8/27/18:
"7 play at PAC, Jordan-Edwin, Marijus-Moka part of 17 at C.G.!":
There were two sessions of GTA Monday Night Tennis and they pretty much ran at the same time. One was at The Park Ave. Courts in Nutley as "TNT" Tim Nguyen provided the report from that location. The other was the usual one at The Cedar Grove Courts and it featured the last of the four "Grove Cup 21" Quarterfinal Matches as "Super Mario" Marijus Kuzavas faced off against "Instant" Moka Pathan (with both reporting). There was also a full 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match between "The Bulgarian Bull" Jordan Bachvaroff and "Salsa Picante" Edwin Ortega (with Jordan reporting). Other report contributors from that session are "Bravo" Brenda Jordan, "The Webmaster" Senthil Kumar and "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan.
We now turn this report over to Tim who not only brings the scores, but plenty of details as well. And after that, we will head west to Cedar Grove for the rest.
It was another very uneventful evening at the PAC. Rich Liu initiated the call earlier in the day and stated that he would be there around 7:30pm and so if anyone is available, they can join him. Arunraj Nair and I arrived a little earlier in the evening around 6:45pm and we took the last court on the end and soon after Randy Doran arrived and joined us. Eventually, there were around 10 of us came and we took up 3 courts. The evening was humid, hot and sweaty after several plays that made some of the guys change their shirts several times.
The Park Ave. Courts Results:
Arunraj Nair over Tim Nguyen, 7-5! No Aces.
Arunraj and I braved the humidity and played a Singles One-Setter. It was fun and competitive. I came on strong this time leading him 2-0. He came back, but eventually I led 4-3. We battled on and evened out at 5-5, but then he finally won (after so much sweat). Great play, Arunraj!
Santosh Reddy/David Wong over Tim Nguyen/Arunraj Nair, 6-3! No Aces.
Tim Nguyen/Arunraj Nair over Santosh Reddy/David Wong, 6-2! No Aces.
Rich Liu over Dan Knitzer, 6-0! No Aces.
Rich Liu/Dan Knitzer leading Tim Nguyen/Santosh Reddy, 5-4 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)! No Aces.
The last Doubles One-Setter was somewhat exciting, but incomplete due to the lights going out at 10pm. Rich/Dan lead over Tim/Santosh, 3-0. They must have felt that they would bring home the set easily. Rich was somewhat feeling overconfident, but wait….Tim/Santosh fought back to even it at 3-3! The battle went on and the score settled at 4-4, and eventually Rich/Dan lead over Tim/Santosh at 5-4 when Tim/Santosh got the advantage on the final ball. The last ball went to Tim's side and then the lights went completely dark!
Dan, Rich, and Santosh had several very nice serves (I call it thunder serves!). Santosh was in control on his end the entire time and was able to successfully defend some of Rich and Dan's strong hits. It was great everyone!
Samara's Notes: I thank Tim for his very timely and comprehensive report. It is much appreciated. We now go to Cedar Grove.
The Cedar Grove Results:
2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:
Jordan Bachvaroff over Edwin Ortega, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, to successfully defend his # 12 Rank in the Advanced Division! No Aces.
The Gist from Jordan: It was a great, tough match! Edwin played really well and it was ridiculously hot and humid, but it was a great workout! We started at 5pm.
Samara's Notes: I thank Jordan for reporting in such a timely manner and I also congratulate him on a hard-fought victory.
"Grove Cup 21" Quarterfinal Match:
Marijus Kuzavas over Moka Pathan, 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 6-2, to successfully defend his # 5 Rank in the Advanced Division while advancing to the Semifinals of the 21st Annual Grove Cup Men's Singles Tournament! Marijus: 6 Aces!
The Scoop from Super Mario: Match lasted from about 6:40 to about 9:20. 1st Set went 1-3, 3-4, 4-5, 5-6, 7-6. I broke Moka in first game of the match, but was struggling with my second serve a bit in the beginning of the match and got broken twice. Somehow I was able to get the break back and hang on till Tiebreak although every game was a struggle.
The 2nd Set went 1-1, 2-4, 3-5, 4-6. This set we pretty much held our serves throughout except for Game 5 when I was broken. I did not succeed in breaking him back this time, thus set went to Moka. The 3rd Set went 3-0, 4-1, 6-2. This time I was able to hang on to my serves and got a couple breaks. We opened new balls for this set, so perhaps this helped me out. This was a great fun match in warm and very humid conditions. Moka was giving me a lot of trouble with his excellent passing shots when I was charging the net. He had a number of great drop shots as well.
Moka's Brew: I want to thank Marijus for a great match as he was the better player and deserving winner. His serving was at its peak. I actually think he had way more than 6 Aces (at least 10+) and so many more serves where I could barely get a racquet on them. I wish Marijus the best of luck against Paul Daddio in the Semis.
Samara's Notes: I thank both for their very timely and detailed reporting. I congratulate Marijus on a hard-fought and impressive victory while I also offer up hearty kudos to Moka for a spirited effort.
The Consequences: As Moka referenced, one Semi sees Marijus take on Paul Daddio (I think this is rematch from the Semis of last year's Grove Cup, though I could be wrong) while the other Semi sees the reigning GTA Doubles Champions have to face one another - Ryan Pienciak versus Nick Caputo! Both matches look to be great ones.
3 out of 5 Sets Women's Doubles Match:
Dawn Peterson/Michele Panzitta over Brenda Jordan/Kathy Marabondo, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4, to successfully defend their # 21 Rank in the Women's Doubles Division! Michele: 2 Aces on Kathy!
The Brief from Brenda: It was a hot muggy night and the bugs were out in full force, but it was still good to be out and playing.
Samara's Notes: I thank Brenda for her timely reporting and admire the stamina of all four ladies involved in this match.
2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Senthil Kumar/Guy Dupoux over Jordan Bachvaroff/Mike Mole, 6-1, 7-5, to become the New #67 Ranked Team in the Doubles Division! No Aces.
Abhilash Gadi/Guy Dupoux over Senthil Kumar/Rob Gawley, 6-2! No Aces.
Frank Hohorst/Doinks Srinivasan over Tito Castolo/Mostafa Hussaini, 6-3! No Aces.
Samara's Notes: I also thank Senthil and Doinks for their timely contributions to this report.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
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