5/17/17:
"2 play at AP, Kaz-T.J., Nate-Ryan part of 16 at C.G.!":
There were two sessions of GTA Wednesday Night Tennis: a session of just two (a One-Setter featuring "Mr. Science" Mike Mole vs. "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan, with Gen reporting) at Albion Park in Clifton and then a long one throughout the evening at The Cedar Grove Courts which started with the GTA Round of 16 Match between "Big Kaz" Mike Kazlauskas and "Teej" T.J. Shah (as reported by Mike) and then went onto have a 2 out of 3 Sets Match (not a Challenge Match) between "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes and "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak in the later session which was co-hosted by Gen, "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan and "Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli all along the way.
So we will first go to the lone result from Albion Park, then to the recap from Mike and then turn the rest of this report over to Kris, Gen and Spin.
The Albion Park Result:
Mike Mole over Genalin Capan, 6-3! No Aces.
Gen's Notes: We played this from 6:45 to 7:30, but we started hitting around 5:30.
Samara's Notes: I thank Gen for her timely reporting of that result. And now we go to the result from Mike.
The Cedar Grove Results:
GTA Intermediate Invitational Round of 16 Match:
Mike Kazlauskas over T.J. Shah, 7-5, 6-0, to successfully defend both his # 10 Rank in the Advanced Division and his # 12 Rank in the Intermediate Division while also advancing to the Quarterfinals of the GTA Intermediate Invitational Tournament! Mike: 1 Ace in the 1st Set.
The Big Kaz File: The Cedar Grove Courts were occupied by the Cedar Grove High School Boys Team, so we decided to play on the courts down the road. In the 1st Set, T.J. started on serve and held his first two service games. I held my first, but then got broken for 1-3. Then I picked up my game and took the next 4 games to go up 5-3. I failed to serve it out for the set, and then T.J. held his for 5-5. Then I held my serve, and broke T.J. for the set.
In the 2nd Set, I picked up my game a little. I started serving more aggressively and hitting more aggressive ground-strokes. I held my serves and broke T.J. on his service games. T.J. had a chance to break me in the last game as it was Double Break Point. However, I was able to serve it out for the match.
Samara's Notes: I thank Mike for his timely and comprehensive reporting. I also congratulate him on the victory. He now advances to the Quarters where he awaits the winner of Pienciak vs. "The Annihilator" Nihar Panda.
We now turn this report over to Kris with input from both Gen and Spin along the way.
It was quite a late night for me and Doinks as we attended the spring concert in Sairaj's school. But, we did get to see many of our players in action starting early. I'm pretty in the dark as to the scores as I was casual seeing Spin in action. You'll hear from him on some of the scores but there's a good chance he has not taken notes of all the matches.
I did get to see Natalie Guzman and Aaron winding up as we came over to Court 2. Dino Celis played the role of Coach and being present in the tennis arena is more therapeutic and healing to him than the rehab sessions likely are. There was a Doubles Match going on between Jordan and Jorge against Santosh and Rajan. T.J. was involved in a Doubles Match and played without his usual pal, Rajan.
Earlier, Mike Kaz had won handsomely in the Singles Match against T.J., 7-5, 6-0! T.J. apparently ran out of steam perhaps due to the steamy weather. Kaz was then involved in a Doubles. Spin teamed up with Levy to play against Laurie and Kaz (first?) and then Raj Taylor. Dawn and Brenda were the early birds and they were leaving. Jose was in a Doubles Match.
Dave Zhu joined us to play Doubles along with Drew Kroessler, who had already played 2 One-Setters.
Samara's Notes: I thank Kris for that recap and his introduction to the session. It appears that many players decided not to report their scores which is very disappointing, but I'm not about to chase them down at this time as I've been dealing with sluggish internet issues for about a week now (not to mention a myriad of other issues I have to deal with regularly).
I will now go to the scores reported via text from Gen and then Spin (he had absolutely no internet as of last night!). I will then go back to Kris for the balance of the results and allow him to close out this report.
Mike Kazlauskas/Levy Lorenzo over Dan Martinelli/Genalin Capan, 6-2! Mike: 2 Aces on Spin in the same game (the first game of the match)! This one finished at 8:50.
Levy Lorenzo/Dan Martinelli over Raj Tailor/Laurie Boughton, 6-4! Raj: 1 Ace on Spin.
Samara's Notes: I thank both Gen and Spin for their very timely reporting. Gen had the first of the two One-Setters above as 6-3, but I went with Spin's report of 6-2. And now we go back to Kris.
Kris Srinivasan/Andrew Kroessler over Dave Zhu/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-3! Dave: 1 Ace on Kris!
Dave had some really great topspin shots that jammed Drew and he was also serving well. He had a lovely Ace on me serving it on the Tee and then deviating. An easy 2-Love lead by Dave and Doinks was wiped out with a 5-game run by us. The momentum shifted just briefly as Dave managed one more hold before folding up.
Kris Srinivasan/Dave Zhu over Andrew Kroessler/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-4! No Aces.
Drew was ready to call it a day but as T.J. was too tired and Dino, still recuperating, were the only players on the bench, Drew was magnanimous enough to play one more set. Drew and Doinks started off very well to take the first four games, giving us enough motivation to fight our way back into the match. We ran them aground, but not without a fight. We prevailed despite a couple of close games to secure a 6 game run.
It was then just some hitting for the last 15 minutes. There was a lot of noise coming from the other side as Ryan Pienciak was battling Nate in a singles match. Pounding and screeching sounds of the shoes by Ryan indicated that Nate was running him ragged. Ryan also ran Nate around a bit, but the lanky man had the upper hand. Apparently they played two sets with plenty of rallies as Nate was making mincemeat of his eager and energetic (in the beginning) opponent. They managed to finish just before closing time. Ryan said that Nate kicked his ass off! I only wanted to know if it was one cheek or both. Well, he can't sit for a while. I did get the score from the "kick master".
2 out of 3 Sets:
Nathan Fernandes over Ryan Pienciak, 6-1, 6-2! No Aces. This was not a rank defense for Fernandes as Pienciak is solely in the Intermediate Division and also still active in the ongoing GTA Intermediate Invitational Tournament.
Earlier in the evening, Nate had stamped his authority in the Mixed Doubles Match he had played where he had teamed with Dawn.
2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:
Nathan Fernandes/Dawn Peterson over Moka Pathan/Kathy Sheldon, 6-2, 6-3, to successfully defend their # 34 Rank in the Mixed Doubles Division! In the process, Pathan/Sheldon entered the division as the New # 46 Ranked Team. No Aces.
Nate is on a roll and it would be a good time for him to take on Anish Mehta and GTA Champion: Chris Chiaro in Singles. It was a great turnout and non-stop GTA action to light up the Cedar Grove arena on this warm summer-like night. Cheers!
Samara's Notes: I thank Kris for all he does for the GTA up at Cedar Grove. I also once again acknowledge Gen and Spin for their contributions and support. But they cannot be expected to track down every result that occurs there. Again, it is disappointing to know that several scores must have fallen through the cracks after we have had such a good, steady run of reporting as of late.
All the best,
Frank Samara
862-596-3354
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