7/23/17:
"Mike-Mike + 4 at AP, 4 at NTC, Andrew-T.J., Doinks-Janice, M2 Qtr + 4 at C.G.!":
There were three sessions of GTA Sunday Tennis: the usual morning one at The Albion Park Courts in Clifton and then two sessions that started late afternoon and went into the evening – The Nutley Tennis Club and The Cedar Grove Courts.
Before we get to the latter two, let's first discuss what happened at the early one.
Former GTA Champ: "King Crush" Chris Chiaro sent a text message to "Hollywood" Frank Samara at 9:15am asking if he would be hosting the usual GTA Sunday Tennis session at Albion Park in Clifton. Thanks to Frank's handy-dandy and ever-reliable flip phone, he did not see this message until 11:45! It was all good though as Chris assumed the hosting duties. This was along with "Magic" Mike Mole submitting the result (along with commentary) of his Grove Cup XX Round of 41 Match against "MC Quick" Mike Carucci.
Samara was delayed and then sidelined with some other obligations. When he saw the iffy, gray and cloudy skies and felt the stifling humidity in the air, he decided to take off for a rare Sunday at home.
"Sue B. Newbie" Suzanne Bujara said she had a chance to hit with Ryan and Rich. I am assuming that is "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak and "Richie" Rich Liu, though I am not sure. In the wake of Liu's loss to "Tailor Made" Raj Tailor, Rich said that playing in the GTA has already improved his game. That is what we hope for all who join us.
So now let's get that result from Mike (as that was the first match to take place) and then list the additional scores sent in by Chris.
The Albion Park Results:
Grove Cup XX Round of 41 Match:
Mike Mole over Mike Carucci, 6-3, 6-0, to successfully defend his # 15 Rank in the Intermediate Division while also advancing to the Round of 16 of the 20th Annual Grove Cup Tournament! No Aces. The match started at 9:10 and ended at 10:15.
The Magic Memo: It was a good match. He made me work for my shots. Even though I think it has been a while since he played, he was getting everything back the way Nate (GTA Champion: Nathan Fernandes) always does.
Samara's Notes: I thank Mike for his very timely reporting of that result. And as for the other Mike, Mr. Carucci, he has earned the moniker of "Mr. Quick" as he does make many great gets. If he could find the time to play more, he would continue to make even more improvement and start adding consistent hitting to his already solid get-making skills. And next up for Mr. Mole in the Round of 32 will be Tony "Sure Shot" Shiao.
We now turn this report over to Chris for the rest of the results.
Chris Chiaro/Jose Gonzales over Dean Delgado/Mike Mole, 7-5! Mike: 2 Aces on Jose!
Chris Chiaro/Jorge Solano over Dean Delgado/Jose Gonzales, 6-2! Jose: 1 Ace on Jorge!
Samara's Notes: I thank Chris for his very timely reporting of those results. We now head to NTC for The Riz Report.
The NTC Results:
2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Paul Daddio/John Rizzo over Dan Hwang/Ray Spadaro, 6-0, 6-4, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 64 and # 65 Ranked Teams respectively! No Aces.
Paul Daddio/Ray Spadaro over Dan Hwang/John Rizzo, 7-5! No Aces.
Samara's Notes: I thank John for his very timely reporting of those results. We now head up to Cedar Grove where we had so many contributors. In addition to the overall host, "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan, we had direct reports submitted by his wife Doinks, "The A-Bomb" Andrew Troung, "Teej" T.J. Shah, "Super Mario" Marijus Kuzavas and "The Accelerator" Abhilash Gadi. I will do my best to get all the comments in where they should be.
The Cedar Grove Results:
Grove Cup Round of 41 Match:
T.J. Shah over Andrew Truong, 2-6, 7-5, 7-5, to become both the New # 32 Ranked Player in the Advanced Division and the New # 13 Ranked Player in the Intermediate Division while advancing to the Round of 32 of the 20th Annual Grove Cup Tournament! Andrew: 2 Aces; and T.J.: 1 Ace!
The Teej says: It was a close match throughout…it was good tennis all around!
A-Bomb's assessment: T.J. played very well, and stayed offensive throughout. He is very solid from both wings. Congrats!
Samara's Notes: I thank both for their very timely reporting. It sounds like it could be a possible Nominee for Intermediate Singles Match of The Year at season's end. Next up for T.J. in the Round of 32 will be "The Sultan of Swing" Raj Shah!
The K has his say: It was a solid match with two players giving their all and, in the end, the one with the calmer demeanor prevailed. After Andrew running through the 1st Set, it was a hard fight from the start of the 2nd Set until the end. Both players deserve a good pat on their back for a well-played match.
Samara's Notes: We will now stay with Kris as he reports the match between his wife Doinks and "J-Wow" Janice Wang for the Quarterfinals of the 7th Annual Gail-ann Hamilton Memorial Tournament. We will then get some comments from Doinks as well.
GAH7 Quarterfinal Match:
Janice Wang over Doinks Srinivasan, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), to become the New # 2 Ranked Player in the Women's Division while also advancing to the Semifinals of the 7th Annual Gail-ann Hamilton Memorial Tournament! No Aces.
The K has his say: It was close to 5pm when Doinks got to play her match against Janice while it was T.J. against Andrew Troung at the same time. Both these matches lasted for 2-1/2 hours as both were marathon battles that saw gutsy and determined play. Kudos to all the players for their exceptional efforts!
As for Janice versus Doinks, it was a hard-fought win for Janice as it was not easy to shake Doinks off. Both sets saw extended rallies and multiple Deuce games. After a tough 1st Set, Doinks slipped up quickly going down Love-3 before getting on board. But again, she slumped to 2-5 with her back against the wall. A spirited and aggressive comeback by Doinks showcased the shots she can make and it would go to the distance before Janice managed to triumph. Doinks acknowledged that Janice was indeed a steady player throughout the match and had some exquisite backhand winners. Congrats to Janice on a well-deserved win! Doinks had multiple Break Point opportunities that she couldn't convert. Self-belief will help Doinks progress significantly to supplement her skills and determination.
The details from Doinks: I think we started at 5:20 and finished around 7:30. I came back from being down 2-5 in the 2nd Set (and eventually forced the Tiebreak). Janice is a tough cookie. I had to hit good ground-strokes to force her to make errors. Of course, she had great and lethal backhand winners. In the end, the better player won.
Samara's Notes: As always, I thank Kris for hosting and providing us with such comprehensive commentary. But I also thank Doinks for her very timely reporting along with her honest and sportsmanlike comments as well.
We now go to the M2 Quarterfinal Match where we will get comments from Marijus, Abhilash and Kris.
M2 Quarterfinal Match:
Marijus Kuzavas/Mike Kazlauskas over Chazz Weldon/Abhilash Gadi, 6-0, 7-5, to successfully defend their # 5 Rank in the Doubles Division while also advancing to the Semifinals of the M2 Men's Doubles Tournament! Mike: 1 Ace on Chazz!
The Super Scoop from Mario: It was a good match. After the 1st Set, we lost a bit of our concentration, started making errors and our opponents picked up their game. At some point we were down 3-5 in the 2nd Set, but somehow we managed to pull the set up and back in our favor.
Abhi gets gabby: We started at 7:40 and got done by 8:55. In the 1st Set, Mike and Mario blew us away. But in the 2nd Set, we came in hard and went down fighting. All in all it was a great match and I was really happy to play with Chazz. Good luck to Mike and Mario!
The K has his say: M&M started off on a rollicking way taking the 1st Set in no time. Yes, in a blink, they closed the set, serving well and imposing their will at the net. Chazz and Abhi recovered well to take the fight to the "Towering Infernos". We got to see Abhi playing aggressively with steady support from Chazz. As they upped their game, M&M faltered somewhat…making errors at the net or when a weak volley was punished. The result was a jump to a solid 5-3 lead for Chazz and Abhi before the giants woke up to dismantle them.
Samara's Notes: Next up for the team also known as The Lanky Lithuanians – the Pinoy Posse, aka William "Bombs Away" Bobila and Fred "Supa Dupa" Suba!
And I thank all the above for their contributions to this report. We now turn the rest of this report over to Kris.
2 out of 3 Sets:
Raj Shah/Rajan Shah over Kris Srinivasan/Sally Pillay, 7-5, 6-0! No Aces.
We were mostly on the attack and consistent until we were up 5-2 before we started to disintegrate. A combination of silly errors on our part coupled with great shots from R&R resulted in a poor showing by us. Rajan had some great gets and was steady along with Raj serving well and executing nice drop shots and overheads. We let Raj hold his serve after being down Love-40 as we blew put-away points with smashing overkills! The match even saw an attacking Sally falling facedown full-length trying to volley aggressively at the net. It was a classic match where we were exceptional in losing during would-be winning moments.
Marijus and Sally played a match against Rob and Laura and then Doinks and Sally followed suit after that with just a hitting session against Rob and Laura.
Samara's Note: I am assuming that was just a One-Setter between the Gawleys and Marijus/Sally. And since nobody reported it, it'll have to remain as unofficial. We now go back to Kris for one more score.
Raj Shah/Kris Srinivasan over Chazz Weldon/Abhilash Gadi, 6-3! No Aces.
Abhi was brilliant in this set and Chazz had his own sweet moments getting Raj down the line on at least two occasions. Raj still had his magic to counter effectively, however.
It turned out to be an eventful and meaningful night of GTA Tennis with intense action. Cheers!
Samara's Notes: As always, I thank Kris for being the host with the most up at Cedar Grove.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
862-596-3354
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