7/20/17:
"4 play (1 new) at NTC, 2 play at AP!":
GTA Thursday Night Tennis took place at two locations: one at The Nutley Tennis Club as "Hollywood" Frank Samara and "The Riz" John Rizzo teamed together as the result of being drafted into the NTC Men's Doubles Tournament run by "Bionic" Bo Folchi; and the other at the Albion Park Courts in Clifton as "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan and "Magic" Mike Mole got together for an epic One-Setter (as reported by Gen).
Since the NTC action took place just a bit earlier, we will discuss that match first.
Bo runs a Men's Doubles Tournament every year at the Nutley Tennis Club. As he needed a certain amount of teams, he drafted the team of Samara and Rizzo to be a part of his round-robin format event. In this match, Folchi would be against Samara and Rizzo as he teamed with Frank Ruiz.
It was played on Court One (the one right in front of the Clubhouse) and the lone spectator for the entire contest was "Dynamic" Denise Savino. Nobody else was in attendance at NTC. After a brief hitting session, the match got underway somewhere around 6:15.
Samara refrained from doing his usual note-taking during the changeovers. With ominous dark skies off to the west, there was a sense of urgency to try to get this match finished before the rain would strike.
The NTC Result:
2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Bo Folchi/Frank Ruiz over Frank Samara/John Rizzo, 6-3, 6-2, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 62 and # 63 Ranked Teams respectively! It was the official GTA Debut of Frank Ruiz. No Aces.
The Skinny: Ruiz served first and held. Samara also held. Folchi also held. And then Rizzo held as we were at 2-2 and on serve in the 1st Set. The Gastro Doc (though he said he'd like to be known as "Mr. Personality") held again, but then Hollywood was the first to be broken and it was at Love to fall behind at 2-4. The Bionic One then had a rare service as he hit Double Faults to Rizzo returning from the Deuce court three times in one game and it led to him being broken for 4-3. But The Riz was also broken and then Ruiz managed a third straight hold to close out the set. The true differential in this set was one break.
In the 2nd Set, Samara started off and was once again broken at Love. Folchi and Ruiz switched their service sides and Bo was next up and he hit two more Double Faults (one to John and one to Frank), yet he managed to hold for a 2-0 lead. Rizzo then held and then Ruiz was broken for the very first time to level the set at 2-2. The Wood was determined to snap out of his service funk and came out blazing with two big serves...the second one to Folchi for 30-Love was truly un-returnable. But then, Samara went off the rails a bit as he tried to amp it up some more and sent a long one past Ruiz that reverberated off of the fences behind him. Though he did not Double Fault, there was a momentum shift and a 30-Love lead ended up going straight to Break Point, then Deuce, then Break Point again, then 2nd Deuce, then Break Point again, then 3rd Deuce, then Break Point yet again and finally the break for 2-3. From there, Bionic Bo held again, J to Tha Rizzo was broken and The Gastro Doc held once more for the victory. We likely finished this somewhere around 7:15.
The match was definitely closer than the score indicates as there were multiple games where Samara/Rizzo had a 30-Love lead (either on serve or against serve) only to end up blowing it and dropping the game. But that means that credit must also be given to Folchi/Ruiz for sharpening their knives at the right times in order to go in for the kill. Bionic Bo was a bit off on this night, but The Gastro Doc is a very smooth and steady player. Though he also had his share of unforced errors (we all did!), he likely came up with the most winners...especially with some well-timed and well-placed volleys. He has solid game and is also a nice guy. It was a fun match.
A little later in the evening (just a couple minutes past 7:50), Samara received a text message from Capan. And that leads us to the following...
The Albion Park Result:
Mike Mole over Genalin Capan, 7-6 (7-3)! No Aces.
Gen's Notes: We started hitting at 6pm. The One-Setter ran from 6:50 to 7:50. We got it done just in time as the rain came right then.
Samara's Notes: I thank Gen for her very timely reporting of that result...mere minutes after it ended.
Also, "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan checked in to report that he and Doinks went out for the night. He doubts, however, that there was any official action as the rain rolled thru the Cedar Grove area by 8pm. And nobody else did step forward with any results from there, so that's that!
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
862-596-3354
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