9/14/17:
"Chiaro-Pathan part of 24 at C.G.!":
There was just one session of GTA Thursday Night Tennis at The Cedar Grove Courts, but it was a big one as it started off with the Main Event being the Grove Cup XX Quarterfinal Match between "King Crush" Chris Chiaro and "Instant" Moka Pathan (with both reporting) and then there was plenty more action throughout the night as results were also sent in by "Dominant" Dawn Peterson, "Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli, GTA Women's Champion: Laura "The Aura" Gawley, "The Webmaster" Senthil Kumar, GTA Champion: "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes and usual host, "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan.
"Hollywood" Frank Samara failed to issue a News e-mail to the league earlier in the day for a couple of reasons: One, the weather forecast was still uncertain (as was his plans for the evening); and two, he had sent out four e-mails of Results from earlier in the week as he finally found the time to get caught up with everything (he felt a fifth e-mail that same day might be one too many).
It is great to see that such a powerful session materialized. And I am truly thankful for the multiple reporting sources…as it has been strong and steady for close to a week now. It has been helpful in sustaining the momentum of the league.
Let's get to the scores!
The Cedar Grove Results:
Grove Cup XX Quarterfinal Match:
Chris Chiaro over Moka Pathan, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5), to successfully defend his # 2 Rank in the Advanced Division while also advancing to the Semifinals of the 20th Annual Grove Cup Tournament! Chris: 1 Ace.
The Commentary from Chris: The match lasted from 6:45 to 8pm. Although the 1st Set was one-sided, the 2nd Set was very tough. I was up 5-3 when Moka came back and was then up 6-5. I was able to get it to a Tiebreak which was very close. Moka had changed up his game plan in the 2nd Set and made it very difficult for me. I give Moka a lot of credit for a great match.
Moka's Brew: In the 1st Set, it was Chris up 2-1, then 4-2 and then he took the last 2 games (breaking me in the last game) to take the set.
In the 2nd Set, we exchanged holds and I broke him to go up 2-1, then Chris broke back and went up 3-2, then went to 5-3 with Chris serving for the match. I broke him and then held to tie it up 5-5. I then broke him again to go up 6-5, but then he broke me to force the Tiebreak. In the Tiebreaker, he went up 4-2, then I went up 5-4 and had two Set Points on my serve for a chance at the set, but he took both to go up 6-5 and then he held his serve to take it at 7-5.
Summary: Chris was the deserving winner as he really played some of his best tennis in that 1st Set, hitting baseline winners from all over the court. I felt I wasn't playing poorly…he was just playing at a different level. In the 2nd Set, I made a concerted effort to hit a lot more slices because he was killing every topspin shot and it made a slight difference. His level just slightly dropped that 2nd Set, but every time I went up or had a chance to extend the lead, he dug in and won the big points for the most part. Congrats to Chris for advancing…he deserved it.
The Consequences: Chiaro is now in the Semis where he awaits the winner of the other Quarterfinal on his side of the draw – "Super Mario" Marijus Kuzavas versus "Daddy O" Paul Daddio.
3 out of 5 Sets Women's Doubles Match:
Dawn Peterson/Diane Raum over Kathy Sheldon/Laurie Boughton, 6-3, 6-3, 6-4, to become the New # 6 Ranked Team in the Women's Doubles Division! No Aces.
Jordan Bachvaroff/Laura Gawley over Frank Hohorst/Justin Berardo, 6-3! No Aces.
2 out of 3 Sets:
Jordan Bachvaroff/Laura Gawley over Senthil Kumar/Justin Berardo, 6-1, 6-0! No Aces.
Senthil Kumar/Don Moya over Jordan Bachvaroff/Justin Berardo, 6-1! No Aces.
Nathan Fernandes/Levy Lorenzo over Rob Gawley/Nick Inciong, 6-1! No Aces.
Rob Gawley/Nick Inciong over Nathan Fernandes/Levy Lorenzo, 6-4! No Aces.
Joe Rodrigues/Fadia Nicolas over Dan Martinelli/Ray Spadaro, 6-2! No Aces.
Joe Rodrigues/Fadia Nicolas over Dan Martinelli/Ray Spadaro, 7-5! No Aces.
The Spin from Spin: In the first One-Setter, Ray and I were up 2-1 and then got steamrolled. Fadia was ridiculously steady, returning just about everything. Joe played like he just knocked off a roast chicken as his energy level was high and he made some great gets. I played like I had not picked up a tennis racquet in 5 years. We decided to "run it back". Ray and I came out smoking. We both found our respective game and stormed to a 5-1 lead. Our plan was clear…beat them worse than they beat us in the first set! Oh how our plan fell apart as we dropped 6 straight games as Joe and Fadia constructed one of the more amazing comebacks in this…the 2017 season of the GTA!
Samara's Notes: I thank all of the contributors to this report (and all were very timely in their submissions). We now go to Kris to close us out on this night.
We were a very late show, but we got two sets in without changing sides. All the courts were taken and it looked like a busy night for the GTA. The highlight was indeed the Chiaro-Pathan match that went down to the wire in the 2nd Set. It was a night muggy night to sweat it out and it was also good to see some brisk tennis being played.
Kris Srinivasan/Louise Bysiek over Frank Hohorst/Doinks Srinivasan, 7-5! No Aces.
It was a well-competed One-Setter that saw the scores evenly placed until 5-All before the break and the set.
Frank Hohorst/Doinks Srinivasan over Kris Srinivasan/Louise Bysiek, 6-1! No Aces.
It's a shame to see the ultimate score line as we missed out on closing 3 or 4 games and keep it even just as we had done in the earlier set. Frank was the most consistent with a deft touch on his net play.
Samara's Notes: I thank Kris for coming in as a late host on the evening…though everyone has really been picking up the ball and running with it in terms of reporting their results as of late. Again, it is much appreciated. It was a really well-attended session…a nice surprise given the uncertain weather.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
862-596-3354
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