9/21/17:
"Phoenix-Ortega, Wang-Toker part of 26 at C.G. as Samara hosts!":
There was just one session of GTA Thursday Night Tennis and it occurred at The Cedar Grove Courts. "Hollywood" Frank Samara ended up arriving earlier than expected to host of the session (6:30 instead of 7pm). Upon his arrival, he soon found out from "Salsa Picante" Edwin Ortega that he had just missed by a bit the first big match of the night as Ortega had faced Jay "The Rising" Phoenix in a full 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match.
Also there at the time was "The Bulgarian Bull" Jordan Bachvaroff and "GDP" Guy Dupoux. And out on Court One were "King Crush" Chris Chiaro and "Instant" Moka Pathan doing battle in what would be the first of two Singles One-Setters between them.
The other major match of the evening (which had been announced to the league earlier in the day) was another 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match as "J-Wow" Janice Wang would be facing "The Argentine Machine" Fernanda Toker. It was set to have a starting time of 8pm.
Wang arrived early at 6:45 and Samara instructed her to hold Court Four for their upcoming match. Meanwhile, "Big George" Jorge Solano had arrived five minutes earlier. It was his first appearance at the courts in over a month as he has been nursing a knee injury. He was coming to play on this night to test out the healing process/progress.
So on Court Three, we soon had Jordan and Jorge hitting against Frank and Guy and it eventually led to quite the Doubles One-Setter.
And then the arrivals just kept on coming: "Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli at 7:05, "The Hit Man" Tom La at 7:10 and "JB Smooth" Justin Berardo who would all end up on Court Three in a hitting session together while waiting for a fourth player to arrive.
Toker also arrived somewhat early for her match as she got out onto Court Four around 7:25 and then entered into a lengthy hitting session against Wang. I estimate their match began a bit early, possibly around 7:45 (I could not check exactly when as I was still in the midst of an epic Doubles One-Setter).
Arriving at the same time as Fernanda was "The Queen of Controversy" Louise Bysiek who became the fourth player on Court Two.
At 7:30, "The Levitator" Levy Lorenzo made his way out onto Court One just after Chiaro and Pathan had finished their action against one another. Both were exhausted and sat on the sidelines recuperating and talking to each other. Neither was interested in playing further at that time (and Chris would leave soon after). So Levy took the opportunity to fix the net on Court One as he tied up the gaping holes that were just underneath the tape across the top. Thanks to Levy for the handiwork and repair!
At 7:45, "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak and Frank "Hydro" Hohorst both arrived and made their way to Court One to hit with Lorenzo. Having now recuperated, Pathan returned to the court to make it a foursome and that led to some official Doubles action there as well.
And still more were on the way: GTA Women's Champion: Laura "The Aura" Gawley at 7:50, "The Art Font" Arthur Fontanilla at 7:55, "Tireless" Tommy Reszkowski at 8pm (strictly to make an extended cameo appearance and watch the Wang-Toker match), Tito "Touch" Castolo at 8:05 and "Rowdy" Rob Gawley at 8:10.
Laura chose to watch the Wang-Toker match for a while, but the rest did not have to wait too long to get involved in some official action.
We still were not done as a bit later it was "EA Sports" Erdem Alpay and his son (I believe he said his name is Ahmed) around 8:20, "Laidback" Laurie Boughton at 8:25, Dupoux returned at 8:30 (as he had to leave right after the conclusion of the earlier Doubles One-Setter to go pick up his wife) and "The Adonis" Don Moya also arrived at that time (strictly to make an extended cameo appearance and watch the balance of the Wang-Toker match), GTA Champion: "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes at 8:40 and the "First Couple of Cedar Grove" – "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan and "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan came across the street at 8:55.
As far as competitors go, they were the last arrivals of the evening and we ended up with a very impressive total of 26 official competitors for the night. This last group experienced a bit of a logjam situation due to the high number of players there and the Women's Singles Match running long on Court Four. But there were no complaints as many were willing spectators for the Wang-Toker marathon.
And then "Dynamo" Dino Celis arrived at 9:30 to strictly make a cameo appearance and see the balance of the action for the session.
In the past, it has often been said that Samara's presence as host serves to boost the attendance numbers somewhat...he usually defers to good weather or other outside circumstances that serve to contribute to the overall turnout. Despite some humidity, it was a nice night and a great one for GTA Tennis…regardless of the reasons why so many decided to show up on this particular occasion.
Let's get to the scores!
The Cedar Grove Results:
2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:
Edwin Ortega over Jay Phoenix, 7-6 (11-9), 6-4, to become the New # 20 Ranked Player in the Advanced Division while also successfully defending his # 3 Rank in the Intermediate Division! Edwin: 2 Aces in the 2nd Set. They played this one on Court Four. Not sure when it began, but Edwin said it likely finished somewhere around 6:20. Sounds like it may have an outside shot at being considered as a Nominee for Intermediate Match of The Year at season's end.
Chris Chiaro over Moka Pathan, 6-0! No Aces. They played this one on Court One. Not sure when it got underway or when it ended as it went right into this next one.
Moka Pathan over Chris Chiaro, 6-4! No Aces. Also, really do not know when this one finished as there was so much action…just trying to get the results was a trying task!
Jordan Bachvaroff/Jorge Solano over Frank Samara/Guy Dupoux, 7-6 (7-3)! Guy: 2 Aces (one on each)! It went like this: Jordan held serve (Love-30 and then three consecutive un-returned serves set up Game Point where Frank hit a winner to bring it to Deuce, but then a winning volley from Jorge set up Game Point and then came the hold), Guy was broken (Love-15, Frank hit another winner to make it 15-All, a Double Fault for 15-30, a big sideline Ace against Jordan to make it 30-All, but then came Break Point and the break), Jorge held (an un-returned serve for 15-Love, a shift to 15-30 and then two more un-returned serves shifted it to Game Point where Guy made an excellent Overhead Smash winner to make it Deuce, but then came Game Point again and another un-returned serve for the hold) and then Frank was broken (15-Love then point for point to Game Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point which was then the rally of the match which ended with an excellent and well-placed winner from Jorge for the break) as his team found themselves down 0-4! It should be noted that in that last game, I could no longer keep remembering or noting who was hitting what winners as I had to write down so many other details from the other courts during the changeovers. I just focused on very key moments from there forward. Bachvaroff was broken (15-Love then point for point until 30-All, Break Point and the break) to allow the opposition onto the scoreboard, but then Dupoux was broken again (15-Love went straight to Double Break Point where a truly un-returnable serve brought it down to Break Point, but then came the break) to fall to 1-5! Solano was broken as well (15-Love and then straight to Double Break Point and then the break) and Samara held (Triple Game Point, Double Game Point and the hold) to pull to 3-5. The Bulgarian Bull was broken again (Love-15 then point for point to Break Point and then the break) and GDP held (started with a big-time Ace up the T against Jorge and then back-to-back winning Overhead Smashes from Frank led to Triple Game Point, then came Double Game Point and the hold) to level matters at 5-5! Big George was broken again (Love-15, 15-All where winners from Guy in back-to-back points soon set up Double Break Point and then a Double Fault caused the break) to lose the lead for his team, but Hollywood was also broken (Love-30 shifted to 30-All, then came Break Point and the break) as we were now headed for the Tiebreak! In the Breaker: Jordan held his lone serve, Guy held both of his serves and then Jorge held the first of his two serves but was then broken on the second one for 2-3. Frank was broken on the first of his two serves for 3-3 at the changeover and was then broken again after what may have been the best play of the entire match…an excellent get into a drop shot volley by Jordan for 3-4 and then Bachvaroff followed that with an un-returned serve for 5-3. He then held his second serve as well to go up 6-3 and set up the very first Match Point of the match with service returning to Dupoux. That point went to the opposition for a 7-3 TB score! We played this on Court Three from 7pm to 8:01…exactly one hour and one minute long!
The Skinny: In a season filled with more impressive Tiebreak scores and multiple Match Points, this one will likely have to settle for an Honorable Mention rather than an official Nomination for One-Set Doubles Match of The Year at season's end. Afterward, Jordan had a fairly long hitting session with Arthur Fontanilla while waiting for the next Doubles match-up to be made.
Tom La/Louise Bysiek over Dan Martinelli/Justin Berardo, 6-4! Spin: 1 Ace on Louise! Court Two hosted this one from 7:30 to 8:13.
Ryan Pienciak/Levy Lorenzo over Moka Pathan/Frank Hohorst, 6-1! No Aces. This one took place on Court One and lasted from around 8pm to only 8:15 (it was likely longer than fifteen minutes as it very well may have started a few minutes before eight)!
2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:
Fernanda Toker over Janice Wang, 6-1, 4-6, 6-0, to become the New # 3 Ranked Player in the Women's Division! No Aces. This one got underway on Court Four somewhere around 7:45.
The Skinny: In the 1st Set, Fernanda was up 4-0 when Janice finally got on the scoreboard only to get blanked again for the rest of the set. The 2nd Set was at 2-2 before Toker went up 4-2 only to have Wang take four straight games to take the set and level the match. The 3rd Set, obviously, was all Fernanda as she proved why she has earned the "Argentine Machine" moniker by simply outlasting an opponent half her age! The 1st Set finished at 8:25, the 2nd Set ended exactly at 9:18 and the 3rd Set and match was over and done at 9:48! The match was very likely over two hours long!
Samara's Notes: To be fair, the 2nd Set was during the height of activity in and around the courts as Fernanda was quite obviously distracted and frustrated with all the players heading into or off of the courts and the "levity lounge" atmosphere from the bench alongside Court Four. But that should not also detract from the fact that Janice has excellent game…especially her lethal two-handed backhand down the line. She just needs to get a bit more consistent and develop some additional stamina and she will truly be a threat to anyone in the Women's Division.
Tito Castolo/Arthur Fontanilla over Jordan Bachvaroff/Jorge Solano, 7-5! Arthur: 1 Ace on Jorge. This took place on Court Three and lasted from 8:14 to 9:09.
Ryan Pienciak/Frank Hohorst over Levy Lorenzo/Laura Gawley, 6-3! Laura: 1 Ace on Ryan! Court One hosted this one from 8:18 to 8:56.
Rob Gawley/Justin Berardo over Tom La/Louise Bysiek, 6-1! No Aces. This foursome faced off on Court Two from 8:25 to 8:55.
Rob Gawley/Justin Berardo over Nathan Fernandes/Laurie Boughton, 6-4! No Aces. Also played on Court Two, it lasted from 9pm to 9:40.
Frank Hohorst/Erdem Alpay over Kris Srinivasan/Levy Lorenzo, 6-3! No Aces. It was the official GTA Return of Erdem Alpay. This took place on Court One as it began at 9:04 and ended at 9:35.
Guy Dupoux/Laura Gawley over Ryan Pienciak/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-2! Guy: 1 Ace on Ryan. They battled on Court Three from 9:15 to 9:35.
Ryan Pienciak/Laura Gawley over Guy Dupoux/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-1! No Aces. They switched up the teams on Court Three as this one lasted from 9:37 to 9:57.
Arthur Fontanilla/Erdem Alpay leading Kris Srinivasan/Tito Castolo, 4-2 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)! No Aces. This one had begun on Court One at 9:40.
Nathan Fernandes/Dan Martinelli tied with Frank Hohorst/Laurie Boughton, 2-2 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)! No Aces. This one got underway on Court Two at 9:45.
After lights out at 10pm, there was a lot of chit-chat among various pairings or groupings from the still rather large contingent hanging around…and it likely lasted until 10:30 or so. And Erdem's son was so eager to hit some balls, he and his dad had a hitting session on Court One in the dark! Oh, what a night!
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
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