8/27/17:
"Samara hosts 9 at AP, Mehta-Phoenix part of 6 at C.G.!":
There were two sessions of GTA Sunday Tennis: the usual early morning one at Albion Park in Clifton hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara; and the later evening one at The Cedar Grove Courts which started a little earlier than usual as it first featured the Grove Cup XX Round of 16 Match between "The AM Rush" Anish Mehta and Jay "The Rising" Phoenix and later hosted by "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan.
First, we will detail all the comings and goings at Albion. Then we will head up to Cedar Grove…first for the dual recap from Anish and Jay and then we will turn this report over to Doinks.
When Samara pulled up to the courts at Albion Park at 10:45, "Vintage" Vinnie De Benedetto had just done the same and was already halfway toward the courts. First, "Lean Daddy" Dean Delgado (who was hitting against "Lightning" Lukasz Krzesiewicz on the South Court) called out to Vin inviting him to join their hitting session. A second later, Frank told Vin that the two of them needed to team together in a full 2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match in order to remain active in the Doubles Division. De Benedetto was down with that.
Then as Frank and Vin continued to head toward the courts, Samara asked Delgado if he and Krzesiewicz would like to be their opponents. Dean and Lukasz readily agreed.
On the North Court, buddies "Sadistic" Syed Rashid and "The Sin Man" Mike Sindler were also having a hitting session with each other on the North Court. Center Court was vacant.
After a brief hitting session, the match got underway at 10:50. Arriving at the same time was "King Crush" Chris Chiaro. He would not have to wait around alone for long as the next arrival was "The Cohort" Frank Hohorst at 10:55. This was Hohorst's first time at Albion. He joined us once before at Cedar Grove. He usually plays in "The Olympian" Marie Salamon's indoor tennis group in Fair Lawn.
Soon, Chiaro and Hohorst started having a hitting session with one another on Center Court. Samara suggested this (rather than have them join Rashid and Sindler for Doubles on the North Court) as a way to hold all three courts.
But by the time the 1st Set of the Doubles Match had finished at 11:35, nobody else had arrived yet. So Frank then said it might make sense to just have the other four play Doubles as each pair were already sitting on the sidelines in need of a water break.
The weather was beautiful as there was no humidity as the temps might have reached 80 degrees...but the sun was hot! Too much time on the sunny side (the west side) of the court was a recipe not only for sunburn, but also an unquenchable thirst!
The Doubles One-Setter on the North Court was just twenty minutes long (11:38 to 11:58) and Rashid and Sindler decided to leave soon afterward. This left Chiaro and Hohorst to sit along the fence near the South Court waiting for the Doubles Match to finish (it was about halfway thru the 2nd Set at this time). During this time period, "The Dynamo" Dino Celis arrived at 11:45 to make an extended cameo appearance and later get involved in a hitting session.
At 12 noon, four interlopers (three men and one woman) took over the North Court. They were there for quite a while, but I failed to note when they left. They would later be replaced by a family of four (father, mother and two daughters) who would stay there beyond when we all left.
"MC Quick" Mike Carucci arrived at 12:05 and would soon start hitting against Hohorst on Center Court. The Doubles Match ended a little more than ten minutes after that. Dean and Vin both left soon after.
This enabled Chiaro and Krzesiewicz to team up to take on Carucci and Hohorst on the North Court. They ended up playing back-to-back One-Setters.
"Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli arrived at 12:35 (again in spikes after another day of football) to also make an extended cameo appearance. He had the chance to hang with Samara and Celis for quite some time.
The official action ended exactly at 1:47 (at which time both Chiaro and Hohorst left). This led to Dino and Mike hitting against one another on the North Court while Frank, Spin and Lukasz ended up having a bull session along the fence near Center Court. And, eventually, the hitting session between Celis and Carucci led to their own bull session as well.
The five of us left the courts and the park at 2:50. It was somewhat of a low turnout given the beautiful weather. Our guess was that perhaps some of our players went away for the weekend.
Let's get to the action!
The Albion Park Results:
2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Frank Samara/Vinnie De Benedetto over Dean Delgado/Lukasz Krzesiewicz, 6-4, 6-3, to successfully defend their # 4 Rank in the Doubles Division! In the process, Delgado/Krzesiewicz entered the division as the New # 79 Ranked Team. No Aces.
1st Set: Frank was broken (Vin blew a volley for Love-15, then it was Love-30 when a truly un-returnable serve made it 15-30, but that was where Lukasz hit a winning lob to set up Double Break Point and then he hit an excellent forehand sharply angled return winner for the break) and then Lukasz held serve (Vin blew a volley to make it 15-Love, then it was at 30-Love when a Double Fault made it 30-15, but that was followed with an un-returned serve to set up Double Game Point and then Vin blew another volley to allow the hold) to go up 2-0. Vinnie held (Vin hit a winning Overhead Smash for 30-Love, but then Lukasz hit an amazing Backhand Volley winner which was a winning return from Dean for 30-All, but that was where Frank hit an impressive volley winner of his own to set up Game Point, it went to Deuce only to go back to Game Point and then the hold) to get his team onto the scoreboard, but then Delgado held (Vin and Frank each blew a volley on the way to Triple Game Point, but then Lukasz blew a volley to cut the lead to Double Game Point only to have Vin blow yet another volley to allow the hold) and Samara was broken again (Vin blew a volley, Lukasz hit a drop shot winner and Dean hit a winner of his own on the way to Triple Break Point, it then went to Double Break Point which was where Lukasz hit another one of those unreachable return winners for the break) to fall behind at 1-4. Krzesiewicz was then broken (Love-30 where an un-returned serve made it 15-30, but then it was Double Break Point where Vin hit an awesome Overhead Smash winner for the break) and De Benedetto held again (back-to-back winning lobs by Lukasz made it Love-30, but then it shifted to 30-All which was where Lukasz made a great get that led to Dean hitting a drop shot winner for Break Point, but then it went to Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to pull to 3-4. Delgado was broken (Lukasz blew a volley for Love-30, it then went to 15-30 and Double Break Point where Frank blew a volley to make it Break Point, but then came the break) and then Hollywood finally held (Lukasz hit a winner for Love-15, but then it went straight to Double Game Point, it was then Game Point when Frank blew a volley to make it Deuce only to then have it go back to Game Point and then the hold) as he took the lead for his team at 5-4! Lightning was then broken again (Dean hit an amazing leaping Backhand Volley winner for 15-Love, but then a Double Fault made it 15-All and then it was at 15-30 when Frank hit a sick drop shot return winner to set up Double Break/Set Point where another Double Fault ended the initial set in unceremonious fashion) as the opposition had just taken five straight games for the set (played on the South Court from 10:50 to 11:35)! The next set began just one minute later as the even score of the previous set meant keeping sides of the court.
2nd Set: Vinnie was broken (started off up 15-Love only to then have Vin blow a volley and then have Lukasz hit a winning return on the way to Double Break Point and then came the break) and Dean held at Love after Frank blew a volley, Lukasz hit a winning volley and then an un-returned serve set up Triple Game Point where Vin then blew a volley to allow the hold for 2-0. Frank held (15-Love was where the next point almost totally reversed the momentum as Vin hit what looked to be a winning volley only to have Dean make an absolutely amazing get which pulled him off the court and hit a short shot that just made it back over the net where Vin was waiting only to then blow what should have been an easy volley as he instead dumped it into the net and two points later Dean hit a blistering passing shot winner to set up Double Break Point only to then have it bounce back to Deuce and then on Game Point it was Dean who blew what should have been a surefire Overhead Smash winner to allow the hold), but Lukasz held as well (Frank hit another well-executed drop shot return winner for Love-30, but then it shifted to 30-All as Lukasz hit a drop shot winner of his own along the way, but then it went to Break Point where Lukasz hit a winning lob to make it Deuce and then Vin blew a volley to set up Game Point and then came the hold) to go up 3-1. De Benedetto held (Vin blew a volley for Love-30, but then came a game-changer of a point as Lukasz hit a roller over the net which seemed like it should hit the court a second time to be a winner only to have Frank make a last-second get and send it back to Lukasz who then hit another solid shot only to have a waiting Vin nail a vicious volley winner and the momentum led to Frank whipping out his Windmill Overhead Smash on the next point and that soon took the game all the way to Game Point, but then it went to Deuce where Vin hit a great scoop volley winner to set up Game Point where he then hit an almost identical scoop volley winner for the hold) and then Delgado was broken at Love after Vin hit an excellent return winner to set up Triple Break Point and now the set was leveled at 3-3! Samara held again (Frank made a great get that led to the point for 15-Love, but then Dean hit a winning lob for 15-All from which it was off and running to Double Game Point as Lukasz blew an overhead along the way and then came the hold), but Krzesiewicz was broken this time around (Lukasz hit a nice drop shot winner for 15-Love, but then hit a Double Fault for 15-All and then it went point for point to Game Point, Double Fault for Deuce, Break Point where Vin blew a volley for 2nd Deuce where Vin redeemed himself with a winning Overhead Smash to set up Break Point, it went to 3rd Deuce where a Double Fault made it Break Point again and then came the break) to fall to 3-5. Then it truly was Vintage Vinnie as he got things started with an un-returned serve and then hit a victorious volley winner on Triple Game/Match Point for a Love hold and the victory (which came at exactly 12:16)!
The Skinny: Vin admittedly had an off day...especially early on as he missed several volley attempts in a row. But he came back strong in the end when it was needed the most! Like De Benedetto, Lukasz was hot and cold. His speedy gets and solid return winners were quite impressive, but he also muffed several volleys along the way. Frank and Dean balanced each other out somewhat as the steadier hands for each team. Down 1-3 in the 2nd Set, Vin said to Frank that they like digging holes for themselves. That was when Samara coined the team with the moniker - The Gravediggers! It was a close contest and a fun match overall.
Chris Chiaro/Frank Hohorst over Syed Rashid/Mike Sindler, 6-0! No Aces. This one was played on the North Court from 11:38 to 11:58.
Chris Chiaro/Lukasz Krzesiewicz over Mike Carucci/Frank Hohorst, 6-4! No Aces. South Court hosted this one from 12:18 to 12:56.
Mike Carucci/Frank Hohorst over Chris Chiaro/Lukasz Krzesiewicz, 7-6 (8-6)! No Aces. This was also played on the South Court and lasted from 12:57 to 1:47. There was a lot of solid hitting and great get-making in lengthy rallies during this one (and the one before). Perhaps it has a shot at being a Nominee for One-Set Doubles Match of The Year at season's end.
And now we head up to Cedar Grove and start with the Mehta-Phoenix match.
The Cedar Grove Results:
Grove Cup XX Round of 16 Match:
Anish Mehta over Jay Phoenix, 6-1, 7-5, to successfully defend his # 5 Rank in the Advanced Division while also advancing to the Quarterfinals of the 20th Annual Grove Cup Tournament! Anish: 5 Aces (four of which were in the first few games and then there was another later in the set)!
The AM News: We started the match at 5:30. I had a solid amount of Aces early mixed in with some service winners before my serve left me in the 2nd Set. I was leading 4-1 in that set when Jay came back to even things after I let my guard down. I broke back and was able to serve it out at the end.
Jay has his say: I agree. I couldn't handle his first serves. The match only became competitive when he started missing his first serves which allowed me to return more effectively. His first serve is not only fast, but it has some kick which is extremely difficult to handle. He is also a superb service returner and he likes to sneak into the net where is very strong. I like his chances against anybody in the GTA.
Samara's Notes: I congratulate Anish on a very impressive victory and thank both of them for their very timely reporting. We now turn it over to Doinks.
I saw Mike Mole and Omar Santos playing.
Samara's Notes: Neither reported anything to me (and both are usually good about that sort of thing), so I will have to assume they wanted to keep it all as unofficial. Back to Doinks!
Dave Zhu and Jane Fan also came, but they were just hitting.
Samara's Notes: Nice to know that Jane was back out on the courts as earlier reports indicated we might not get to see her hitting ever again. OK. I will stop interrupting! We turn it over to Doinks one last time.
Kris Srinivasan/Doinks Srinivasan over Greg Swierczek/Sairaj Srinivasan, 6-4! No Aces.
Greg Swierczek/Sairaj Srinivasan over Kris Srinivasan/Doinks Srinivasan, 7-6 (10-8)! Sairaj: 1 Ace on Doinks on Match Point!
Dino Celis came to practice his serves. The Srinivasans will be away Monday night, so we won't be there to collect any scores. You should tell the players that whoever wins their sets/matches should e-mail and/or text you their scores. Cheers!
Samara's Notes: I thank Doinks for reporting those results as well as her suggestion at the end…which makes sense as we very rarely get results reported by the losers…LOL! By the way, that last One-Setter sounds like a possible Nominee for One-Set Specialty Doubles Match of The Year at season's end.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
862-596-3354
No comments:
Post a Comment