6/6/18:
"Boughton-Cho at C.G., Celis-Mole in VP, 4 at NTC, 4 at PAC, 14 at C.G.!":
There were five official sessions of GTA Wednesday Tennis: an early morning one at the Cedar Grove Courts that featured a GAH8 Round of 12 Match between Laurie "L-Boogie" Boughton and "Echo" Elizabeth Cho (with Elizabeth reporting); an early evening one at the new Verona Park courts featuring a full Challenge Rematch between "The Scorpion Dragon" Dino Celis and "Del Brotro" Mike Mole (with both reporting); a similarly timed session at Nutley Tennis Club featuring some Mixed Doubles action (I'll handle that part of the report); an evening session at The Park Ave. Courts in Nutley featuring some Men's Doubles action (with both "SWAT" Rich Liu and "Kaptain" Keith Lewkowitz reporting); and then it was the usual evening session at the Cedar Grove Courts that featured both a full Women's Doubles Match and full Mixed Doubles Match plus various Doubles One-Setters. The contributors to this report from that session are "Dominant" Dawn Peterson, "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan and "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak.
So we will start in Cedar Grove and then go to Verona and two locations in Nutley before returning to Cedar Grove to close out this report.
The Cedar Grove Result:
GAH Round of 12 Match:
Elizabeth Cho over Laurie Boughton, 6-1, 6-1, to become the New # 4 Ranked Player in the Women's Division while advancing to the Quarterfinals of the 8th Annual Gail-ann Hamilton Memorial Women's Singles Tournament! No Aces. The match started at 9:10am.
Samara's Notes: I thank Elizabeth for her very timely reporting of this result and congratulate her on a very impressive victory. She advances to the Quarters where she awaits the winner of another Round of 12 Match – "Automatic" Anna Mazur versus "Energetic" Nina Kallay.
The Verona Park Result:
2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:
Mike Mole over Dino Celis, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, to become the New # 9 Ranked Player in the Advanced Division! No Aces.
Dino Celis over Mike Mole, 7-6 (10-8)! Dino: 1 Ace.
The Mole Memo: Total playing time was from 6:10 to 8:30. It was a great match and then the One-Setter (even better)! The new courts are awesome as they have just been repaved and they have lights.
The Details from Dino: It was a fun match with lots of solid shot-making. Verona Park resurfaced their courts with a very nice color scheme just like at the US Open. They have three courts and better lighting with park benches.
Samara's Notes: I appreciate the timely reporting from both and congratulate Mike on the full match victory….and Dino on the One-Setter which sounds like it should be a definite Nominee for One-Set Singles Match of The Year at season's end.
The NTC Results:
2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:
Frank Samara/Dolores Krazanowski over John Rizzo/Denise Savino, 6-4, 6-2, to become the New # 19 Ranked Team in the Mixed Doubles Division! It was the official GTA Return of Dolores Krazanowski. John: 2 Aces in the 1st Set (one on each)!
1st Set: John held serve (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold), Frank held (15-Love, 15-All then onto Double Game Point and the hold), but Denise was the first one to be broken (Love-15, 15-All then onto Double Break Point, Break Point and the break) for 1-2. Dolores held (15-Love then point for point to Game Point and the hold) to go up 3-1, but Rizzo held again (a Triple Game Point lead was reduced to Game Pint, but that was where he hit a short Ace against Dolores for the hold) to pull to 2-3. Samara had a Love hold and then Savino was broken at Love as the score quickly went to 5-2! Krazanowski was broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and the break) and then The Riz held a third straight time (15-Love, 15-All and then onto Double Game Point where he hit an impressive Ace up the T against Frank for the hold) to pull to 4-5. But Hollywood was equal to the task with a third straight hold of his own, though it wasn't easy (15-Love then point for point until 30-All, a mini-shift to Break Point, Deuce, Break Point again, 2nd Deuce, Break Point yet again, 3rd Deuce, Game/Set Point, 4th Deuce, 2nd Game/Set Point, 5th Deuce, the 3rd Game/Set Point and finally the hold) to take the initial set at exactly 6:58 (we had begun the set on Court Two at 6:25). After a two minute break, we were onto the next one.
2nd Set: Switching up their sides of service, John was broken for the first time (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and the break), Dolores was broken (Love-30 shifted to 30-All, but then came Break Point and the break), Denise was broken (Love-15, 15-All then onto Double Break Point and the break), but Frank was the first to hold in this set and it was at Love for 3-1! Rizzo held (15-Love, 15-All, a Double Fault for 15-30, Double Break Point and then a rebound to bring it to Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to pull to 2-3, but Krazanowski also held (Triple Game Point, Double Game Point and the hold) for 4-2. Savino was broken again (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and the break) and then Samara held for a fifth straight time (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game/Match Point and the hold) to get the win at 7:30!
The Skinny: Rizzo had lined up this match earlier in the week. He and Denise team up regularly. As for my pairing with Dolores, we had teamed once before in a non-GTA One-Setter at NTC three years ago (I believe) where we were up against a couple of guys who jumped out to a 3-0 lead only to be shocked when we took six straight games off of them for the win! Coming into this match, Dynamic Dee called our team "Slice and Dice" as we have a similar style of play. Well, I guess that makes me "Slice Samara" and my partner, "Dolores Dice!" Krazanowski is an excellent Doubles partner as she knows exactly where to be on the court and she also adds a lot of zip to her slice shots whenever necessary. It is a shame she is strictly a clay court player (due to chronic knee issues) as we actually compliment each other quite well (and not just verbally, LOL!). Up 5-2 in the 1st Set, Denise's beau "Bionic" Bo Folchi arrived and I feared it would be the proverbial "kiss of death" the way it was for me and my partner at the time ("San Frannie" Rose Gabriele) a couple of weeks ago. When the score soon went to 5-4, I thought it was deja' vu all over again (ya gotta love Yogi Berra!). But then we closed out the set and it was not until we were up 2-1 in the 2nd Set that Bo actually came over to our court to sit and watch the balance of the match. Although I still had some silly Unforced Errors (mostly on mistimed Overhead Smash attempts), I played much better on this outing as I'm starting to get used to the pace of the clay and managed to go unbroken on serve. John and Denise were steady as always and Rizzo really brought it on serve.
We had a lot of fun and still had time for another one. And here it is!
Frank Samara/Dolores Krazanowski over John Rizzo/Denise Savino, 6-2! No Aces. It went like this: John held at Love, Dolores held in a struggle (Love-15 then point for point until 30-All, then a mini-shift to Game Point, Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point, 3rd Deuce, Game Point, 4th Deuce, Break Point, 5th Deuce, Game Point and finally the hold), but Denise was the first to be broken (Triple Break Point to Deuce where there was some controversy as Dolores hit a slice shot to the sideline where John was properly positioned to hit the shot, but he chose not to as he thought it was out and called it as such. We were somewhat surprised by that call as we felt it had clipped the edge of the hard sideline tape…something you find on clay courts, not on hard courts…and took a strange and straight upward bounce. Bo, who was sitting in a chair very close to where the shot landed had called it in…even after getting up out of his chair to look at the spot. Rizzo argued that you don't see where the ball mark ever intersects the tape, but Folchi and I…having now gone over there myself…rebutted that you would not see the edge of the ball make a mark on the edge of the tape. I was willing to give them the point as I found the moment to be more comical than concerning, but we agreed to play the point over and they won it anyway…so it was pretty much inconsequential…to now make it Game Point, then came 2nd Deuce, Break Point and the break) to fall to 1-2. Frank held (15-Love shifted to 15-30 shifted again to Game Point and the hold) and Rizzo was then broken (15-Love shifted to Double Break Point shifted again to Deuce, but then came another Break Point and the break) to fall to 1-4. Krazanowski was also broken and it was yet another battle (Triple Break Point with a hard shift all the way to Deuce and then all Game Points until 3rd Deuce, a Break Point, 4th Deuce, another Game Point, 5th Deuce, Break Point and finally the break) to have her team's lead cut to 4-2, but Savino was then broken again (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and the break) for 2-5. Samara then went unbroken on the evening with another hold and also another one that did not come easy in closing out a set (Love-15 shifted to 30-15, then 30-All, Game/Match Point, Deuce, 2nd Game/Match Point, 2nd Deuce, then the 3rd Game/Match Point and the hold) to end this one at 8:15 (we had started this one on Court Two at exactly 7:31)!
Afterward, Bo, Dee, John and I hit Sharkey's in Clifton for some yummy wings and other things!
Staying in Nutley, we now shift over to the Park Ave. Courts for the report from Rich (with an assist from Keith).
The Park Ave. Courts Result:
2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Keith Lewkowitz/Arunraj Nair over Randy Doran/Rich Liu, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2, to become the New # 30 Ranked Team in the Doubles Division! No Aces.
The Rich Report: Afterwards, we told them about the upcoming M2 Doubles Tournament and they want in. These guys fought hard while Randy and I choked hard…LOL! The match was played from 8 to 10pm. It was very competitive for the most part, with some good long points. Keith was very athletic and Arunraj was a monster at the net. Randy and I had an off night.
The Kaptain's comments: Arunraj Nair and I played Rich Liu and Randy Doran. Actually, the three of them played. I mostly tapped the ball because I've had a back injury. Anyway, Arunraj and I would like to enter the Doubles Tournament.
Samara's Notes: I thank both for their timely reporting. It is also good to see Kaptain Keith getting back in the mix, even it if it is somewhat slowly. It is also nice to have another team registered in the tourney.
It is now time to head west to Cedar Grove.
The Cedar Grove Results:
2 out of 3 Sets Women's Doubles Match:
Janice Wang/Dawn Peterson over Kathy Sheldon/Michele Panzitta, 6-3, 6-3, as both teams entered the Women's Doubles Division as the New # 14 and # 15 Ranked Teams respectively! It was the official GTA Return of Michele Panzitta. No Aces.
2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:
Don Moya/Fadia Nicolas over Scott Bergenfeld/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3), as both teams entered the Mixed Doubles Division as the New # 41 and # 42 Ranked Teams respectively! No Aces.
Kyle Eng/Nick Inciong over Ryan Pienciak/Senthil Kumar, 6-4! No Aces.
Senthil Kumar/Nick Inciong over Ryan Pienciak/Jordan Bachvaroff, 6-3! No Aces.
Ryan Pienciak/Jordan Bachvaroff leading Senthil Kumar/Kris Srinivasan, 5-3 (Incomplete, it was at 30-15 when the lights went out at 10pm)! No Aces.
Samara's Notes: I thank Dawn, Doinks and Ryan for their very timely reporting. As always, it is greatly appreciated!
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
No comments:
Post a Comment