9/14/18:
"12 at PAC, Omar-Keith + 1 at C.G., Nick-Paul at BP, Janice-Doinks + 2 at VP!":
There were four sessions of GTA Friday Tennis if we consider the first one that took place at The Park Ave. Courts in Nutley to be one that started in the afternoon with "The Battle of The Sexes" Match between "Del Brotro" Mike Mole and "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan (as reported by Gen) and then there would be a little bit of a gap there before the evening part of that session got underway featuring ten more players with the Main Event being the "B Team" Men's Doubles Match of the ongoing East-West Challenge series as Team East was represented by "TNT" Tim Nguyen and Arunraj "Air" Nair to face the Team West tandem of "Hollywood" Frank Samara and "Macho Man" Tom La (somewhat ironic considering the fact that Samara and La are both graduates of Nutley High School...Samara in '88 and La in '85). Samara ended up collecting all the results from the session, but "Kaptain" Keith Lewkowitz and "SWAT" Rich Liu also made their presences felt there as hosts. Rich was nice enough to bring a dozen doughnuts for everyone (and let Frank take home the balance that went uneaten). Samara reports all that took place at this session.
The second session was at The Cedar Grove Courts, though it was fragmented and it seemingly ended early as various players reported going there only to find no GTA players remaining there. It began with one of the Men's Singles Matches from the East-West Challenge as Lewkowitz faced "Stealth" Omar Santos (with Keith reporting). From there, we also received results reported by "J-Rod" Joe Rodrigues.
The third session of the evening ended up being the most monumental one and it took place at The Brookdale Park Courts in Bloomfield as it featured the "Grove Cup 21" Final Match between "NC-17" Nick Caputo and "Daddy O" Paul Daddio (with both reporting). Originally, it was supposed to be the GTA Doubles Championship Match with Caputo and "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak defending their Titles against the 2018 M2 Champs: "King Crush" Chris Chiaro and "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes, but Nate needed it rescheduled as he ended up feeling sick.
The fourth and final session of the night took place at the courts in Verona Park and it featured the second big match of the night was the GTA Women's Championship Match where the GTA Women's Champion: "J-Wow" Janice Wang put her Title on the line against "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan (with Doinks reporting...and she offered up some other scores as well).
So now we start at Nutley with the result from Gen, then to how everything else unfolded there...then to Cedar Grove followed by Bloomfield and then we end the evening in Verona.
The Park Ave. Courts Results:
2 out of 3 Sets "Battle of The Sexes" Match:
Mike Mole over Genalin Capan, 6-3, 6-4! Mike and Gen: 1 Ace each (both in the 2nd Set)!
Gen's Notes: We played the match from 2 to 3pm. We started hitting at 1pm.
Samara's Notes: As always, I thank Gen for her very timely reporting...much appreciated!
Samara pulled into the parking lot just off Park Ave. at the same time that Fausto "Mr. Mystery" Murg and Arunraj were doing the same. Out on Court One, Keith was hitting with "The Great Wall" Muhammad Haque while Tom La was holding Court Three for the coming EWC Men's Doubles Match. There was a couple (not with the GTA) on Court Two and some young guys were just leaving Court Four (only to be replaced by three other young guys later in the evening).
This was Frank's first time at these courts since they were improved over a month ago and there are no more cracks or plants growing up thru them. The surface all around is flat and the nets are new. The paint job on the courts, however, is not the best. On Court Three, part of the service line (in the crucial corner of the service box on the Deuce side of the northern half of the court) is completely missing! Thankfully, it was never a factor in the match...but I can imagine it must be from time to time.
Tim and Rich arrived at the same time five minutes later. Rich took Court Four to practice his serve while the eight other GTA players did their thing on Courts One and Three. Eventually, Rich gave up the court to those three other young guys (who kept it the balance of the evening) once he had an opportunity to mix in with the rest of the group over on Court One.
The ninth and final arrival of the evening was "Kerosene" Kyle Eng at 8:55. He already had a rough night as he had an hour-long commute from Secaucus to the Cedar Grove Courts (a bad car accident on Route 3 West made the trip twice as long as usual) only to find nobody from the GTA there! Thankfully, he gave Nutley a chance and was able to get involved in a couple of Doubles One-Setters before the session ended.
Speaking of which...enough chit chat! Let's get to the action!
Muhammad Haque/Fausto Murg over Keith Lewkowitz/Joe Renga, 7-5! No Aces. This one got underway on Court One at 7:25. It likely ended somewhere between 8pm and 8:05.
EWC Doubles Match (2 out of 3 Sets):
Frank Samara/Tom La over Tim Nguyen/Arunraj Nair, 6-4, 6-3, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 49 and # 50 Ranked Teams respectively while Samara/La earned one point for Team West in the overall East-West Challenge series! Arunraj: 1 Ace on Frank in the 2nd Set!
1st Set: Arunraj was broken (a 15-Love lead slipped to Double Break Point, then rebounded to Deuce, then another Break Point and the break) and then Frank held at Love for 2-0. Tim held serve in a battle to get his team on the scoreboard (15-Love fell to 15-30, then 30-All, Break Point, Deuce, Break Point again, 2nd Deuce, Game Point, 3rd Deuce, Game Point and the hold), but then Tom held (Triple Game Point, Double Game Point and the hold) for 3-1. Nair held (15-Love, Double Fault for 15-All and then onto Double Game Point and the hold) to pull to 2-3, but then Samara had another Love hold for 4-2. Nguyen also held again, yet again it was a struggle (Love-30 then went straight to Game Point, Deuce and then all Game Points right thru to 3rd Deuce, another Game Point and finally the hold) to pull to 3-4, but La also held again (15-Love, 15-All and then onto Double Game Point and the hold) for 5-3. Air Nair then also held again (Love-15 went right to Double Game Point, then Game Point and the hold) to pull to 4-5, but then Hollywood had his third straight Love hold when he ended this set on Triple Game/Match Point at 8:15 (we got this match going on Court Three at exactly 7:37)! Two minutes later, we were onto the next one.
2nd Set: Arunraj was broken (a 15-Love lead slipped straight to Double Break Point and then came the break), Tom held (started off with two Double Faults and then shifted to 30-All, Break Point, Deuce, Game Point and the hold) and Tim was broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and the break) to get off to a 0-3 start in this set. But then Frank was broken for the first time (Love-30 shifted to 30-All, but then came Break Point and the break) to allow the opposition onto the board in this set and then Nair held....well, wait just a minute...we should say what truly took place here first. Going into this set, Tim and Arun changed their service sides (but not their return of service sides). After Samara was finally broken, service should have returned to Nair, but instead Nguyen took it and we did not notice it as we had grown use to it in the 1st Set. It wasn't until the would-be changeover when Frank went to note the games that he noticed we had went out of order and that we would now have to replay that game with Arun now serving. It should also be noted that during this now unofficial service game from Tim, a misty drizzle had persisted throughout its entirely. As soon as we got things right, the rain stopped for the rest of the night! Tim and Arun understood, but you could sense their frustration as they now had to try to win that game again. This redo seemed to rev up Nair as at 30-Love he hit an Ace up the T against Frank and went on to hold at Love to pull to 2-3! The good thing was that winning that game alleviated any controversy...it was seemingly meant to be! La's response was a Love hold of his own to go up 4-2, but not to be outdone, Nguyen then scored a Love hold of his own to pull to 3-4! The Wood then rebounded with another service hold (Love-15 shifted straight to Double Game Point and the hold) for 5-3 and then Arun was broken (30-Love shifted to 30-All, a Double Fault to set up Break/Match Point where Tim made the get of the night to come up to the net to retrieve a sharply angled drop shot from Samara to then hit the winner cross-court to bring it to Deuce and then it went to Game Point, another Double Fault to make it 2nd Deuce, then came the 2nd Break/Match Point and the break!) to take a tough loss, but one where Team East could hold their heads up for a fine and spirited effort as Team West claimed this point (not yet even aware of what had taken place earlier in the day at Cedar Grove...so they thought they had just made the series 1-1...but we will find out soon what the EWC overall score truly was by this time)! The match ended at 8:50.
The Skinny: Tim displayed his consistent and continued improvement in this match. I already knew what Arunraj brought to the table (or, more accurately, the court) and he did not disappoint...big forehands, big serves and some nice volleys at the net. But it was Tom who was the MVP of this match as he truly dominated the scene at the net with sharply angled volleys and big-time Overhead Smashes! He made me look like a hero as a server with those three consecutive Love holds in the 1st Set...though I will admit to very good placements with my serves (and just enough pace) so that I was taking the recipients of said serves out wide forcing their returns to usually meet their fate with Mr. La ready to chop down the counter trajectories at the net! I was also able to do my usual thing...heavy helpings of slice with a nice mix of drop shots to again bring the opposition into the waiting attack of Tom upfront. It all worked out well, but it was still close...just the difference of one break in the 1st Set and two in the 2nd...so kudos to all involved!
Rich Liu/Fausto Murg over Muhammad Haque/Keith Lewkowitz, 6-2! No Aces. This one had begun on Court One at 8:10, but I am not sure when it got done. But it had to be some time before this next one.
Rich Liu/Muhammad Haque over Keith Lewkowitz/Arunraj Nair, 6-4! Keith: 1 Ace on Rich! They played this one on Court Three from 8:54 to 9:30. Afterward, Muhammad and Tom La would have an extended hitting session on this court.
Kyle Eng/Tim Nguyen over Frank Samara/Joe Renga, 6-1! No Aces. Here's how it went down: Frank was broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and the break), Kyle was broken (Love-15 shifted to 30-15, then 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Game Point again, 2nd Deuce, Break Point and the break), Joe was broken at Love, but Tim was the first to hold serve (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold) for 3-1. And from there, Samara was broken again and this time it was at Love, Eng held (Triple Game Point, Double Fault for Double Game Point, but then the hold) and Renga was also broken again (Love-15, 15-All then onto Double Break/Match Point and the break) to take the lopsided loss! We played this one on Court Two from 9:05 to 9:25.
Frank Samara/Tim Nguyen over Kyle Eng/Joe Renga, 6-2! No Aces. The dirty lowdown: Joe was broken (Love-30 shifted to 30-All, Double Fault for Break Point and the break) and Frank held (Triple Game Point was soon dropped down to Deuce, but then came another Game Point, 2nd Deuce, yet another Game Point and finally the hold) for 2-0. Kyle held (30-Love, Double Fault for 30-15, 30-All, Game Point and the hold) and Tim was broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point, Break Point and the break) to level things at 2-2. But from there, Renga was broken again (15-Love then point for point until 30-All, Break Point and the break), Samara held again and this time it was at Love, Eng was broken (started with a Double Fault, then shifted it to Double Game Point which was then reduced to Deuce, Game Point again, 2nd Deuce, Break Point and the break) and Nguyen held (Triple Game/Match Point, it ended on Double Game/Match Point) for the win! This one was also played on Court Two and it lasted from 9:27 to 9:54.
Let's go back in time just a bit as the Cedar Grove session did, in fact, start in the late afternoon.
The Cedar Grove Results:
EWC Singles Match (2 out of 3 Sets):
Omar Santos over Keith Lewkowitz, 6-3, 6-0, to successfully defend his # 10 Rank in the Intermediate Division while scoring a point for Team West in the ongoing East-West Challenge series! Omar: 4 Aces!
The Kaptain's Commentary: Good player, good strategy...clearly worth his ranking. I clearly have to do better. Good win for his team...kudos to Omar!
Samara's Notes: I thank Keith for his timely reporting of that match (Omar sent the same score via text, but basically without comment). And, thus, this was truly the match that made the score 1-1 in the EWC series. Later in the evening (but previously in this report), the Samara/La victory over Nguyen/Nair put Team West up 2-1.
We now go to the results from Joe.
Joe Rodrigues over Omar Santos, 6-4! No Aces.
Joe Rodrigues over Omar Santos, 6-0! No Aces.
The Gist from Joe: When I first arrived, Omar was still playing his match with Keith. It was a very low turnout at C.G. After that match, Omar and I hit with a guy named Chris who is looking to play some more with us and will try to come by more often. We played this as two One-Setters, not as a full match. There were some long rallies so the scores do not properly reflect the true story. Added to the fact that Omar had already played a full match with Keith, I thank him for staying around and playing me.
Samara's Notes: I thank Joe for his very timely reporting...much appreciated!
It is now time to take this report to Bloomfield!
The Brookdale Park Result:
"Grove Cup 21" Final Match:
Nick Caputo over Paul Daddio, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1, to successfully defend his # 2 Rank in the Advanced Division while becoming the 2018 Grove Cup Champ and next Top Contender to the GTA Championship!
The NC-17 Screening: When the GTA Doubles Championship Match had to be cancelled due to Nate being sick, I took a chance on calling Paul to see if we could play our Grove Cup Final instead. He happened to be available and so we agreed to play at Brookdale Park. We started the match around 4:15 and finished it by around 6:30.
The 1st Set was crazy and lasted 90 minutes! I was up early at 3-1, he then made it 3-3 until I went up again and was serving for the set at 5-3. Paul made some unbelievable running shots, saved 3 Set Points in the process and came back to level it again, this time at 5-5! I then went up 6-5, but he came back again to force the Tiebreak. In the Breaker, Paul went up 3-0 and 4-2 before I took five straight points to take the TB and the set! Overall in this set, there were very long games featuring lengthy rallies/points.
In the 2nd Set, I settled in quickly as I tried to shorten the points a little. I was then able to cruise and take it at 6-1.
I thank Paul for a great match. He's a tough competitor and a true sportsman. I also thank Frank for organizing a great tournament. I really enjoyed it and I'm glad I was able to be a part of it.
The Dilly-O from Daddy O: It was a great match as Nick mentioned. The 1st Set was a marathon featuring very long points. Nick dictated most of the points, but my lobs and passing shots kept me in the set. I could not pull out the Tiebreak after missing a volley which would have put me up 4-0 and then Nick picked up his game considerably after that. I did not have the same defensive game in the 2nd Set and that is reflected in the score. Good luck to Nick going forward!
Samara's Notes: I offer up hearty congratulations to Nick for such an impressive run through the talent-laden field which was the overall draw of this year's Grove Cup. I also thank him for the thank you and his timely reporting. Also, major kudos to Paul for yet another distinguished campaign in this tourney, two years in a row now!
The Consequences: Nick now waits to see who will emerge from the in-progress GTA Championship Match between the GTA Champion: "King Crush" Chris Chiaro and "The Apex Predator" Adam Pienciak. This match started more than a couple of months ago as Adam took that 1st Set in a tough tiebreak. The match was then put on hiatus to wait for the Grove Cup tourney to play itself out to its conclusion. I do believe this match will be resumed this Sunday. If Chris comes back to take the last two sets, he will then have to defend his GTA Championship against Caputo next. If Adam manages to close out this match in the next set, then Chiaro gets the immediate rematch as the Former Champ...those are the rules of the league and it has always been that way. We may be getting something of a formidable "Bermuda Triangle" of tough competitors at the top of the league!
And now we end this evening in Verona.
The Verona Park Results:
GTA Women's Championship Match:
Janice Wang over Doinks Srinivasan, 6-2, 6-0, to complete her first successful GTA Women's Championship defense of her first reign! No Aces.
Samara's Notes: I congratulate Janice on a very impressive victory! I also thank Doinks for her timely reporting. "The Riz" John Rizzo also reported the result in the moment as he went to Verona to be a spectator after first stopping at Cedar Grove to see Joe and Omar just before they finished their business there. Doinks had one more score to report.
Janice Wang/Doinks Srinivasan over Mike Sindler/David Wong, 6-4! No Aces. This One-Setter was played "Battle of The Sexes" style.
Samara's Notes: Wow! As Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons once sang, "Oh, what a night!" I guess I am dating myself with that musical reference (though Spin will love it). I guess you have to date yourself when society has deemed you to be "un-dateable!" ("Seinfeld" reference). Seriously, it was truly an epic evening in GTA history...and the weekend was just getting started!
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com
"12 at PAC, Omar-Keith + 1 at C.G., Nick-Paul at BP, Janice-Doinks + 2 at VP!":
There were four sessions of GTA Friday Tennis if we consider the first one that took place at The Park Ave. Courts in Nutley to be one that started in the afternoon with "The Battle of The Sexes" Match between "Del Brotro" Mike Mole and "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan (as reported by Gen) and then there would be a little bit of a gap there before the evening part of that session got underway featuring ten more players with the Main Event being the "B Team" Men's Doubles Match of the ongoing East-West Challenge series as Team East was represented by "TNT" Tim Nguyen and Arunraj "Air" Nair to face the Team West tandem of "Hollywood" Frank Samara and "Macho Man" Tom La (somewhat ironic considering the fact that Samara and La are both graduates of Nutley High School...Samara in '88 and La in '85). Samara ended up collecting all the results from the session, but "Kaptain" Keith Lewkowitz and "SWAT" Rich Liu also made their presences felt there as hosts. Rich was nice enough to bring a dozen doughnuts for everyone (and let Frank take home the balance that went uneaten). Samara reports all that took place at this session.
The second session was at The Cedar Grove Courts, though it was fragmented and it seemingly ended early as various players reported going there only to find no GTA players remaining there. It began with one of the Men's Singles Matches from the East-West Challenge as Lewkowitz faced "Stealth" Omar Santos (with Keith reporting). From there, we also received results reported by "J-Rod" Joe Rodrigues.
The third session of the evening ended up being the most monumental one and it took place at The Brookdale Park Courts in Bloomfield as it featured the "Grove Cup 21" Final Match between "NC-17" Nick Caputo and "Daddy O" Paul Daddio (with both reporting). Originally, it was supposed to be the GTA Doubles Championship Match with Caputo and "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak defending their Titles against the 2018 M2 Champs: "King Crush" Chris Chiaro and "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes, but Nate needed it rescheduled as he ended up feeling sick.
The fourth and final session of the night took place at the courts in Verona Park and it featured the second big match of the night was the GTA Women's Championship Match where the GTA Women's Champion: "J-Wow" Janice Wang put her Title on the line against "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan (with Doinks reporting...and she offered up some other scores as well).
So now we start at Nutley with the result from Gen, then to how everything else unfolded there...then to Cedar Grove followed by Bloomfield and then we end the evening in Verona.
The Park Ave. Courts Results:
2 out of 3 Sets "Battle of The Sexes" Match:
Mike Mole over Genalin Capan, 6-3, 6-4! Mike and Gen: 1 Ace each (both in the 2nd Set)!
Gen's Notes: We played the match from 2 to 3pm. We started hitting at 1pm.
Samara's Notes: As always, I thank Gen for her very timely reporting...much appreciated!
Samara pulled into the parking lot just off Park Ave. at the same time that Fausto "Mr. Mystery" Murg and Arunraj were doing the same. Out on Court One, Keith was hitting with "The Great Wall" Muhammad Haque while Tom La was holding Court Three for the coming EWC Men's Doubles Match. There was a couple (not with the GTA) on Court Two and some young guys were just leaving Court Four (only to be replaced by three other young guys later in the evening).
This was Frank's first time at these courts since they were improved over a month ago and there are no more cracks or plants growing up thru them. The surface all around is flat and the nets are new. The paint job on the courts, however, is not the best. On Court Three, part of the service line (in the crucial corner of the service box on the Deuce side of the northern half of the court) is completely missing! Thankfully, it was never a factor in the match...but I can imagine it must be from time to time.
Tim and Rich arrived at the same time five minutes later. Rich took Court Four to practice his serve while the eight other GTA players did their thing on Courts One and Three. Eventually, Rich gave up the court to those three other young guys (who kept it the balance of the evening) once he had an opportunity to mix in with the rest of the group over on Court One.
The ninth and final arrival of the evening was "Kerosene" Kyle Eng at 8:55. He already had a rough night as he had an hour-long commute from Secaucus to the Cedar Grove Courts (a bad car accident on Route 3 West made the trip twice as long as usual) only to find nobody from the GTA there! Thankfully, he gave Nutley a chance and was able to get involved in a couple of Doubles One-Setters before the session ended.
Speaking of which...enough chit chat! Let's get to the action!
Muhammad Haque/Fausto Murg over Keith Lewkowitz/Joe Renga, 7-5! No Aces. This one got underway on Court One at 7:25. It likely ended somewhere between 8pm and 8:05.
EWC Doubles Match (2 out of 3 Sets):
Frank Samara/Tom La over Tim Nguyen/Arunraj Nair, 6-4, 6-3, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 49 and # 50 Ranked Teams respectively while Samara/La earned one point for Team West in the overall East-West Challenge series! Arunraj: 1 Ace on Frank in the 2nd Set!
1st Set: Arunraj was broken (a 15-Love lead slipped to Double Break Point, then rebounded to Deuce, then another Break Point and the break) and then Frank held at Love for 2-0. Tim held serve in a battle to get his team on the scoreboard (15-Love fell to 15-30, then 30-All, Break Point, Deuce, Break Point again, 2nd Deuce, Game Point, 3rd Deuce, Game Point and the hold), but then Tom held (Triple Game Point, Double Game Point and the hold) for 3-1. Nair held (15-Love, Double Fault for 15-All and then onto Double Game Point and the hold) to pull to 2-3, but then Samara had another Love hold for 4-2. Nguyen also held again, yet again it was a struggle (Love-30 then went straight to Game Point, Deuce and then all Game Points right thru to 3rd Deuce, another Game Point and finally the hold) to pull to 3-4, but La also held again (15-Love, 15-All and then onto Double Game Point and the hold) for 5-3. Air Nair then also held again (Love-15 went right to Double Game Point, then Game Point and the hold) to pull to 4-5, but then Hollywood had his third straight Love hold when he ended this set on Triple Game/Match Point at 8:15 (we got this match going on Court Three at exactly 7:37)! Two minutes later, we were onto the next one.
2nd Set: Arunraj was broken (a 15-Love lead slipped straight to Double Break Point and then came the break), Tom held (started off with two Double Faults and then shifted to 30-All, Break Point, Deuce, Game Point and the hold) and Tim was broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and the break) to get off to a 0-3 start in this set. But then Frank was broken for the first time (Love-30 shifted to 30-All, but then came Break Point and the break) to allow the opposition onto the board in this set and then Nair held....well, wait just a minute...we should say what truly took place here first. Going into this set, Tim and Arun changed their service sides (but not their return of service sides). After Samara was finally broken, service should have returned to Nair, but instead Nguyen took it and we did not notice it as we had grown use to it in the 1st Set. It wasn't until the would-be changeover when Frank went to note the games that he noticed we had went out of order and that we would now have to replay that game with Arun now serving. It should also be noted that during this now unofficial service game from Tim, a misty drizzle had persisted throughout its entirely. As soon as we got things right, the rain stopped for the rest of the night! Tim and Arun understood, but you could sense their frustration as they now had to try to win that game again. This redo seemed to rev up Nair as at 30-Love he hit an Ace up the T against Frank and went on to hold at Love to pull to 2-3! The good thing was that winning that game alleviated any controversy...it was seemingly meant to be! La's response was a Love hold of his own to go up 4-2, but not to be outdone, Nguyen then scored a Love hold of his own to pull to 3-4! The Wood then rebounded with another service hold (Love-15 shifted straight to Double Game Point and the hold) for 5-3 and then Arun was broken (30-Love shifted to 30-All, a Double Fault to set up Break/Match Point where Tim made the get of the night to come up to the net to retrieve a sharply angled drop shot from Samara to then hit the winner cross-court to bring it to Deuce and then it went to Game Point, another Double Fault to make it 2nd Deuce, then came the 2nd Break/Match Point and the break!) to take a tough loss, but one where Team East could hold their heads up for a fine and spirited effort as Team West claimed this point (not yet even aware of what had taken place earlier in the day at Cedar Grove...so they thought they had just made the series 1-1...but we will find out soon what the EWC overall score truly was by this time)! The match ended at 8:50.
The Skinny: Tim displayed his consistent and continued improvement in this match. I already knew what Arunraj brought to the table (or, more accurately, the court) and he did not disappoint...big forehands, big serves and some nice volleys at the net. But it was Tom who was the MVP of this match as he truly dominated the scene at the net with sharply angled volleys and big-time Overhead Smashes! He made me look like a hero as a server with those three consecutive Love holds in the 1st Set...though I will admit to very good placements with my serves (and just enough pace) so that I was taking the recipients of said serves out wide forcing their returns to usually meet their fate with Mr. La ready to chop down the counter trajectories at the net! I was also able to do my usual thing...heavy helpings of slice with a nice mix of drop shots to again bring the opposition into the waiting attack of Tom upfront. It all worked out well, but it was still close...just the difference of one break in the 1st Set and two in the 2nd...so kudos to all involved!
Rich Liu/Fausto Murg over Muhammad Haque/Keith Lewkowitz, 6-2! No Aces. This one had begun on Court One at 8:10, but I am not sure when it got done. But it had to be some time before this next one.
Rich Liu/Muhammad Haque over Keith Lewkowitz/Arunraj Nair, 6-4! Keith: 1 Ace on Rich! They played this one on Court Three from 8:54 to 9:30. Afterward, Muhammad and Tom La would have an extended hitting session on this court.
Kyle Eng/Tim Nguyen over Frank Samara/Joe Renga, 6-1! No Aces. Here's how it went down: Frank was broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and the break), Kyle was broken (Love-15 shifted to 30-15, then 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Game Point again, 2nd Deuce, Break Point and the break), Joe was broken at Love, but Tim was the first to hold serve (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold) for 3-1. And from there, Samara was broken again and this time it was at Love, Eng held (Triple Game Point, Double Fault for Double Game Point, but then the hold) and Renga was also broken again (Love-15, 15-All then onto Double Break/Match Point and the break) to take the lopsided loss! We played this one on Court Two from 9:05 to 9:25.
Frank Samara/Tim Nguyen over Kyle Eng/Joe Renga, 6-2! No Aces. The dirty lowdown: Joe was broken (Love-30 shifted to 30-All, Double Fault for Break Point and the break) and Frank held (Triple Game Point was soon dropped down to Deuce, but then came another Game Point, 2nd Deuce, yet another Game Point and finally the hold) for 2-0. Kyle held (30-Love, Double Fault for 30-15, 30-All, Game Point and the hold) and Tim was broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point, Break Point and the break) to level things at 2-2. But from there, Renga was broken again (15-Love then point for point until 30-All, Break Point and the break), Samara held again and this time it was at Love, Eng was broken (started with a Double Fault, then shifted it to Double Game Point which was then reduced to Deuce, Game Point again, 2nd Deuce, Break Point and the break) and Nguyen held (Triple Game/Match Point, it ended on Double Game/Match Point) for the win! This one was also played on Court Two and it lasted from 9:27 to 9:54.
Let's go back in time just a bit as the Cedar Grove session did, in fact, start in the late afternoon.
The Cedar Grove Results:
EWC Singles Match (2 out of 3 Sets):
Omar Santos over Keith Lewkowitz, 6-3, 6-0, to successfully defend his # 10 Rank in the Intermediate Division while scoring a point for Team West in the ongoing East-West Challenge series! Omar: 4 Aces!
The Kaptain's Commentary: Good player, good strategy...clearly worth his ranking. I clearly have to do better. Good win for his team...kudos to Omar!
Samara's Notes: I thank Keith for his timely reporting of that match (Omar sent the same score via text, but basically without comment). And, thus, this was truly the match that made the score 1-1 in the EWC series. Later in the evening (but previously in this report), the Samara/La victory over Nguyen/Nair put Team West up 2-1.
We now go to the results from Joe.
Joe Rodrigues over Omar Santos, 6-4! No Aces.
Joe Rodrigues over Omar Santos, 6-0! No Aces.
The Gist from Joe: When I first arrived, Omar was still playing his match with Keith. It was a very low turnout at C.G. After that match, Omar and I hit with a guy named Chris who is looking to play some more with us and will try to come by more often. We played this as two One-Setters, not as a full match. There were some long rallies so the scores do not properly reflect the true story. Added to the fact that Omar had already played a full match with Keith, I thank him for staying around and playing me.
Samara's Notes: I thank Joe for his very timely reporting...much appreciated!
It is now time to take this report to Bloomfield!
The Brookdale Park Result:
"Grove Cup 21" Final Match:
Nick Caputo over Paul Daddio, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1, to successfully defend his # 2 Rank in the Advanced Division while becoming the 2018 Grove Cup Champ and next Top Contender to the GTA Championship!
The NC-17 Screening: When the GTA Doubles Championship Match had to be cancelled due to Nate being sick, I took a chance on calling Paul to see if we could play our Grove Cup Final instead. He happened to be available and so we agreed to play at Brookdale Park. We started the match around 4:15 and finished it by around 6:30.
The 1st Set was crazy and lasted 90 minutes! I was up early at 3-1, he then made it 3-3 until I went up again and was serving for the set at 5-3. Paul made some unbelievable running shots, saved 3 Set Points in the process and came back to level it again, this time at 5-5! I then went up 6-5, but he came back again to force the Tiebreak. In the Breaker, Paul went up 3-0 and 4-2 before I took five straight points to take the TB and the set! Overall in this set, there were very long games featuring lengthy rallies/points.
In the 2nd Set, I settled in quickly as I tried to shorten the points a little. I was then able to cruise and take it at 6-1.
I thank Paul for a great match. He's a tough competitor and a true sportsman. I also thank Frank for organizing a great tournament. I really enjoyed it and I'm glad I was able to be a part of it.
The Dilly-O from Daddy O: It was a great match as Nick mentioned. The 1st Set was a marathon featuring very long points. Nick dictated most of the points, but my lobs and passing shots kept me in the set. I could not pull out the Tiebreak after missing a volley which would have put me up 4-0 and then Nick picked up his game considerably after that. I did not have the same defensive game in the 2nd Set and that is reflected in the score. Good luck to Nick going forward!
Samara's Notes: I offer up hearty congratulations to Nick for such an impressive run through the talent-laden field which was the overall draw of this year's Grove Cup. I also thank him for the thank you and his timely reporting. Also, major kudos to Paul for yet another distinguished campaign in this tourney, two years in a row now!
The Consequences: Nick now waits to see who will emerge from the in-progress GTA Championship Match between the GTA Champion: "King Crush" Chris Chiaro and "The Apex Predator" Adam Pienciak. This match started more than a couple of months ago as Adam took that 1st Set in a tough tiebreak. The match was then put on hiatus to wait for the Grove Cup tourney to play itself out to its conclusion. I do believe this match will be resumed this Sunday. If Chris comes back to take the last two sets, he will then have to defend his GTA Championship against Caputo next. If Adam manages to close out this match in the next set, then Chiaro gets the immediate rematch as the Former Champ...those are the rules of the league and it has always been that way. We may be getting something of a formidable "Bermuda Triangle" of tough competitors at the top of the league!
And now we end this evening in Verona.
The Verona Park Results:
GTA Women's Championship Match:
Janice Wang over Doinks Srinivasan, 6-2, 6-0, to complete her first successful GTA Women's Championship defense of her first reign! No Aces.
Samara's Notes: I congratulate Janice on a very impressive victory! I also thank Doinks for her timely reporting. "The Riz" John Rizzo also reported the result in the moment as he went to Verona to be a spectator after first stopping at Cedar Grove to see Joe and Omar just before they finished their business there. Doinks had one more score to report.
Janice Wang/Doinks Srinivasan over Mike Sindler/David Wong, 6-4! No Aces. This One-Setter was played "Battle of The Sexes" style.
Samara's Notes: Wow! As Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons once sang, "Oh, what a night!" I guess I am dating myself with that musical reference (though Spin will love it). I guess you have to date yourself when society has deemed you to be "un-dateable!" ("Seinfeld" reference). Seriously, it was truly an epic evening in GTA history...and the weekend was just getting started!
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com
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