6/21/17:
"4 play at PAC, Women's Titles, MXD2 x2 all part of 26 at C.G.!":
GTA Wednesday Night Tennis took place at both The Park Ave. Courts in Nutley featuring a full 2 out of 3 Sets Match between "The Speed Demon" Dan Praport and "Richie" Rich Liu and then a Doubles One-Setter to follow (with Rich reporting both) and at The Cedar Grove Courts with usual host "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan providing us with this report. GTA Women's Champion: Laura "The Aura" Gawley also submitted her result directly as she was involved in the Main Event of the evening. It was the GTA Women's Doubles Championship Match where she teamed with "The Smackdown" Sally Pillay to face the 2017 W2 Champs and Top Contenders: "The Argentine Machine" Fernanda Toker and "Automatic" Anna Mazur.
And then "Super Mario" Marijus Kuzavas also reported that same result along with another one where he got to team with his wife Sally in what became the second of two back-to-back MXD2 Mixed Doubles Tournament Matches (plus a Doubles One-Setter in between).
After "The Bulgarian Bull" Jordan Bachvaroff and "The Olympian" Marie Salamon won their Round of 13 Match against "Kevlar" Kevin Doyle and "Bravo" Brenda Jordan, Marijus jokingly asked if they would want to play the Quarterfinal against he and Sally next. But Jordan and Marie took that offer seriously and it was "challenge accepted!" Well, sometimes you need to be careful what you wish for!
Anyway, Kris had all the results covered…but we will go to both Laura and Marijus for their additional details along the way as well.
So we will first grab the result from Rich and then turn this report over to Kris as he breaks down all that took place at Cedar Grove on the first official day of summer.
The Park Ave Results:
2 out of 3 Sets:
Dan Praport over Rich Liu, 6-1, 7-5! No Aces. This does not count as a rank defense for Praport as Liu remains solely in the Intermediate Division.
The Richie Rich Report: Dan, as usual, showed his quickness and consistency in making all his shots. However, he showed a new facet of his game tonight with his impressive and effective net-play. It took me a while to adjust, but later the match was more competitive. Rich tried out his new power serve (from YouTube) which, at times, was effective. It was a beautiful night for tennis at Nutley Park Ave.
Randy Doran/Edgar Valencia over Dan Praport/Rich Liu, 6-4! No Aces.
The Richie Rich Report: It was a close match. Ravishing Randy was especially motivated to win and show how truly ravishing he is…haha! Ed made some really good first serves and got the best of me in some critical moments of the match. I'm sure Dan and I will win next time, but congrats to Randy and Ed on their win.
Samara's Notes: I thank Rich for his recap. We now turn this report over to Kris.
It was yet another evening filled with plenty of action that included three Tournament Matches. There was a logjam of players during "the prime time" hours, but beyond that it was smooth sailing overall. GTA Tennis did get off to an early start just after 5pm and that ensured the players who did turn up that they would get into the action.
It is great to see the strength of the GTA on the rise, not just in the number of players but on the level of play as well. Surely, we can see some players working on their games and strategies. It is getting very competitive, but still it remains fun-filled. To top it off, the trend of the "tennis talk" at the end of the sessions is a welcome one...:-).
The Cedar Grove Results:
GTA Women's Doubles Championship Match:
Laura Gawley/Sally Pillay over Fernanda Toker/Anna Mazur, 6-1, 6-1, to complete the second successful GTA Women's Doubles Championship defense of their first reign! Laura: 1 Ace on Fernanda!
The Aura speaks: We started at 5:30 and I'm pretty sure we finished around 6:30. Tommy Reszkowski helped with the line calls and keeping track of the score!
The K has his say: The first match of the day started with all the players keeping to their scheduled start-time. It was a match that Laura and Sally dominated given that they are playing in the best form of their lives. Both Fernanda and Anna put too much pressure on themselves and that became a mental thing. I didn't get to watch the match, but did get the feedback from Anna. Given the fierce form of Sally at the moment, Marijus did predict to Dan Martinelli a 6-1, 6-1 win and he feels that Spin owes him at least some whiskey for his Nostradamus-like prediction...:-).
Marijus Kuzavas/Sally Pillay over Tommy Reszkowski/Fernanda Toker, 6-4! Tommy: 2 Aces (one on each)! After this, Marijus said that he and Sally went over to scout their potential opponents.
The K has his say: It was a long match and surely Tommy and Fernanda did not get an easy pass to play Marijus and Sally. Tommy is very aggressive at the net and complements the style of Fernanda very well. Clearly, the aggression of Marijus and Sally gave them the edge in the end.
MXD2 Round of 13 Match:
Jordan Bachvaroff/Marie Salamon over Kevin Doyle/Brenda Jordan, 4-6, 6-1, 10-8 (STB), to advance to the Quarterfinals of the MXD2 Mixed Doubles Tournament! No Aces. Once they went to the Super Tiebreak, the Mixed Doubles Division ranking of Doyle/Jordan was no longer on the line. But, in the process, Bachvaroff/Salamon entered the division as the New # 37 Ranked Team.
The K has his say: The 1st Set was a solid one with both Kevin and Brenda on the money. Kevin was absolutely steady from the baseline and running around while Brenda did splendidly well at the net. Marie is known to play well from the net and she did. But both Brenda and Kevin did challenge Marie on some points and the drop shot return of Marie's serve by Brenda sure brought out some unexpected colorful language from Marie…:-). Jordan was steady, but his decent serves were not a threat though.
The 2nd Set changed things with Jordan playing more aggressively and covering the baseline. Conversely, Brenda was tiring. She lost the first two games and was serving Love-40 before showing some fight to save all the Break Points to hold her serve. I left to go to the other side at this stage. Apparently, they got whipped from thereon to force a Super Tiebreak that was pretty close. Kevin was quite solid and a fresher Brenda could have given her team a greater chance of reversing the ultimate result. It was good to see Denise, rooting for Kevin and Brenda, who stayed put throughout the match to cheer them up.
Samara's Notes: I'm not sure who Denise is. Oh well…back to Kris!
MXD2 Quarterfinal Match:
Marijus Kuzavas/Sally Pillay over Jordan Bachvaroff/Marie Salamon, 6-0, 6-0, to successfully defend their # 5 Rank in the Mixed Doubles Division while advancing to the Semifinals of the GTA MXD2 Mixed Doubles Tournament! Jordan: 1 Ace on Marijus!
The K has his say: Jordan and Marie were game enough to play their next round match right away against Marijus and Sally who are the team to beat right now, given their form and aggressive play. They were too good as they took apart Jordan and Marie. Jordan felt both Marijus and Sally were playing strong and looked unbeatable. Indeed, they were playing more like bullies, these monsters...haha! Steady is somewhat insipid to describe Sally's game now. She looks more like a 'ravenous' tiger...:-). Go girl!
Samara's Notes: It has been quite some time since I called Ms. Pillay, "Steady Sally." She soon morphed into "Spicy Sally" and then fully graduated to "The Smackdown!" She is able to deal out hard shots on the court and quick comeback remarks off the court. Either way you will get smacked down! Once again, it is back to Kris we go!
Tito Castolo/Dawn Peterson over Sairaj Srinivasan/Anna Mazur, 6-4! No Aces.
It was a good and close match. Anna was impressed with Sairaj's game and Sairaj, as usual, felt he played poorly. Dawn was very steady and Tito did what he does best, frustrating his opponents by making shots they don't want to see.
Nathan Fernandes/Janice Wang over Jorge Solano/Laura Gawley, 7-5! No Aces.
It was probably the best match of the night with all the players displaying their skills well. The net play of Janice was exceptional. Nate was all over the place when needed and his gets were outstanding. Jorge played well, but surely not his best. He is a diligent player, doing his best on every shot even though he did miss a few where he normally does well. It was Laura, the pick of the lot, who played a far superior game…especially to some tough deep shots. She was serving great, moving in aggressively to put away points and was so precise in some of her shots that she was able to dig in from deep. They were leading 5-4 and were clearly on a winning note. Nate was under phenomenal pressure to hold his serve as Laura was punishing only to be let down by mistakes by her team combined with brilliant play by Janice at crucial times. I missed the last part, but apparently Nate and Janice did well to secure the last three games. This match highlighted why Laura will remain a tough player to beat in the Women's Division (Singles) as she displayed how to counterattack even at times that looked like she was pinned.
Tito Castolo/Dawn Peterson over Omar Santos/Anna Mazur, 6-3! No Aces.
Tito seems to have an inexhaustible supply of magic as he continued to inflict more pain on Anna who must have come to the conclusion, "if you can't beat them, join them!" Not a bad idea to team with this guy...:-).
Tommy Reszkowski/Fernanda Toker over Kris Srinivasan/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-4! No Aces.
It was a very good match that was aggressive and somewhat fast-paced. Tommy was great at the net and won many crucial points. Surely, our unforced errors made us the victims...:-). Doinks set up some nice points for me by playing her signature deep shots. Fernanda was kept under constant pressure, but got relief from Tommy time and again who also had some impressive returns of serve.
Raj Tailor/Omar Santos over Kris Srinivasan/Doinks Srinivasan, 7-5! Omar: 1 Ace on Kris!
It was another great match marred by relentless unforced errors and poor plays that cost us a few games. Omar and Raj went to multiple Deuces during their services and had to save many Break Points to hold. Raj had great serves and vicious topspin forehands that were effective, but he also had his fair share of errors. Omar was steady and reliable. The best part is he plays his shots unperturbed. There is music in his shot-making, but with a more sedate tempo.
Levy Lorenzo/Mike Mole over Tom La/Don Moya, 6-4! No Aces.
Mike was happy to get a win against two good players, but he did have rock-solid support from Levy.
Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout over Senthil Kumar/Janice Wang, 6-4! No Aces.
Senthil was a late show, but he did get to play a set and a lengthy hitting session thereafter. He was going "nutshell" with Nate and Nat. Natalia is playing very well with attacking shots. Coming off her knee injury, she was slightly tentative but has started playing more freely now. With Nate's smart moves, she is clicking well.
Tom La/Don Moya over Levy Lorenzo/Mike Mole, 7-6 (7-5)! No Aces.
Tom and Adonis corrected their earlier loss with a close win. After the match, they got to hit a bit for a while.
Samara's Notes: Perhaps "Adonis" is a talk-to-text typo, but I like it. Much like when "The Riz" John Rizzo had a talk-to-text typo in reporting a result from "Days Ahmadi" rather than Dave Ahmadi that subsequently led to Dave's new moniker becoming "Happy Days!" Or more recently when "Hollywood" Frank Samara mistakenly reported the results of one "Edgar Valentina" rather than Edgar Valencia…and now we call him Edgar "Valentino" Valencia rather than "Eager Edgar." I think "Adonis" should now replace the rather boring "Drill Instructor" nickname.
One more time, take it away Kris!
Nate was teamed up with Marie against Janice and Natalia, but I'm not sure if it was a serious set.
Senthil Kumar over Jordan Bachvaroff, 6-2! No Aces.
Senthil did get to play a Singles One-Setter and he took out a beat-up Jordan.
Overall, it was a lovely night for tennis and we sure made full use of the great weather and ambience. Cheers!
Samara's Notes: As always, I thank Kris for all he does for the GTA up at Cedar Grove! I also thank Laura and Marijus for their timely reporting as well.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
862-596-3354
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