Dino Celis was giving instruction to Doinks Srinivasan as Mike Mole and Kris Srinivasan battled Don Moya and Janice Wang. It was a bit chilly and the T-shirt and shorts I wore were not cutting it.
Their match soon ended and Don and Janice took a break and photographed and examined the indigenous life at Cedar Grove. An enormous male mosquito perched himself on the fence. This bugger was huge. We also learned that Mike Mole is a part-time entomologist as he observed and classified the insect. Maybe his new moniker should be "Mr Science!"
I, Dan Martinelli, could not help putting in my two cents in as I told the crowd that it's the females that are the Draculas of the mosquito species. Janice got some really nice photos of the winged wonder.
This allowed for a battle between Mike and Doinks vs. Spin and Kris. At first, Mike said he was done after playing 6 sets of tennis. I told him I would do all the running if he and I teamed up. Kris decided for the sake of a happy family life, Doinks would team with Mike and Kris would team with Spin.
After this, there was one last epic battle with Doinks and Don facing Janice and Kris.
But first, here are the scores given to me from Kris before I arrived.
The Cedar Grove Results:
Laura Gawley/Brenda Jordan over Sairaj Srinivasan/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-3! No Aces (apparently).
Kris Srinivasan/Brenda Jordan over Mike Mole/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-4! Mike: 1 Ace on Brenda.
Mike Mole/Alex Roumi over Kris Srinivasan/Melvin Hyman, 6-4! No Aces.
Don Moya/Doinks Srinivasan over Mike Mole/Janice Wang, 6-4! No Aces (apparently).
Mike Mole/Janice Wang over Kris Srinivasan/Don Moya, 6-3! No Aces.
Kris Srinivasan/Mike Mole over Don Moya/Janice Wang, 6-3! No Aces.
Kris Srinivasan/Alex Roumi leading Mike Mole/Doinks Srinivasan, 2-1 (Incomplete when Alex had to depart)! No Aces.
Kris Srinivasan/Dan Martinelli over Mike Mole/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-3! Spin: 1 Ace on Mike.
The Spin From Spin: After winning the opportunity to serve, Kris wanted to see The Spin Doctor notch a few Aces. Before getting ready to deliver the first serve, Spin asked, "First in?" Doinks snapped back, "You played this morning so no first in!" Spin promptly delivered his first and only Ace to start it off, much to the delight of Kris. Everyone had their moments both good and bad, however Kris's serve found its mark to close out the set. Thanks to Mike for playing one more time.
Kris Srinivasan/Janice Wang over Don Moya/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-4! Don: 1 Ace on Kris.
The Spin From Spin: An epic battle, indeed! Don's serve is a thing of beauty. Just as beautiful is Janice's two-handed backhand which is accurate as well as devastating. That backhand proved the be the shot that sealed the deal in this contest. This match was waged with Spin and Dino looking on. Everyone had their brilliant moments as well as a few misfires. However, the match was fun to watch and the laughter and smiles were aplenty. The biggest shots came when Janice hit two of the sweetest backhand winners right on the corner to close out the contest. The amount of people present was low, but the action and fun were off the charts!
dmartinell@aol.com

Samara's Notes: Thanks to Spin for acting as host and providing us with this report and also kudos to Kris for the early assist.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com
862-596-3354
No comments:
Post a Comment