12/1/17:
"Gen-Mole 1-Setters at AP, 3rd Friday Night Bubble Party has 11 players (1 new)!":
There were two sessions of GTA Friday Tennis and there likely would have been three if the lights were on at The Cedar Grove Courts. "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan informed the league in the early evening that the lights never came on due to repairs. Most years, it would have been because it was December 1st. Kris is still under the impression that the Cedar Grove Parks and Recreation Department will keep the lights on past the 1st for us.
Anyway, first there was an afternoon session at Albion Park in Clifton featuring a couple of "Battle of the Sexes" style Singles One-Setters between "Del Brotro" Mike Mole and "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan (as reported by Gen). And then there was the third GTA Friday Night Tennis Party at The Wayne Bubble with both "Hollywood" Frank Samara (in terms of reporting the results for the GTA) and "The Riz" John Rizzo (coordinating the registration efforts, booking the courts, supplying the food and beverages, etc.) hosting it.
We need at least twelve competitors to make it worthwhile and we ended up just one shy of that amount with just 11 players instead. Of those eleven official competitors, one of them was new and making his official GTA Debut (more on that later).
So now let's get to the action! We will first get the recap from Gen and then detail the results from The Bubble.
We had a Friday afternoon session at Albion Park from 2 to 5pm. Mike Mole and I had a 45 minute hitting session then followed by two "Battle of the Sexes" One-Setters.
The Albion Park Results:
Mike Mole over Genalin Capan, 6-3! Mike: 1 Ace. This one was played from 3pm to 3:30.
In the first four games we had back-to-back exchanges of breaks for 2-All. Then we both held for 3-3. And then Mike took the next three games. There was one game that went to at least 8 Deuces!
Mike Mole over Genalin Capan, 7-5! Mike: 2 Aces. We played this one from 3:35 to 4:40 (one hour and five minutes)!
We started with an exchange of breaks for 1-1. Then we both held for 2-2. Then I took next three games to go up 5-2. I was serving for the set and was not able to close it. Mike got the break back and held to get it closer at 4-5. The next game was pivotal. It went to multiple Deuces as we battled back and forth from Break Point (30-40), Deuce, to Game/Match Point # 1, 2nd Deuce, Game/Match Point # 2, 3rd Deuce, Game/Match Point # 3, 4th Deuce, Break Point # 1, 5th Deuce, Game/Match Point # 4, 6th Deuce, Break Point # 2 and then finally the break so finally Mike got to level things at 5-All! Mike then held for 6-5. It was yet another hard-fought service game for me. I fought off three more Match Points, then Mike finally won it on his 4th MP (a total of 8 MP's for the set: 4 each)!
Gen's Notes: This turned out to be a pretty competitive and fun One-Setter. We had some good rallies, especially in those multi-Deuces games. It was a repeat from the last week when Mike and I played where he was up 5-2 and then I ended up winning in a Tiebreaker. Well, it was payback time. This time around, Mike made a nice comeback from being down 5-2. He saved 4 MP's and took five straight games for the win!
Samara's Notes: I thank Gen for submitting those results in a very timely manner. Even though that last one did not go to a Tiebreak, it still sounds like a worthy Nominee for One-Set Specialty Match of The Year at season's end.
And now we go to The Wayne Bubble for the rest of this report.
The Wayne Bubble Results:
Nick Caputo over Ralph Bernard, 6-0! Nick: 2 Aces! This one took place on Court Four and lasted all of fifteen minutes (8:30 to 8:45)!
John Rizzo/Dan Martinelli over Frank Samara/Laurie Boughton, 6-3! Spin: 3 Aces (2 on Laurie and 1 on Frank and the first two were back-to-back in the same game)! It went like this: John held at Love as he started things off with a winner and Frank blew an overhead to set up Triple Game Point and then Frank was broken at Love as Spin made a great get that led to winning the first point and then John hit a forceful winner to end the second point, Laurie blew a volley to finish the third point and then John hit a precise passing shot winner to get the Love break! Spin held serve (Spin hit a winner for 15-Love, then he went up 30-Love and that was where Laurie hit an impressive winner to finally end the ten point winning streak of the opposition and she followed that up with a nice get in the next point to make it 30-All, but then a big corner Ace against Laurie set up Game Point where a sizzling sideline Ace on Frank earned an emphatic hold) and Laurie was broken (Love-15 then point for point until 30-All as Frank hit a net-cord-aided winner along the way and then it went to Game Point, a Double Fault for Deuce, Break Point where Frank hit a winner to make it 2nd Deuce, Break Point again and then the break) to fall to 0-4! Rizzo was broken (Love-15 where Laurie blew a volley for 15-All, a Double Fault for 15-30, Double Break Point where John hit a winner to cut it to Break Point, but then that was where Laurie hit a bold winner for the break) and then Samara had a Love hold as Laurie got things going with back-to-back winning Backhand Volleys to make it 30-Love and then an un-returned serve set up Triple Game Point and then came the hold to pull to 2-4! Martinelli was then broken (Laurie hit a winning volley for Love-30, a corner Ace on Laurie made it 15-30 and then an un-returned serve sent it to 30-All, but then came Break Point and the break) to have his team's lead cut to 4-3. But from there, Boughton was broken again (15-Love shifted to 15-30 after John hit a scathing return winner, but then it shifted again to Game Point where the best rally of the match ended with a victorious volley from John for Deuce, then came Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point, 3rd Deuce, Break Point again and then the break...and once it went to Deuce, I no longer remembered who hit what winners where and when) and The Riz held (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 after Laurie blew a volley and then there was an un-returned serve, then it went to 30-All and Game/Match Point where John hit the winning volley to secure his own hold) to end the match! We played this on Court Three from 8:30 to 9:06.
The Skinny: When "RK Fire" Rafaelo Kazakov was the last to arrive at 8:45, Rizzo told him that he could take his place in the next One-Setter on this court (Court Three). As a result, Rafaelo ended up being a spectator for more than the latter half of it as he waited to be the next one to play.
David Ramirez/Paul Mallick over Jorge Solano/Fausto Murg, 7-6 (7-0)! No Aces. It was the official GTA Debut of Paul Mallick. They played this one on Court Two from 8:35 to 9:45!
The Skinny: Mallick plays in another group at The Bubble. They play on Wednesday nights and as they are one of the two courts that stay on until 9:30 those nights, he has seen some of the GTA players before. He called in on Friday to see if courts were available that night and that was when he was informed of the GTA Friday Night Bubble Party. We were happy he could join us and hope to see more of him in the future as he expressed that he was very impressed by our group.
Nick Caputo over Ralph Bernard, 6-1! Nick: 1 Ace. This Rematch One-Setter was played on Court Four from 8:50 to 9:10.
The Skinny: Since they did not go into their Singles action with the intention of it being a full 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match, it would be unfair to record and report it that way. But Caputo has clearly demonstrated with his back-to-back dominant set wins against Bernard that he will be making a serious impact on the Advanced Division in the 2018 Season! After this one, they still had time for one more.
Nick Caputo over Ralph Bernard, 6-1! Nick: 1 Ace. A ditto of the last one score-wise, except it must have been much more competitive as it lasted from 9:15 to 9:50 (35 minutes)!
Frank Samara/Rafaelo Kazakov over Dan Martinelli/Laurie Boughton, 6-2! No Aces. Here's how it went down: Rafaelo held (15-Love, 15-All and then straight to Double Game Point as an un-returned serve and then a winning volley from Frank led to that point, but then it would soon be reduced to Deuce as Laurie hit a lob return winner along the way, but then another un-returned serve set up another Game Point and then came the hold) and Laurie was broken (Rafaelo hit a winning return for Love-15, it shifted to 30-15 as first Spin hit a winner and then Laurie hit a venomous volley winner, but then it shifted again to Break Point right after Frank hit a winner and then came the break) for 0-2. Frank was broken (an un-returned serve for 15-Love, then it was 30-Love where Laurie whipped a winning return to the corner for 30-15, it then went to Double Game Point where Rafaelo blew a volley to make it Game Point which was where Spin made a great get that led to him winning the point soon after to bring it to Deuce and then came Break Point where Spin made an even more awesome get/winner combo for the break) to allow the opponents onto the board, but then Spin was also broken (a truly un-returnable serve for 15-Love and then a sudden shift to Double Break Point as Frank hit a deep return winner to set that up, but then back-to-back un-returned serves took it to Deuce which was where Frank scored with a big-time Backhand Volley winner to set up Break Point and then came the break) for 1-3. Kazakov held again and this time it was at Love as he started off with two consecutive un-returned serves and then Frank hit a winning volley to set up Triple Game Point which was followed by the hold for a 4-1 lead, but then Boughton finally held (Spin hit a winner for 15-Love and then it went point for point to Game Point as Rafaelo blew a volley along the way, then came Deuce which was where Frank blew a volley to set up Game Point and that was where Spin made yet another amazing get/winner combo to secure his partner's hold) for 2-4! But from there, Samara held (an un-returned serve for 15-Love and then point for point to Game Point as Rafaelo blew a drop shot attempt and there was another un-returned serve along the way and then on that Game Point came yet another un-returned serve to lock down the hold) and then Martinelli was broken at Love as Frank whipped out his Windmill Overhead Smash to win the first point, Rafaelo hit a winning volley to take the second point and then he scored with a scintillating passing shot return to set up Triple Break/Match Point which is where the break and loss came! We played this on Court Three from 9:18 to 9:48.
David Ramirez/Paul Mallick leading Jorge Solano/Fausto Murg, 4-1 (Incomplete when they were told to stop at 10:15)! No Aces. This one had begun on Court Two at 9:48.
Frank Samara/Rafaelo Kazakov leading Dan Martinelli/Laurie Boughton, 5-1 (Incomplete when they were told to end this one at 10:19)! Laurie: 1 Ace on Rafaelo! Here's how it was going: Rafaelo held (a truly un-returnable serve was followed by another un-returned serve for 30-Love, but then a winning volley from Laurie shifted the momentum all the way to Break Point where another un-returned serve brought it back to Deuce where yet another un-returned serve set up Game Point where still another un-returned serve secured the hold), Frank held (an un-returned serve for 15-Love and then point for point until 30-All as Laurie hit a winner along the way and then Spin hit a powerful return winner that caused the mini-shift for Break Point which was where Frank hit a winning volley for Deuce and then another un-returned serve set up Game Point and then came the hold) and Spin was broken (Spin made another awe-inspiring get/winner combo for 15-Love, but then it was off and running to Double Break Point as Rafaelo went on a roll with a winning volley, a winning return and a booming Backhand Volley winner all along the way and then came the break) to go down 0-4! Kazakov was finally broken (Spin made another major get/winner combo for Love-15, it then shifted to 30-15, but then shifted again as Laurie hit a winner followed by a passing shot winner from Spin to set up Break Point where Laurie hit another winner to earn the break) for 4-1, but then Boughton was broken yet again and this time it was at Love as Rafaelo hit a winning drop shot return and then Frank did the same exact thing which was then followed by another winning return from Rafaelo to set up Triple Break/Match Point where a Double Fault then ended matters in unceremonious fashion as it was agreed upon at the outset of this game that it would be the last one due to the time constraints of when the session was supposed to end (at 10:15...and we already went four minutes past that...we had begun this one at 9:50)!
The Skinny: Laurie told Spin they should switch their return of service sides for this one and she felt confident it should make a difference in the outcome of this Rematch One-Setter. Instead, this one may have been ever more lopsided than the first one as Rafaelo was steadier than usual and was especially strong on serve throughout both sets (only broken once toward the end) while Frank did more than enough to hold up his end of the bargain. Meanwhile, Martinelli was a get-making machine while Boughton was the volley queen any chance she had to get established up at the net. Both One-Setters were competitive yet fun!
After the session ended, Samara and Rizzo went to the nearby Taphouse Grille for food and drinks where they were soon joined by "DC-10" David Caicedo.
All the best,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com
"Gen-Mole 1-Setters at AP, 3rd Friday Night Bubble Party has 11 players (1 new)!":
There were two sessions of GTA Friday Tennis and there likely would have been three if the lights were on at The Cedar Grove Courts. "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan informed the league in the early evening that the lights never came on due to repairs. Most years, it would have been because it was December 1st. Kris is still under the impression that the Cedar Grove Parks and Recreation Department will keep the lights on past the 1st for us.
Anyway, first there was an afternoon session at Albion Park in Clifton featuring a couple of "Battle of the Sexes" style Singles One-Setters between "Del Brotro" Mike Mole and "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan (as reported by Gen). And then there was the third GTA Friday Night Tennis Party at The Wayne Bubble with both "Hollywood" Frank Samara (in terms of reporting the results for the GTA) and "The Riz" John Rizzo (coordinating the registration efforts, booking the courts, supplying the food and beverages, etc.) hosting it.
We need at least twelve competitors to make it worthwhile and we ended up just one shy of that amount with just 11 players instead. Of those eleven official competitors, one of them was new and making his official GTA Debut (more on that later).
So now let's get to the action! We will first get the recap from Gen and then detail the results from The Bubble.
We had a Friday afternoon session at Albion Park from 2 to 5pm. Mike Mole and I had a 45 minute hitting session then followed by two "Battle of the Sexes" One-Setters.
The Albion Park Results:
Mike Mole over Genalin Capan, 6-3! Mike: 1 Ace. This one was played from 3pm to 3:30.
In the first four games we had back-to-back exchanges of breaks for 2-All. Then we both held for 3-3. And then Mike took the next three games. There was one game that went to at least 8 Deuces!
Mike Mole over Genalin Capan, 7-5! Mike: 2 Aces. We played this one from 3:35 to 4:40 (one hour and five minutes)!
We started with an exchange of breaks for 1-1. Then we both held for 2-2. Then I took next three games to go up 5-2. I was serving for the set and was not able to close it. Mike got the break back and held to get it closer at 4-5. The next game was pivotal. It went to multiple Deuces as we battled back and forth from Break Point (30-40), Deuce, to Game/Match Point # 1, 2nd Deuce, Game/Match Point # 2, 3rd Deuce, Game/Match Point # 3, 4th Deuce, Break Point # 1, 5th Deuce, Game/Match Point # 4, 6th Deuce, Break Point # 2 and then finally the break so finally Mike got to level things at 5-All! Mike then held for 6-5. It was yet another hard-fought service game for me. I fought off three more Match Points, then Mike finally won it on his 4th MP (a total of 8 MP's for the set: 4 each)!
Gen's Notes: This turned out to be a pretty competitive and fun One-Setter. We had some good rallies, especially in those multi-Deuces games. It was a repeat from the last week when Mike and I played where he was up 5-2 and then I ended up winning in a Tiebreaker. Well, it was payback time. This time around, Mike made a nice comeback from being down 5-2. He saved 4 MP's and took five straight games for the win!
Samara's Notes: I thank Gen for submitting those results in a very timely manner. Even though that last one did not go to a Tiebreak, it still sounds like a worthy Nominee for One-Set Specialty Match of The Year at season's end.
And now we go to The Wayne Bubble for the rest of this report.
The Wayne Bubble Results:
Nick Caputo over Ralph Bernard, 6-0! Nick: 2 Aces! This one took place on Court Four and lasted all of fifteen minutes (8:30 to 8:45)!
John Rizzo/Dan Martinelli over Frank Samara/Laurie Boughton, 6-3! Spin: 3 Aces (2 on Laurie and 1 on Frank and the first two were back-to-back in the same game)! It went like this: John held at Love as he started things off with a winner and Frank blew an overhead to set up Triple Game Point and then Frank was broken at Love as Spin made a great get that led to winning the first point and then John hit a forceful winner to end the second point, Laurie blew a volley to finish the third point and then John hit a precise passing shot winner to get the Love break! Spin held serve (Spin hit a winner for 15-Love, then he went up 30-Love and that was where Laurie hit an impressive winner to finally end the ten point winning streak of the opposition and she followed that up with a nice get in the next point to make it 30-All, but then a big corner Ace against Laurie set up Game Point where a sizzling sideline Ace on Frank earned an emphatic hold) and Laurie was broken (Love-15 then point for point until 30-All as Frank hit a net-cord-aided winner along the way and then it went to Game Point, a Double Fault for Deuce, Break Point where Frank hit a winner to make it 2nd Deuce, Break Point again and then the break) to fall to 0-4! Rizzo was broken (Love-15 where Laurie blew a volley for 15-All, a Double Fault for 15-30, Double Break Point where John hit a winner to cut it to Break Point, but then that was where Laurie hit a bold winner for the break) and then Samara had a Love hold as Laurie got things going with back-to-back winning Backhand Volleys to make it 30-Love and then an un-returned serve set up Triple Game Point and then came the hold to pull to 2-4! Martinelli was then broken (Laurie hit a winning volley for Love-30, a corner Ace on Laurie made it 15-30 and then an un-returned serve sent it to 30-All, but then came Break Point and the break) to have his team's lead cut to 4-3. But from there, Boughton was broken again (15-Love shifted to 15-30 after John hit a scathing return winner, but then it shifted again to Game Point where the best rally of the match ended with a victorious volley from John for Deuce, then came Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point, 3rd Deuce, Break Point again and then the break...and once it went to Deuce, I no longer remembered who hit what winners where and when) and The Riz held (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 after Laurie blew a volley and then there was an un-returned serve, then it went to 30-All and Game/Match Point where John hit the winning volley to secure his own hold) to end the match! We played this on Court Three from 8:30 to 9:06.
The Skinny: When "RK Fire" Rafaelo Kazakov was the last to arrive at 8:45, Rizzo told him that he could take his place in the next One-Setter on this court (Court Three). As a result, Rafaelo ended up being a spectator for more than the latter half of it as he waited to be the next one to play.
David Ramirez/Paul Mallick over Jorge Solano/Fausto Murg, 7-6 (7-0)! No Aces. It was the official GTA Debut of Paul Mallick. They played this one on Court Two from 8:35 to 9:45!
The Skinny: Mallick plays in another group at The Bubble. They play on Wednesday nights and as they are one of the two courts that stay on until 9:30 those nights, he has seen some of the GTA players before. He called in on Friday to see if courts were available that night and that was when he was informed of the GTA Friday Night Bubble Party. We were happy he could join us and hope to see more of him in the future as he expressed that he was very impressed by our group.
Nick Caputo over Ralph Bernard, 6-1! Nick: 1 Ace. This Rematch One-Setter was played on Court Four from 8:50 to 9:10.
The Skinny: Since they did not go into their Singles action with the intention of it being a full 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match, it would be unfair to record and report it that way. But Caputo has clearly demonstrated with his back-to-back dominant set wins against Bernard that he will be making a serious impact on the Advanced Division in the 2018 Season! After this one, they still had time for one more.
Nick Caputo over Ralph Bernard, 6-1! Nick: 1 Ace. A ditto of the last one score-wise, except it must have been much more competitive as it lasted from 9:15 to 9:50 (35 minutes)!
Frank Samara/Rafaelo Kazakov over Dan Martinelli/Laurie Boughton, 6-2! No Aces. Here's how it went down: Rafaelo held (15-Love, 15-All and then straight to Double Game Point as an un-returned serve and then a winning volley from Frank led to that point, but then it would soon be reduced to Deuce as Laurie hit a lob return winner along the way, but then another un-returned serve set up another Game Point and then came the hold) and Laurie was broken (Rafaelo hit a winning return for Love-15, it shifted to 30-15 as first Spin hit a winner and then Laurie hit a venomous volley winner, but then it shifted again to Break Point right after Frank hit a winner and then came the break) for 0-2. Frank was broken (an un-returned serve for 15-Love, then it was 30-Love where Laurie whipped a winning return to the corner for 30-15, it then went to Double Game Point where Rafaelo blew a volley to make it Game Point which was where Spin made a great get that led to him winning the point soon after to bring it to Deuce and then came Break Point where Spin made an even more awesome get/winner combo for the break) to allow the opponents onto the board, but then Spin was also broken (a truly un-returnable serve for 15-Love and then a sudden shift to Double Break Point as Frank hit a deep return winner to set that up, but then back-to-back un-returned serves took it to Deuce which was where Frank scored with a big-time Backhand Volley winner to set up Break Point and then came the break) for 1-3. Kazakov held again and this time it was at Love as he started off with two consecutive un-returned serves and then Frank hit a winning volley to set up Triple Game Point which was followed by the hold for a 4-1 lead, but then Boughton finally held (Spin hit a winner for 15-Love and then it went point for point to Game Point as Rafaelo blew a volley along the way, then came Deuce which was where Frank blew a volley to set up Game Point and that was where Spin made yet another amazing get/winner combo to secure his partner's hold) for 2-4! But from there, Samara held (an un-returned serve for 15-Love and then point for point to Game Point as Rafaelo blew a drop shot attempt and there was another un-returned serve along the way and then on that Game Point came yet another un-returned serve to lock down the hold) and then Martinelli was broken at Love as Frank whipped out his Windmill Overhead Smash to win the first point, Rafaelo hit a winning volley to take the second point and then he scored with a scintillating passing shot return to set up Triple Break/Match Point which is where the break and loss came! We played this on Court Three from 9:18 to 9:48.
David Ramirez/Paul Mallick leading Jorge Solano/Fausto Murg, 4-1 (Incomplete when they were told to stop at 10:15)! No Aces. This one had begun on Court Two at 9:48.
Frank Samara/Rafaelo Kazakov leading Dan Martinelli/Laurie Boughton, 5-1 (Incomplete when they were told to end this one at 10:19)! Laurie: 1 Ace on Rafaelo! Here's how it was going: Rafaelo held (a truly un-returnable serve was followed by another un-returned serve for 30-Love, but then a winning volley from Laurie shifted the momentum all the way to Break Point where another un-returned serve brought it back to Deuce where yet another un-returned serve set up Game Point where still another un-returned serve secured the hold), Frank held (an un-returned serve for 15-Love and then point for point until 30-All as Laurie hit a winner along the way and then Spin hit a powerful return winner that caused the mini-shift for Break Point which was where Frank hit a winning volley for Deuce and then another un-returned serve set up Game Point and then came the hold) and Spin was broken (Spin made another awe-inspiring get/winner combo for 15-Love, but then it was off and running to Double Break Point as Rafaelo went on a roll with a winning volley, a winning return and a booming Backhand Volley winner all along the way and then came the break) to go down 0-4! Kazakov was finally broken (Spin made another major get/winner combo for Love-15, it then shifted to 30-15, but then shifted again as Laurie hit a winner followed by a passing shot winner from Spin to set up Break Point where Laurie hit another winner to earn the break) for 4-1, but then Boughton was broken yet again and this time it was at Love as Rafaelo hit a winning drop shot return and then Frank did the same exact thing which was then followed by another winning return from Rafaelo to set up Triple Break/Match Point where a Double Fault then ended matters in unceremonious fashion as it was agreed upon at the outset of this game that it would be the last one due to the time constraints of when the session was supposed to end (at 10:15...and we already went four minutes past that...we had begun this one at 9:50)!
The Skinny: Laurie told Spin they should switch their return of service sides for this one and she felt confident it should make a difference in the outcome of this Rematch One-Setter. Instead, this one may have been ever more lopsided than the first one as Rafaelo was steadier than usual and was especially strong on serve throughout both sets (only broken once toward the end) while Frank did more than enough to hold up his end of the bargain. Meanwhile, Martinelli was a get-making machine while Boughton was the volley queen any chance she had to get established up at the net. Both One-Setters were competitive yet fun!
After the session ended, Samara and Rizzo went to the nearby Taphouse Grille for food and drinks where they were soon joined by "DC-10" David Caicedo.
All the best,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com
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