6/27/17:
"Chiaro-Fernandes part of 17 at C.G. as Kris hosts!":
GTA Tuesday Night Tennis took place at The Cedar Grove Courts with "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan acting as host while the Main Event was the GTA Championship Match between GTA Champion: "King Crush" Chris Chiaro and "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes. Chiaro reported his score directly to "Hollywood" Frank Samara after the match was over and both he and Nate provided additional commentary as well.
We now turn this report over to Kris and we will include the comments of Chris and Nate along the way.
It was another beautiful night for GTA Tennis, but surprisingly it was not overcrowded. The highlight indeed was the GTA Championship Match for the coveted "Uno" Number 1 Rank in the Advanced Division. There was also a Singles One-Setter between Raj Shah and Jordan Bachvaroff that went under the radar as it was eclipsed by the Chiaro-Fernandes match.
There were multiple other matches, some of which may not be featured in the report as I was left in the dark about the results. GTA Women's Champion: Laura Gawley and Dan Martinelli (aka Spin) were on the bench watching the match. Laura did manage to get into the action, but Spin was very clear about not playing. He would only be watching and doing the chitty chat. Players did stream in steadily, but the turnout at best was modest.
The Cedar Grove Results:
Mike Mole/Jose Gonzales over Sairaj Srinivasan/Vinnie De Benedetto, 6-1! No Aces.
This was more of a "warm-up" match where Vinnie was gallant to team with Sairaj, whose game was a mixed bag. There were some nice aggressive shots from Mike and Jose to both Sairaj and Vinnie the Pooh that made a big difference.
Joe Rodrigues/Laura Gawley over Kris Srinivasan/Andrew Kroessler, 7-6 (7-4)! No Aces.
This was a solid set in which we came back resoundingly from down 2-5 to take four straight games, but then we lost our footing in the final moments. There were plenty of nice rallies and great points to make it exciting and close as it ended in a nail-biter.
GTA Championship Match:
Nathan Fernandes over Chris Chiaro, 6-4, 6-4, to become the New GTA Champion! No Aces.
The Crushing Commentary from Chris: The match lasted one hour and 40 minutes. I want to congratulate Nathan on his win. He has definitely deserved (and earned) the Title and to become the number one player in the league. I wish I could have given a better match, but nevertheless Nathan played great. Congrats again!
Nate's Notes: This match had a little bit of everything - deer prancing around, dark clouds, a light drizzle at one point, gusts of wind and even a rainbow. Even though the match was a straight set affair, it felt like every game was a match within a match. Chris made sure both sets were tight by saving 4 Set Points in the 1st Set and then fighting his way back from being down 2-5 in the 2nd Set. At the end, it seemed like he had an off day and on another day the result could have been very different. As for me, I'll enjoy my (brief?) time on the iron throne knowing that dragons (the size of 747s) are not far off (a Game of Thrones reference)!
The K has his say: It was a great win for Nate to take out Chris in straight sets. Congratulations to him indeed to get this win over the Champion. Chris was a shadow of his usual self and he has been for the past few days now. It is fair to say that he was not playing as his usual sharp self. On the contrary, Nate has been in pretty good form and in a great mindset. Obviously, Nate was under no pressure, too, like Chris was in defending the top rank.
I was close by when Chris was serving down 3-5 with 2 Set Points in favor of Nate. We saw sparks of fight as Chris constructed beautiful points with great approaches to the net for winners. After giving himself a Game Point, he would lose the next point to end up in a game of multiple Deuces before eventually holding his serve. It looked like the turnaround moment, but alas the stress and pressure didn't help Chris play his usual fierce game. Nate would hold his serve to secure the 1st Set. I didn't get to see the 2nd Set, but the score was identical. Nate had a very potent weapon in his slices that he used very effectively. The temperament, mindset, strategic play...it all worked in his favor. Chris was not himself and we didn't get to see his usual overpowering shots. Credit goes to Nate for putting constant pressure on Chris and, ultimately, for his win.
Samara's Notes: Let me also congratulate Nate on a hard-fought victory. It has been a long road to the top for Mr. Fernandes. He and Chris both entered the league in the 2011 Season, but it was obvious then that Chiaro was the far more experienced player. Nate came to us pretty much as a true rookie. And then season after season, he displayed tremendous improvement. He has had the occasional setback, but finally all the hard work and court time paid off for him with this impressive win. I also offer major kudos to Chris as he has always been a defending GTA Champion. In fact, there were a few occasions where he issued an open challenge to his nine top contenders (the rest of The Top 10 of the Advanced Division) only to receive no reply. I believe this has been due to his dominance.
The two of them will likely engage in a rematch in the first week of July. If Nate wins again, he will be in the clear and then told to wait for a winner to emerge from the upcoming Grove Cup Men's Singles Tournament (likely registration deadline to be Monday, July 10th…more details to come later this week).
If Chris regains the GTA Championship, he will also be asked to wait to defend the Title. Fernandes would then have an immediate rematch in his back pocket to cash in after the conclusion of the Cup. Plus, if he managed to win that tournament, he would then have two guaranteed shots at the Title (quite similar to the situation that Former GTA Women's Champ: Fernanda Toker had).
We now go back to the report from Kris.
Chris Chiaro/Andrew Kroessler over Joe Rodrigues/Kris Srinivasan, 6-2! No Aces.
Nathan Fernandes/Dave Zhu over Laura Gawley/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-1! No Aces.
Dave Zhu/Doinks Srinivasan over Lou La Forgia/Laurie Boughton, 6-2! No Aces.
Chris Chiaro/Jose Gonzales over Kris Srinivasan/Tito Castolo, 6-2! No Aces.
Raj Shah over Jordan Bachvaroff, 6-3! No Aces.
There were other matches. Raj was also involved in some Doubles. Vinnie teamed with T.J. Shah to play against Mole and Jose. Natalia Sout was involved in a couple of sets, one with Lou, I believe.
Well, I am sorry that I didn't get the results and equally sorry that people don't give me them. I don't want to get stressed about the scores that I am not aware of. I hope that Frank will be here for me so I can just focus on the game...:-).
Samara's Notes: Unfortunately, complications in my personal life are keeping me from being at GTA Tennis as often as I would like to be. And it continues to disturb me when results go unreported. Of course, I don't blame Kris (or anyone else assuming "hosting" duties) as one can only do so much. But this is also why I so often shy away from being part of the action (even while others are practically insisting that I get out on the courts) when I am there just so that I can keep everything properly organized and duly noted. And I ask no one else to make the same sacrifice…just please understand the reasons why I do it. We now go back to Kris one last time.
Wednesday night should be exciting with a couple of tournament matches. There will be a MXD2 Mixed Doubles Round of 13 Match as Nate and Natalia team up against Chazz Weldon/Lena Pyatski. Also in the pipeline is the M2 Men's Doubles Round of 13 Match as Jordan teams with Ryan Sherry to take on Dennis Cabanatan/Tom La.
Here's to a great evening of GTA Tennis! Cheers!
Samara's Notes: I truly thank Kris for all he does for the GTA up at Cedar Grove.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
862-596-3354
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