8/1/18:
"Gadi-Knitzer at VP, 8 play at PAC, 17 play (1 New, 1 Return) at C.G.!":
There were three official sessions of GTA Wednesday Night Tennis. The first one was at the courts in Verona Park and it featured the "Grove Cup 21" Round of 16 Match between "The Accelerator" Abhilash Gadi and "The Dark Knight" Dan Knitzer (two of our fastest competitors, both contributed to this report). The next one was at the Park Ave. Courts in Nutley where both "TNT" Tim Nguyen and "The Great Wall" Muhammad Haque stepped up to report those scores. And the final session of the night was at the Cedar Grove Courts where the contributors to this report were "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan, "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan, Dennis "The Menace" Cabanatan, Laura "The Aura" Gawley and an assist from "Momma Chris" Christine Corso and her son, Peter.
We'll go to Verona first, then Nutley and then Cedar Grove. Time for some action!
The Verona Park Courts Result:
"Grove Cup 21" Round of 16 Match:
Abhilash Gadi over Dan Knitzer, 6-2, 6-2, to successfully defend his # 5 Rank in the Advanced Division while advancing to the Quarterfinals of the 21st Annual Grove Cup Men's Singles Tournament! No Aces.
The TDK Replay: We played in Verona Park. "The Accelerator" Abhi Gadi served first and, after I took the initial point, he rattled off 12 straight points to go up 3-0 based on the strength of his drop shot then lob game plan. Then we both held serve until he broke me at 2-5 to win the opening set. Some points, he had me going from baseline to net and back TWICE! Eventually, I figured out how to move him around as well, but he covered the court amazingly, only conceding one drop shot.
Things started better for me in the 2nd Set. We were both winded from some extremely long points in the 1st Set and I was able to break him at 1-1 to go up 2-1. But from there, things went south fast! My serve, which had been fast (by my standards) and reliable the whole match, started failing me and I was too stubborn to adjust accordingly. "The Accelerator" refused to hit unforced errors and found the corners on seemingly almost half of his forehands. He walloped me to take the 2nd Set with a 6-2 score as well.
I lost to the better player, despite playing good tennis by my standards. My only mental error was when serving as I had at least 6 Double Faults in the 2nd Set alone! No Aces for either of us, though we were both serving fairly hard. If there's one thing Abhi could've done better, it was employ the drop shot and lob game plan that wore me out in the opening set, but I think fatigue played a factor in neither of us wanting to utilize the droppers. He may pull a Gaston Gaudio in this tournament. Good luck, Abhi!
Annotations from The Accelerator: As Dan mentioned, we had a really good match in Verona Park. Although the score line says 6-2, 6-2, the effort both of us had to put in this is no less than that of a full 3-Setter! Dan was good with his serve and had clever drop shots. I had to run a lot in this match to make my plays and was lucky to be hitting the lines on this occasion. Dan has a really good game, but this time around he was done in by his unforced errors. In the end, we had a quality tennis match and I thank Dan for getting the best out of me.
Samara's Notes: I thank both of them for their comprehensive commentary. It is very much appreciated. I also congratulate Abhilash on a highly impressive victory! With his nail-biter win against Tony "Sure Shot" Shiao, then cracking The Top 5 of the Advanced Division and now this victory right here…I consider Abhi to be the new lead contender for Most Improved Player of The Year thus far this season. But there is still plenty more of this season left to unfold.
We now shift east a bit to go to Nutley and start with some commentary from Tim (Muhammad repeated many of the same results).
The Park Ave. Courts Results:
Wednesday evening was forecast to be rain, but it turned out that the rain missed us. It was humid up until around 7pm or so, but afterwards the windy breezes came through and it turned out a beautiful night.
2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Keith Lewkowitz/Arunraj Nair over Tim Nguyen/Fausto Murg, 6-4, 6-1, to successfully defend their # 11 Rank in the Doubles Division! In the process, Nguyen/Murg entered the division as the New # 59 Ranked Team. No Aces.
While that was going on, Muhammad then reported the following…
When I arrived there, I found Keith, Arun, Fausto and Tim playing. After that, Rich Liu came with Randy Doran following and then "The Party Boy" Edgar Valencia. So we started some Doubles.
Randy Doran/Rich Liu over Edgar Valencia/Muhammad Haque, 6-1! No Aces.
The Muhammad Memo: Edgar was telling me when Rich and Randy were leading 5-1 that he was still warming up, but before he could fully warm up the match ended at 6-1!
Keith Lewkowitz/Arunraj Nair over Tim Nguyen/Muhammad Haque, 6-1! No Aces.
Tim Nguyen/Muhammad Haque over Keith Lewkowitz/Arunraj Nair, 6-3! Muhammad: 1 Ace on Keith!
Samara's Notes: I thank both Tim and Muhammad for their very timely and detailed reporting. It is much appreciated. We now head west to Cedar Grove for the rest.
The Cedar Grove Results:
Kris Srinivasan/Fadia Nicolas over Tito Castolo/Arlene Hyde, 7-5! Kris: 1 Ace on Arlene; and Fadia: 1 Ace on Tito!
The K has his say: We started off poorly down Love-3 before eventually catching up to make it 5-All. It was a decent One-Setter that ended up on a competitive note.
Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout over Senthil Kumar/Peter Corso, 7-6 (8-6)! No Aces. It was the official GTA Return of Peter Corso.
Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout over Dennis Cabanatan/Rob Gawley, 6-4! No Aces.
Dennis Cabanatan/Rob Gawley over Fadia Nicolas/Arlene Hyde, 6-4! No Aces.
Joe Rodrigues/Tito Castolo over Mike Corrado/Daniel Fanelli, 6-1! No Aces. It was the official GTA Debut of Daniel Fanelli.
Andrew Kroessler/Daniel Fanelli over Mike Corrado/Doinks Srinivasan, 7-6 (7-3)! No Aces.
Peter Corso/Laura Gawley over Dino Celis/Joe Rodrigues, 6-2! No Aces.
Peter Corso/Laura Gawley leading Dino Celis/Joe Rodrigues, 4-3 (in our favor, but with Joe serving at 40-30 when the lights went out at 10pm)! No Aces.
Andrew Kroessler/Daniel Fanelli leading Mike Corrado/Doinks Srinivasan, 3-1 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)! No Aces.
Samara's Notes: I thank everyone for their contributions to this report. It is much appreciated. And I especially thank Christine and Peter for coming through with Daniel's last name - Fanelli. Momma Chris says besides being a solid tennis player, Daniel is quite the singer. So I will give him the moniker, "Due Talenti!" That means two talents in Italian.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
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