8/4/17:
"M2 Quarter part of 21 (2 new) at C.G. as Samara hosts!":
GTA Friday Night Tennis took place at The Cedar Grove Courts. Contrary to his announcement to the league earlier in the day, "Hollywood" Frank Samara showed up as the surprise host. When there was a change of plans that gave him the green light, he sent a text message at 7:30 to usual host "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan to say that he was on his way and would be there by 8pm. Kris did not see it as he was already involved in on-court action.
Upon Samara's arrival at 7:50, first he noticed three others pulling into the parking lot at the same time: Santosh "Ever" Reddy, "GDP" Guy Dupoux and "The Webmaster" Senthil Kumar. "The Sin Man" Mike Sindler was already sitting on the bench alongside Court Four just waiting to play.
Out on Court One there was a hitting session going on as "The Secret Weapon" Sairaj Srinivasan and Miroslav "Mirav" Glavic were facing off against "The Ambidextrous Machine" Herb Reiner and Natalia "Nitro" Sout. Court Two was vacant.
On Court Three, a Doubles One-Setter was already in progress as Kris was teaming with "Magic" Mike Mole to take on "Instant" Moka Pathan and "J-Wow" Janice Wang.
And on Court Four was the M2 Quarterfinal Match already in progress as the reigning Top Contenders: "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak and "Chito" Nick Inciong were up against Dennis "The Menace" Cabanatan and "The Hit Man" Tom La.
At 7:55, both "The Art Font" Arthur Fontanilla and "The Levitator" Levy Lorenzo arrived. As Santosh was not yet Reddy (see what I did there...LOL!) to get out of his car, it meant that Mike, Senthil, Guy and Art would be the first four to access Court Two.
"The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan came across the street at 8:05. Ten minutes after that, Herb and Mirav wrapped up their hitting session (which reverted back to a one-on-one outing after both Sairaj and Natalia left the court earlier). This enabled Natalia to return to that court along with Levy, Santosh and Doinks. They ended up getting a Doubles One-Setter going by 8:25.
At that same time, "J-Rod" Joe Rodrigues arrived. Five minutes later, Tito "Touch" Castolo also made his arrival. Both stayed near Samara on the bench alongside Court Four.
Around this same time, we had four Filipinos with racquets in hand (though it appeared that earlier they had played basketball on the nearby court) also gravitate to the area near the bench where Samara's butt was parked. Initially, it seemed they were looking to access a court.
It was only where two more guys pulled into the parking lot and asked those four about the situation on the courts did we learn that they were just there to watch. During a changeover in the M2 Quarterfinal, Dennis spoke to the initial foursome in Tagalog. The exchange ended in English with the guys saying they were only beginners.
The next two guys got out of there car and also headed toward the bench where now both Frank and Kris were sitting. As it turns out, Kris had seen the one guy at the courts quite a few times before as he usually plays Singles at the courts in the afternoons. The K Man invited to play some Doubles with us once a court opened up and he also introduce the duo to Samara.
Their names are Joe Sementa and Dave Erdos. All of us in that area talked tennis for a while until an opportunity opened up for the new duo on Court One. It would end up being Sementa/Erdos going up against Lorenzo/Reddy.
This gave us a total of 21 official competitors for the evening. Also, "The Adonis" Don Moya arrived around 9:40 and made a cameo appearance that ran past lights out at 10pm. Then, many of us engaged in a bull session that ran until 10:50! It was quite the night!
Let's get to the action!
The Cedar Grove Results:
Mike Mole over Moka Pathan, 6-2! Mike: 3 Aces! This one took place on Court Three before all the other action got underway.
Moka Pathan/Janice Wang over Kris Srinivasan/Mike Mole, 7-5! Mike: 1 Ace on Janice. Court Three also hosted this one and it lasted from 7:36 to 8:22.
M2 Quarterfinal Match:
Ryan Pienciak/Nick Inciong over Dennis Cabanatan/Tom La, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), to successfully defend the # 2 Rank in the Doubles Division while advancing to the Semifinals of the M2 Men's Doubles Tournament! No Aces.
The Skinny: They started hitting on Court Four around 7:30, but it likely did not get started until 7:40 as Kris said they had started their One-Setter on Court Three first. In the 1st Set, Ryan and Nick jumped out to a 3-0 lead only to soon be down 3-4! They then took three straight games to take the set. In the 2nd Set, it was 3-3 and eventually it would get to 5-5. With Pienciak/Inciong up 6-5, Dennis was on serve. He got down and soon it became Break/Match Point. They saved that one to bring it to Deuce, then Game Point and the hold to tie things up at 6-6 and force the Tiebreak!
The Breaker (9:02 to 9:09): Ryan held his lone serve, Tom held the first of his two serves after Dennis hit a winning Overhead Smash, but then Tom was broken on his second for 1-2. Nick had two consecutive un-returned serves to put his team up 4-1. Dennis held the first of his two serves after Tom hit a whopper of a winning Overhead Smash and it was now 2-4 at the changeover. Dennis also held his second serve after Tom hit yet another winning Overhead Smash and now it was 3-4. Like his partner earlier, Pienciak had two consecutive un-returned serves to take a 6-3 lead for his team. And now the opposition was facing multiple Match Points. La hit an un-returned serve to pull to 4-6 and save the 2nd M.P. overall, but now it was still the 3rd Match Point. The Hit Man held again to pull to 5-6 and make it the 4th Match Point! That's where service returned to Inciong who once again hit one that went un-returned and put this TB in the books at 7-5!
The Consequences: Pienciak/Inciong advance to the Semifinals where they will face the team of "The Speed Demon" Dan Praport and "The Lion Tamer" Andrew Ramer. Waiting in the Finals is the formidable tandem of "Super Mario" Marijus Kuzavas and "Big Kaz" Mike Kazlauskas (aka M&M, aka The Lanky Lithuanians, aka The Twin Towers...the list goes on and on!).
Samara's Notes: Even though this match ended in straight sets, it stands a solid chance at becoming a Nominee for Doubles Match of The Year at season's end as it was a hard-hitting affair throughout the entire contest. Quality tennis was played and the team that made the fewer errors (Pienciak/Inciong) was the one that emerged victorious. It was definitely one to watch and testament to that fact were all the "outsiders" who stuck around to see it until its conclusion.
Senthil Kumar/Arthur Fontanilla over Mike Sindler/Guy Dupoux, 6-4! Guy: 1 Ace on Senthil. Court Two hosted this one from 8:15 to 9:05. Afterward, Art and Guy engaged in a lengthy and hard-hitting practice session.
Levy Lorenzo/Natalia Sout over Santosh Reddy/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-3! No Aces. This one took place on Court One and lasted from 8:25 to 8:55.
Joe Rodrigues/Tito Castolo over Moka Pathan/Janice Wang, 6-3! No Aces. Court Three contained this action from 8:33 to 9:13.
Joe Sementa/Dave Erdos over Levy Lorenzo/Santosh Reddy, 6-3! Joe: 2 Aces on Santosh! It was the official GTA Debut of both Joe Sementa and Dave Erdos. This one got underway on Court One at 9pm. Not sure when it ended as it went right into another one which we will get to later in this report.
Tito Castolo/Janice Wang over Joe Rodrigues/Dennis Cabanatan, 6-4! Janice: 1 Ace on Joe! They played this on Court Three from 9:15 to 9:50.
Joe Sementa/Dave Erdos leading Levy Lorenzo/Santosh Reddy, 4-3 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)! No Aces. Joe, who usually prefers to play Singles, said he had a good time and will definitely be back to play with us again.
Ryan Pienciak/Doinks Srinivasan leading Kris Srinivasan/Frank Samara, 6-5 (Incomplete as Ryan was serving and we played the point through the dark after the lights went off at 10pm and Ryan/Doinks ended up winning it for a 15-Love lead)! No Aces. It went like this: Frank was broken (Ryan hit a winning Backhand Volley for Love-15 and then it went point for point until 30-All as Frank hit an un-returned serve, Ryan hit another winning volley and then there was another un-returned serve, but then it shifted to Game Point, Deuce where Kris blew a volley and then Break Point and the break) and Doinks held serve (Kris made a great get/winner combo for Love-15 and then it was point for point until 30-All as Ryan hit an awesome Backhand Volley winner, Kris made a great passing shot return winner and then it shifted to Game Point where Doinks hit a truly un-returnable serve for the hold) to go up 2-0! Kris held (Ryan blew an overhead for 15-Love and then it went point for point to Game Point as Ryan also hit another winning Backhand Volley and there was an un-returned serve along the way and the hold was made on that Game Point...and this was the last game where I noted who hit what winners and when in the interest of saving time and hopefully getting this one fully finished...ah, the best laid plans of mice and men!) to get his team onto the scoreboard, but Ryan also held (15-Love, 15-All then straight to Double Game Point, then that was reduced to Deuce, Game Point again and a Double Fault for 2nd Deuce, but yet another Game Point and then the hold) for a 3-1 lead. Samara was broken again (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point was cut down to Deuce, Break Point and the break) to fall to 1-4, but Mrs. Srinivasan was also broken (15-Love went straight to Double Break Point and then the break) to cut her team's lead to 4-2. Mr. Srinivasan was then broken as well (Love-15 shifted right to Double Game Point, then Game Point, Double Fault for Deuce, Break Point and then the break) to fall to 2-5! But from there, Pienciak was the next victim of the break of serve (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 then shifted again to Break Point, Deuce, Game/Match Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point and the break) and then Hollywood finally held (Ryan hit a crushing Overhead Smash winner for Love-15, then came 15-All only to go straight to Double Break/Match Point, then it was Break/Match Point, Deuce, Game Point where Frank had a winning Overhead Smash of his own for the hold...OK, so I lied...I did note two more winners, but only because each one seemed monumental at the time) to pull to 4-5! The Marathon Woman was broken (15-Love went to 15-30, then came 30-All, Break Point and the break) to level things at 5-5, but The K Man was also broken (15-Love shifted to 15-30 then shifted again to Game Point, Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point and then the break) to fall to 5-6. The Lumberjack was then on serve and the lights went out during the first point which was still played in the dark until its proper conclusion which ended up being 15-Love!
The Skinny: It is such a shame this one could not get past the finish line in time as it may have had a shot at being a Nominee for One-Set Specialty Doubles Match of The Year at season's end. Kris was trying out a new serve (per the instruction of "Coach" Dino Celis) and sometimes it worked and sometimes it did not. Ryan said he was also sometimes trying out a new serve, too. As one can see, holding serve did not play much of a factor in this one. Instead, it was the spirited efforts of all involved as all four parties often made great gets that caused this One-Setter to rise up in overall level of quality. This one, too, drew a crowd of onlookers.
It was a fun way to close out the night!
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
862-596-3354
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