7/12/18:
"Praport-Doran, Samara-Liu TBC + 3 in DMP, Jordan-Omar, "W" Titles + 10 (1 New) at C.G.!":
There were three official sessions of GTA Thursday Tennis and the first two were at the same location with the first one coming earlier in the day and the second one later in the evening: the first two were at the Demuro Park Courts in Nutley (some spell it as DeMuro and they may be right…so I've given it the abbreviation DMP as it is just one letter shy of truly being a "DUMP", more on that later) and both featured "Grove Cup 21" Round of 32 Matches. The first one was between "The Speed Demon" Dan Praport and "Ravishing" Randy Doran (with both reporting) and the second was "Hollywood" Frank Samara versus "SWAT" Rich Liu (with Frank reporting). "TNT" Tim Nguyen also reported One-Setters he had against Arunraj "Air" Nair and "The Great Wall" Muhammad Haque.
The other session was the usual evening affair at The Cedar Grove Courts as it got underway with yet another "Grove Cup 21" Round of 32 Match. This one was between "The Bulgarian Bull" Jordan Bachvaroff and "Stealth" Omar Santos (with Jordan reporting). The session also featured a GTA Women's Doubles Championship Match as the reigning GTA Women's Doubles Champions: "The Smackdown" Sally Pillay/Laura "The Aura" Gawley put their Titles on the line against "The Argentine Machine" Fernanda Toker/"J-Wow" Janice Wang (with Laura reporting). Other contributors to this report from that session are Fernanda, "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan, "The Headhunter" Ralph Bernard, "Super Mario" Marijus Kuzavas and "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan.
As one can easily see, it was yet another epic day in the history of the GTA! Let's try to tackle all the above in that chronological order which I believe to be as true as can be based on how it was all reported to me.
First we go to Nutley in the early afternoon, then the evening before eventually getting up to Cedar Grove.
The Demuro Park Courts Results:
"Grove Cup 21" Round of 32 Match:
Randy Doran over Dan Praport, 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (8-6), to become the New # 21 Ranked Player in the Advanced Division while advancing to the Round of 16 of the 21st Annual Grove Cup Men's Singles Tournament! Randy: 1 Ace on Dan!
The Randy Recap: It was an afternoon match under the sun at Demuro Park. I had multiple chances at Match Point in the 2nd Set while up 5-4, but could not close! Dan won that set and then took full advantage of this and took me to the Tiebreak in the 3rd Set which was also close because Dan was up a few points in the Breaker. Great match, but I think the sun took a toll on the both of us as it was very exhausting. Dan is a great guy and I look forward to hitting with him again in the future.
The Praport Report: It was a fun one. I came back from being down 1-4 in the 2nd Set and down 2-4 in the 3rd Set, but couldn't close the deal. We were both so exhausted, but in a good way. Randy is a tough competitor, which I liked. I'm looking forward to our next battle.
Samara's Notes: I thank both of them for their very timely and comprehensive reporting. I congratulate Randy on a very hard-fought victory and offer kudos to Dan for such a spirited effort. This very well may be a Nominee for Singles Match of The Year at season's end.
Arunraj Nair over Tim Nguyen, 6-2! No Aces.
Tim Nguyen over Muhammad Haque, 6-2! No Aces.
Tim Nguyen tied with Muhammad Haque, 1-1 (as 10pm approached, we decided to call it then and there…Incomplete)!
Tim's Up: It was great playing with both Muhammad and Arunraj!
"Grove Cup 21" Round of 32 Match:
Rich Liu leading Frank Samara, 7-5, 3-6, 5-2! No Aces (thus far).
Samara's Notes: I'll provide the point-by-point details upon the match's completion. What I will say at this time is just where the match stands now and it is already 2 hours 11 minutes long! It has been a seesaw battle that has seen both of us be hot and cold at times. Rich has raised the level of his game and has also now started to figure out how to deal with my style of play.
In games three and four of the 3rd Set, I had 40-0 leads in each only to squander them and let him back in (but kudos to Rich for battling back as well) to allow him to take a 4-0 lead rather than have me level it at 2-2! In the last two games, he was dealing with calf cramp issues and I allowed him as much time as he needed. He was contemplating if he would need to forfeit due to injury, but with him leading the match…I did not want to win it that way. I give him credit for fighting through the pain in those last two games.
Our original plan was to continue the match on Friday night, but as of Friday morning Rich was still feeling the pain somewhat…so we will continue this match on Monday night instead.
And now let me say this about Demuro…and this is not an excuse for my poor performance as we both had to deal with the same set of circumstances. Besides a court that had dead spots that screwed each of us out of a point with ridiculously bad bounces, Adam Pienciak was right when he said the lighting there is horrible. In fact, that may have been an understatement as all of the four lighting posts had at least one bulb burned out…sometimes more than one.
The post over our court (which I will call Court One as the set-up at Demuro is similar to Cedar Grove with the two and two courts for a total of four) only had one bulb lit of a possible total of four…and the entire light post is obscured by a tall tree! Bruce Springsteen once sang, "Dancing in the Dark," but we were truly playing in the dark…and that one corner of the court is the darkest section of all!
On top of all this, the trees that totally take one side of the park and border the fence of Courts Two and Three are loaded with birds…so much so that it is constantly raining bird feathers as you play! You have to avoid breathing them in, literally! I joked that we were all going to come down with Avian Flu!
I will finish this match there as we started it there…but I will not play again at Demuro until they at least repair the courts and replace the light bulbs.
And with all that said, we now shift west to Cedar Grove.
The Cedar Grove Results:
"Grove Cup 21" Round of 32 Match:
Jordan Bachvaroff over Omar Santos 7-5, 6-2, to successfully defend his # 12 Rank in the Advanced Division while advancing to the Round of 16 of the 21st Annual Grove Cup Men's Singles Tournament! Jordan: 1 Ace on Omar!
The Gist from Jordan: It was a very good match. I knew ahead of time it would be tough because I've seen how consistent Omar has been in the past. The rallies were long and we both had a great workout. The 2nd Set was also very competitive, more so than the score line suggests because the rallies were still long. We played for two hours! Omar definitely surprised me. He hit some great cross-court winners when I hit the ball too short on the Deuce side.
Samara's Notes: I thank Jordan for his very timely and comprehensive reporting. I also congratulate him on his impressive victory and also offer up kudos to Omar for a fine effort.
GTA Women's Doubles Championship Match:
Sally Pillay/Laura Gawley over Fernanda Toker/Janice Wang, 6-1, 6-2, to complete their fifth successful GTA Women's Doubles Championship defense of their second reign! No Aces.
The Lowdown from Laura: The match went from 7:30 to 8:30.
Kris Srinivasan/Sally Pillay over Fernanda Toker/Laura Gawley, 7-6 (8-6)! No Aces.
The Lowdown from Laura: It was a good night of tennis!
Mike Kazlauskas/Kris Srinivasan over Ralph Bernard/Bud Heller, 6-3! Mike: 1 Ace on Ralph! It was the official GTA Debut of Bud Heller.
The K has his say: Bud is a solid player and it is great to have him play with us. He has a beautiful serve and volley, attacking shots and nice net play. Few errors on their side as the culmination of some spanking serves by Big Mike was what earned us the win.
Kyle Eng/Don Moya over Ralph Bernard/Bud Heller, 6-2! No Aces.
Marijus Kuzavas/Dennis Cabanatan over Jordan Bachvaroff/Tito Castolo, 6-4! No Aces.
Jordan Bachvaroff/Tito Castolo over Marijus Kuzavas/Dennis Cabanatan, 7-5! No Aces.
Mike Kazlauskas/Fernanda Toker over Kris Srinivasan/Janice Wang, 6-1! No Aces.
Don Moya/Janice Wang leading Kyle Eng/Genalin Capan, 6-6 (3-2 in the Tiebreak and Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)! Janice: 1 Ace on Gen!
Gen's Notes: We started play at 9:20. We had a pretty nice One-Setter. We were on serve up until 5-5. We broke Don's service game to go up 6-5. Then they got the break back after a multi-Deuce battle on my service game to take us into the TB. We had our chances with 2 Match Points, but could not close the set. Don and Janice finally converted their 3rd Break Point to level it at 6-All. It was 9:58 we had 2 minutes left for the TB. I was next to serve while down 2-3 when the lights went out.
Samara's Notes: I thank everyone who reported in such a timely fashion from Cedar Grove.
What a monumental day of GTA action it was once again! As always, I thank all those that were part of it. And when they send in their results in the timely manner in which they did (along with all the great details), it makes my job that much easier. Kudos to all involved!
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
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