7/8/18:
"5 play (1 New) at PAC, Z-Flax part of 12 at AP, 4 play at NTC, 5 play at C.G.!":
There were four official sessions of GTA Sunday Tennis with the first two coming early in the morning and the latter two later in the evening: "TNT" Tim Nguyen hosted a session at The Park Ave. Courts in Nutley and he brought in a new player as well (with Tim reporting); "Hollywood" Frank Samara finally brought his usual Sunday session back to the Albion Park Courts in Clifton and it ended up featuring a full Challenge Match between buddies "The Z Man" Dave Zapusek and "The Flax Machine" Mike Flax; "The Riz" John Rizzo hosted some solid Doubles action at Nutley Tennis Club; and then there was the usual evening session at The Cedar Grove Courts with "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan reporting the results from that session.
Let's go to all those scores (in the order listed above) now!
The Park Ave. Courts Results:
2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Gender Doubles Match:
Tim Nguyen/Vivian Lee over Sam Wong/Joe Renga, 6-2, 6-1! It was the official GTA Debut of Vivian Lee. Per the TMT Rules, Nguyen/Lee entered the Mixed Doubles Division as the New # 53 Ranked Team while Wong/Renga entered the Doubles Division as the New # 69 Ranked Team. No Aces.
Sam Wong/Carl Brownson over Tim Nguyen/Vivian Lee, 6-4! No Aces.
Tim's Up: We played these matches from around 8:30am to 12 pm.
Samara's Notes: I thank Tim for his very timely and comprehensive reporting (which is always appreciated). I also welcome Vivian to the league.
We now head northwest a bit to go to Clifton and the full recap from Albion Park.
When "Hollywood" Frank Samara pulled up to the curb at the top of the hill (at 10:30 as promised) and looked down at the three courts of Albion Park, he was very disappointed by what he initially had seen...all three courts were taken! But as he walked down the hill toward the courts, the scene became more satisfying. On Center Court, "The Assassin" Alfred Chen and "The Icon" Nick Inciong were hitting with one another. On the North Court, two GTA alumni were involved in a full Singles Challenge Match against one another. It was "The Z Man" Dave Zapusek and his buddy, "The Flax Machine" Mike Flax. Dave, like Alfred and Nick, welcomed Frank to the courts. And on the South Court, it was two outsiders...both guys likely to be in their late 20's.
So Frank first headed out to Center Court to take Alfred's side in hitting against Nick. At 10:35, "The Shade Shark" Suzanne Bujara joined the three guys on Center Court. Five minutes later, the Zapusek-Flax match finished and Dave reported the score to Samara. This full match enables both Dave and Mike to not only return to the GTA, but to also go directly back into the Intermediate Division. Once they left, Frank remained on that court in order to hold it for the league.
"Hurricane" Jose Gonzales arrived at 10:50 and joined the three players on Center Court for their hitting session. Frank remained the "fifth wheel" for quite some time as the Doubles One-Setter that took place on Center Court lasted from 11am to 11:32. Once it was over, Frank was invited to take the place of Suzanne for some Men's Doubles action. The Shade Shark was not being treated in a shady manner as Fadia "Finesse" Nicolas had just arrived at 11:30...so the two ladies got to hit with one another on the North Court while the four guys did their thing on Center Court.
The two guys (they seemed very nice in our interactions with them...both would likely be Intermediate Division guys if they ever do end up playing in the league) left the South Court at 11:50. As they were leaving, "Lucky" Leo Victor was heading toward the courts. He ended up chatting with Fadia and Suzanne for a while before the three of them entered into a hitting session. During all of this, "The Scorpion Dragon" Dino Celis had arrived at 11:55 and he soon sat on the bench alongside the South Court.
When the Men's Doubles One-Setter on Center Court ended exactly at 12:12, Alfred said he was exhausted and needed a break. So Dino was now set to take his place and we were all set on Center Court, but that left the other three players over on the North Court still waiting for a fourth. Chen said he would be willing to go back in, but he just needed a breather first. Then, all of a sudden, like a flash of silver lightning at 12:20..."Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli pulled up to the curb in his Mitsubishi Spyder Convertible. He then soon made his way down the hill in his fluorescent yellow tank top blinding all those there to witness such a spectacle!
Alfred was relieved to see Spin with racquet in hand. Mr. Martinelli greeted his tenant, Mr. Victor, and together they became the new version of "TLC" - the "Tenant Landlord Connection!" They decided to play their Mixed Doubles One-Setter as "Battle of The Sexes" style against Fadia and Suzanne since Spin is still battling to regain any form of mobility whatsoever and he needed Leo's wheels to be on his side.
As these two One-Setters were underway, "Queen B" Louise Bysiek was the final arrival of the day at 12:40. She had to be the "ninth wheel" for a while, so she sat somewhere in the shady section of the hill and waited for one of the One-Setters to conclude. The Men's Doubles finished first, but all the guys were already burned out from all the sun (a great day, by the way...no humidity, the temps were just right) and feeling fatigued. So she had to wait for the Mixed Doubles action on the North Court to reach its proper conclusion before she could finally get involved in some official action. And it was the One-Setter that finally included Louise (as she teamed with Fadia to take on Leo and Suzanne) that would end our day...the day the GTA finally returned to Albion Park (as a group session)!
Let's get to the action!
The Albion Park Results:
3 out of 5 Sets Challenge Match:
Dave Zapusek over Mike Flax, 6-3, 6-1, 6-2, as both players returned to the GTA and its Intermediate Division as the New # 55 and # 56 Ranked Players respectively! Dave: 2 Aces! Dave said they started somewhere around 9am (on the North Court) and they finished precisely at 10:40. Both of them left soon after finishing, but hope to play with us more at Albion now that they know we're back.
Jose Gonzales/Nick Inciong over Alfred Chen/Suzanne Bujara, 6-1! Jose: 1 Ace on Suzanne. This one took place on Center Court and lasted from 11am to 11:32.
Jose Gonzales/Nick Inciong over Frank Samara/Alfred Chen, 6-3! Jose: 1 Ace on Frank! It went like this: Jose was broken (Love-15 then point for point to Break Point, a nice Ace up the T-line against Frank for Deuce, but then came another Break Point and the break), Frank was broken (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 shifted to Break Point and then came the break), but Nick was the first one to hold serve (15-Love, 15-All then onto Double Game Point and the hold) for a 2-1 lead. Alfred also held and in the same manner that Nick did (15-Love, 15-All then onto Double Game Point and the hold) to level the set at 2-2, but then Gonzales also held in somewhat of a struggle (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point lead reduced to Deuce and then it was all Break Points until 3rd Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to reclaim the lead for his team at 3-2! Samara held and did in the same manner as the most recent holds from Inciong and Chen (15-Love, 15-All then onto Double Game Point and the hold) to tie things again, this time at 3-3. But Inciong held again (Love-15 went straight to Double Game Point and the hold) while Chen was broken (Triple Break Point deficit cut down to Break Point, but then came the break) to fall to 3-5. And then Hurricane Jose held again (30-Love, 30-15 and then the best rally of the match led to Double Game/Match Point where the second best rally of the match ended in the serving team's favor giving them the win!) for the victory! We played this one on Center Court from 11:35 to 12:12.
Jose Gonzales/Nick Inciong over Dino Celis/Frank Samara, 6-2! No Aces. Here's how it went down: Dino held (30-Love shifted to 30-All, but then came Game Point and the hold), Nick held at Love, but Frank was the first one to be broken (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 shifted to Break Point and then the break) for 1-2. Jose held (Love-30 went straight to Game Point, then came Deuce, another Game Point and the hold) while Celis was broken (15-Love shifted to 15-30 shifted to Game Point, then came Deuce and all Game Points until 3rd Deuce, Break Point and the break) to fall to 1-4! Inciong was also broken as a 15-Love lead vanished as it headed right to Double Break Point and the break to have his team's lead reduced to 4-2. But from there, Samara was broken again and it was at Love and then Gonzales held again (Love-15 went straight to Double Game/Match Point and the hold for the win) for yet another victory! Center Court hosted this one from 12:18 to 12:53.
The Skinny: Jose and Nick went 3-0 on the day as Gonzales came thru on serve (he was only broken in his first game) while Inciong was the steadiest presence of the entire session. Chen, Samara and Celis all had their impressive moments, but then sometimes suffered from some lesser ones as well. The Assassin (Alfred) was the wildest of the bunch as he either scored with his scathing forehand winners or they found their way into the net (or sometimes long of the baseline) to become unforced errors.
Fadia Nicolas/Suzanne Bujara over Dan Martinelli/Leo Victor, 7-5! Spin: 1 Ace on Suzanne (and he thought he almost had another one, but was overruled by his buddy Samara who was standing nearby and saw the whole thing! LOL!)! Down 5-6, Martinelli was on serve and it went to Break/Match Point, Deuce, a 2nd Break/Match Point and then the Ace up the T-line against Suzanne to make it 2nd Deuce, but then came the 3rd Break/Match Point and the break to take a tough loss to the ladies! This "Battle of The Sexes" Mixed Doubles One-Setter was played on the North Court from 12:25 to 1:20...just five minutes shy of an hour!
The Skinny: Spin's mobility issues are still a major hindrance for the man who once claimed to have "cheetah speed!" Meanwhile, his pal and tenant Leo has simply not played enough tennis this season to become consistent. Suzanne, on the other hand, continues to impress with her steady improvement. And we don't call Ms. Nicolas "Fadia Finesse" for nothing! She seemed to dictate the flow and tempo of many of the points that I was able to witness.
Fadia Nicolas/Louise Bysiek over Leo Victor/Suzanne Bujara, 6-3! No Aces. This was also played on the North Court and it lasted from 1:32 to 2:40! That is not a typo...the overall length of the match was an hour and eight minutes! It should be noted, however, that there were many multiple Deuce games...plus, Louise had to take a call during one of the changeovers and that led to a lengthy break from the action.
All in all, it was a fun session and it feels good to be back on the courts of Albion once again!
We now head back ton Nutley, but this time we go to the Nutley Tennis Club.
The NTC Result:
2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Alfred Chen/Frank Hohorst over Dan Hwang/John Rizzo, 7-5, 2-6, 6-2, to successfully defend their # 3 Rank in the Doubles Division! In the process, Hwang/Rizzo entered the division as the New # 70 Ranked Team. No Aces.
Samara's Notes: I thank John for his very timely reporting of that result. It is much appreciated. It is now time to head west and turn this report over to Doinks.
The Cedar Grove Results:
Ryan Sherry/Doinks Srinivasan over Kris Srinivasan/Arlene Hyde, 6-2! No Aces.
Kris Srinivasan/Ryan Sherry over Jeremy Gottlieb/Arlene Hyde, 6-0! No Aces.
Ryan Sherry/Doinks Srinivasan over Jeremy Gottlieb/Arlene Hyde, 6-3! No Aces.
Ryan Sherry/Arlene Hyde leading Kris Srinivasan/Doinks Srinivasan, 5-1 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)! No Aces.
Samara's Notes: I thank Doinks for her very timely reporting. It is greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
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