Monday, June 19, 2017

6/18 Results.

6/18/17:

"Samara hosts 8 at AP, Kris hosts 10 at C.G.!":

There was two sessions of GTA Sunday Tennis: the usual mid-morning to early afternoon one at Albion Park in Clifton (hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara) and an evening session at The Cedar Grove Courts hosted by "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan.

We will first detail all the comings and goings at Albion (via Samara).  And then we will finish with the report from Kris.

It was 10:55 when "Hollywood" Frank Samara pulled up to the courts  Upon his arrival, he saw GTA Champion: "King Crush" Chris Chiaro hitting against both "Vintage" Vinnie De Benedetto and Natalia "Nitro" Sout on the North Court while "The Hit Man" Tom La was on the sidelines taking a breather (after already having been in a hitting session).

As it turns out, Natalia was the first to arrive at 9:30 and she was alone for quite a while.  She was happy to see Vin arrive at 10:15 and they started hitting to each other.  Then, Tom arrived at 10:30 to join them.  Chris would be the fourth to arrive.

The weather conditions on this Father's Day Sunday were sweltering to say the least.  It was around 85 degrees with full humidity and the sun was often an unwelcome guest to accompany all the rest of what was going on in the atmosphere.

"Sue B. Newbie" Suzanne Bujara arrived at 11:05, just as the first Doubles One-Setter featuring Samara and De Benedetto taking on Chiaro and Sout got underway.  Suzanne stayed on the sidelines with Tom to watch the action.

Five minutes later, both "Big Kaz" Mike Kazlauskas and "Super Mario" Marijus Kuzavas arrived and walked over to the South Court to enter into an extended hitting session with one another. 

And on such a hot and humid day...coupled with the fact that it was Father's Day, that was all the competitors we would have throughout the session: just eight!  Well, as an old TV show once said: "Eight is enough!"

Now, let's get to the scores!

The Albion Park Results:

Chris Chiaro/Natalia Sout over Frank Samara/Vinnie De Benedetto, 6-2!  No Aces.  It went like this: Vinnie was broken (Chris hit a blast of a winning return to start things off at Love-15, but then Frank hit a drop shot winner for 15-All, then it went to 30-15 only to shift to Break Point as Natalia hit a drop shot winner of her own along the way and then she got the break with a winning lob), Chris held serve (Love-15 and then point for point to Break Point as there was an un-returned serve and Chris hit a net-cord-aided winner along the way, it went to Deuce where he then hit a truly un-returnable serve to set up Game Point where he secured his own hold with a colossal Overhead Smash winner) and Frank was broken (Chris hit a net-cord-aided winning return for Love-15 and then it went point for point to Break Point as there was an un-returned serve and a remarkable winner from Chris along the way and then Natalia earned the break with an amazing winner of her own) for 0-3!  Natalia was also broken (an un-returned serve for 15-Love, then Vin hit a winning volley for 15-All and then it was straight to Double Break Point where she hit a Double Fault to break herself) and then De Benedetto held (Chris hit a winning Overhead Smash for Love-15, but then it shifted to 30-15 with an un-returned serve along the way, but then Frank blew an overhead for 30-All, it then went to Game Point, Double Fault for Deuce where Chris blew an overhead to set up Game Point and then he blew another overhead to allow the hold as The Champ suddenly turned into Chris Christmas!) as his team pulled to 2-3.  But from there, Chiaro held again (Love-15 shifted to 30-15, then it was 30-All where Chris hit a blistering passing shot winner to set up Game Point and then came the hold), Samara was broken again (Chris hit a winning lob for Love-30, then an un-returned serve made it 15-30 only to have Natalia hit a drop shot winner to set up Double Break Point and then Chris hit yet another winner to earn the break) and Sout held at Love as Chris started things off with another awesome winner and then Natalia hit yet another drop shot winner and it was on Triple Game/Match Point where she hit an un-returned serve to secure her own hold and get the win!  We played this one on the North Court from 11:05 to 11:33.

The Skinny: Chris was in his usual "Champ mode" as he played aggressively and hit more impressive winners then he did make unforced errors.  Frank and Vin were their usual mixed bag of tricks...meaning sometimes they made some really crafty shots while other times making some head-scratching errors.  The true noteworthy participant in this One-Setter was Natalia who continues to improve by leaps and bounds.  She was playing aggressively, too, and was rarely the weak link on her team.  Her drop shot winners were not of the exaggerated slice variety that you get from Samara.  Sout's were instead fast-paced and just dropping short enough in the service box area to catch her opponents off-guard.

Frank Samara/Suzanne Bujara tied with Vinnie De Benedetto/Natalia Sout, 2-2 (Incomplete when both Vin and Natalia had to leave at 11:59...both originally said they would have to go by noon)!  No Aces.  Here's how it was going: Natalia was broken (Vin blew a volley for Love-15, Double Fault for Love-30, then it shifted to 30-All where Suzanne hit a winning return to set up Break Point and then the break), Frank was broken in an epic battle (un-returned serve for 15-Love and then it went point for point until 30-All as Frank had hit another un-returned serve along the way...both were to Natalia as she seemed to have some trouble with his serve only to have her then hit a missile-like winning return right up the middle to set up Break Point, but then it went to Deuce and it was all Game Points until 5th Deuce and then all Break Points thru to 7th Deuce and then one more Break Point and the break...I stopped remembering who hit what winners where and when once we went beyond Deuce), Vinnie was broken (15-Love and then Frank hit a dramatic drop shot return winner as it then went point for point to Game Point where Frank hit the repeat button with another drastic slice drop shot return winner to bring it to Deuce and that was where Suzanne hit a winning drop shot return of her own to set up Break Point, then it was 2nd Deuce where Frank hit a drop shot winner to bring it back to Break Point and then came the break) and then Suzanne was broken (Vin hit a winning volley for Love-30, it then shifted to 30-All after Frank hit a winning Overhead Smash, but then came Break Point and a Double Fault to break herself) as nobody could hold serve at 2-2 and we decided this was the right place and time to end it.  We had begun this one on the North Court at 11:40.

The Skinny: Going into this one, we knew there was a solid chance that we would not finish it as both Vin and Nat said they would have to leave at noon.  Once there was that 7-Deuce service game from Samara, we knew that a proper finish was a dead issue.  Earlier, I spoke about the continual improvement of Sout.  But it should also be said that Bujara is already making great strides as her game was both more aggressive and more consistent than it was just a week ago.  I may not be able to call her "Sue B. Newbie" for long.  And if and when her mentor, Ayman Elbatanony, returns to the league...I will have to give him a new moniker - "The Authority."

Marijus Kuzavas/Mike Kazlauskas over Chris Chiaro/Tom La, 6-2!  No Aces.  They played this one on the South Court from 11:40 to 12:08.

Marijus Kuzavas/Mike Kazlauskas over Chris Chiaro/Frank Samara, 7-5!  Mike: 2 Aces on Frank; and Marijus: 1 Ace on Frank!  Here's how it went down: Chris held (Frank hit a slicing curveball of a passing shot winner for 30-Love, but then it shifted to 30-All after he also blew a volley, but then Marijus blew an overhead to set up Game Point where an un-returned serve secured the hold), Mike held in something of a struggle (Marijus hit a monstrous Overhead Smash winner for 15-Love and then it went point for point until 30-All, then Break Point where Chris blew what looked to be a sure overhead to bring it back to Deuce where Mike then scored with a big-time T-line Ace against Frank to set up Game Point, then came 2nd Deuce, Break Point, 3rd Deuce, Game Point, 4th Deuce, Game Point and the hold...I no longer remembered who hit what winners after that big Ace whizzed past my head...LOL!), but Frank was the first to be broken (Marijus hit another monster Overhead Smash winner for Love-30, it shifted to 30-All right after Chris hit a laser-like passing shot winner, but then Mike hit a short and sharp-angled Volley for Break Point and then Frank blew a volley to break himself) for 1-2.  Marijus was also broken (Marijus blew a volley, Chris made an absolutely amazing get/winner combo and then Mike also blew a volley on the way to Triple Break Point where Mike then scored with a drop shot that was not a winner but led to winning the point and that now made it Double Break Point, then came Break Point only to have an unfortunate Double Fault cause the break) and then Chiaro held again (Love-30 shifted straight to Game Point as Marijus blew a volley and Chris hit a sizzling passing shot winner along the way and then Mike blew a volley to allow the hold) to reclaim the lead for his team at 3-2.  Kazlauskas held again as well (started with a Double Fault, then it was 15-All when he hit a big sideline Ace on Frank for 30-15 and then followed that with another truly un-returnable serve to set up Double Game Point, then a Double Fault for Game Point where he hit still another un-returnable serve to cinch the hold) and even the score at 3-3!  Samara held (Mike hit a fast-paced and well-placed winner for Love-15 and then it went point for point until 30-All as Chris hit a walloping Overhead Smash winner along the way while Marijus blew an overhead along the way as well and then it went to Game Point where Marijus blew another overhead to allow the hold) and then Kuzavas was broken again (Mike blew what should have been a certain drop shot winner for Love-15 and then it went point for point to Break Point as Frank blew a volley, Mike hit a winning Overhead Smash but then blew a volley along the way and then Frank hit an emphatic Overhead Smash winner for the break) as The Lanky Lithuanians (aka M&M) fell to 3-5!  But then King Crush was finally broken (Marijus finally scored with that whopper of an Overhead Smash winner that he had tried for repeatedly and then it went to Love-30 in the next point, but then Frank hit a nice drop shot winner followed by a superb passing shot winner from Chris to make it 30-All, but then Marijus hit yet another winning Overhead Smash to set up Break Point where he repeated the same type of winning Overhead Smash to get the break) and then Big Kaz held a third straight time (started with a Double Fault, but then went straight to Double Game Point as he first turned things around with an un-returned serve and then Marijus hit a winning Overhead Smash to set up that DGP only to hit an even harder and faster winning Overhead to lock down his partner's hold) to tie things yet again, this time at 5-5!  Hollywood was broken (Love-15 then point for point to Break Point as there was an un-returned serve, Chris blew an overhead and Marijus hit yet another killer Overhead Smash along the way and then he hit a sweeping Backhand Volley winner that swept right off the court for the break) and then Super Mario held (15-Love shifted to 15-30 as Frank hit a drop shot return winner along the way, but then it was at 30-All where Marijus scored with a big corner Ace against Frank to set up the Game/Match Point where Frank ended up blowing a drop shot attempt to drop the point) to seal the deal on an impressive comeback victory as his team took the last four games!  We played this one on the South Court from 12:10 to 12:58.

The Skinny: Not to take anything away from the superior performance of Kuzavas/Kazluaskas (especially in the "service dept."), but Chiaro had said from the outset he would need to leave by 1pm (or perhaps get home by 1 for a Father's Day family gathering) and he started to watch his watch as the time drew nearer.  It seems he started rushing his shots a bit as the match grew older and the points lasted longer.  Samara played fairly well...better than he has for at least a couple of weeks now, but still that was not enough to overcome the New Twin Towers of the GTA!

After Samara climbed his way up the hill, he crossed paths with a man named Norman.  They got to talking and, soon enough, it was learned that this gentleman is also into tennis and plays regularly at The Fairfield Racquet Club.  He said he may come join us some Sunday to become part of the group.

And then just as Frank was about to cross the street to get to his car, The Pienciak family rolled up on him in their clan's minivan and spoke to him for a while.  Ryan was ready to come join us to play for the last hour, but Samara explained how the prohibitive humidity caused everyone to head for the hills much earlier than usual.  Mr. Pienciak said that he had Mrs. Pienciak (aka Susan) out on the courts the day before.  It seems she may possibly join the ranks of the GTA sometime in the near future, hopefully.

Finally, Frank got in his car at 1:15 to call it a day.

We now head up to Cedar Grove for the report from Kris.

Special thanks to Ryan Pienciak for clearing the debris clogged in the drains of the tennis courts here on Saturday evening around 4:30 with his kids.  Unaware of this, I had went to clean them upon my return from outside around 5:30 as planned earlier...J.
 
No wonder, it was almost clean when I got there and then I got an assist from Natalia (thank you Natalia) to take care of the little puddles.

The Cedar Grove Results:

Marijus Kuzavas/Sally Pillay over Raj Shah/Ryan Pienciak, 6-4!  No Aces.

Raj Shah/Ryan Pienciak over Marijus Kuzavas/Kris Srinivasan, 6-3!  No Aces.

Sally Pillay/Andrea Lim over Chris Barbieri/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-4!  No Aces.

Kris Srinivasan/Ryan Pienciak over Raj Shah/Laurie Boughton, 6-1!  No Aces.

Kris Srinivasan/Laurie Boughton over Chris Barbieri/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-3!  No Aces.

Samara's Notes: As always, I thank Kris for all he does on behalf of the GTA up at Cedar Grove.  I also join him in thanking both Ryan and Natalia for their clean-up efforts.
 
Best wishes,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com
862-596-3354




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