5/29/18:
"Mole-Celis in MP, 4 play in Nutley, 7 play at C.G., Sherry-Caputo + 2 in BP!":
There were four sessions of GTA Tuesday Night Tennis: an early evening one at Mountainside Park in Montclair featuring yet another Challenge Match between "Del Brotro" Mike Mole and "The Scorpion Dragon" Dino Celis (with both reporting); then there was an impromptu session at The Park Ave. Courts in Nutley which was ironically put together by "The Riz" John Rizzo only to see him back out of the action due to a lingering (and worsening) toe injury. John reached out to "Hollywood" Frank Samara to be the fourth player for some Doubles, but when "The Hit Man" Tom La brought a friend of his (Miten Patel, who would be making his official GTA Debut...and the other player was "Daddy O" Paul Daddio)...Rizzo thought it best to back out and let his injury try to heal (he did hit for a while with Frank and Paul); the third session was the usual evening session at The Cedar Grove Courts with results being reported by the GTA Champion: "King Crush" Chris Chiaro; and the fourth and final session to get underway was in Brookdale Park in Bloomfield as "The Running Man" Ryan Sherry and "NC-17" Nick Caputo were finally able to get together to play their GTA Intermediate Invitational Semifinal Match (with both reporting). And prior to that at the same venue, there were a couple of One-Setters between "Effortless" Edgar Valencia and "SWAT" Rich Liu (with Rich reporting).
Let's first get the Challenge Match result from both Mike and Dino in Mountainside Park, then the Doubles Match result from Nutley (as detailed by Samara) before getting the Cedar Grove results from The Champ. And then we will close this report in Brookdale Park with the two Valencia-Liu One-Setters which will then be followed by the Main Event of the evening - Sherry versus Caputo from Brookdale Park!
The Mountainside Park Result:
2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:
Dino Celis over Mike Mole, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), to become the New # 12 Ranked Player in the Advanced Division! No Aces.
The Mole Memo: Nice match...Dino played well.
The Details from Dino: We played from 5pm to 6:30. It was another tight match. He was up 3-0 in the 1st Set, but I was able to level it at 4-4. I eventually held and then broke his serve to take the set. In the 2nd Set, he jumped out to a 2-0 lead. I was able to level it at 3-3 and then go up 5-3, but Mike fought back to take a 6-5 lead. I held to force the Tiebreak. It could have gone either way, but I managed to close it out while he was on his serve and down 5-6. Mike has definitely improved his game, especially his first and second serves.
Samara's Notes: I thank both for their timely reporting and congratulate Dino on a hard-fought victory (and kudos to Mike for a spirited effort)! The old saying goes, "the third time is the charm!" But it seems, in this case, it was the fourth time around that finally got Celis over the hump. Maybe it was more of an Abe Lincoln type of thing, "Four score..." LOL! And, in all seriousness, even though this one was a straight-set affair, it has a chance of perhaps being a Nominee for Singles Match of The Year at season's end.
We now go to Nutley.
The Park Ave. Courts Result:
2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Tom La/Miten Patel over Paul Daddio/Frank Samara, 3-6, 6-3, 10-4 (STB), as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 176 and # 177 Ranked Teams respectively! Tom: 1 Ace on Frank in the 2nd Set. It was the official GTA Debut of Miten Patel.
1st Set: Paul held serve (15-Love, Double Fault for 15-All then onto Double Game Point and the hold), Tom held (15-Love shifted to 15-30 shifted again to Game Point and then the hold), but Frank was the first to be broken (Love-15, 15-All then onto Double Break Point and the break) for 1-2. Miten was also broken (30-Love shifted to 30-All, then Game Point, a Double Fault for Deuce, Game Point again, 2nd Deuce, Break Point and the break) and Daddio held again (15-Love, Double Fault for 15-All, 30-15, 30-All, Break Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to reclaim the lead at 3-2. La was broken (Double Fault for Love-30, Triple Break Point and another Double Fault for a Love break) while Samara held (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold) to increase his team's lead to 5-2. Patel held as well (Triple Game Point, Double Fault for Double Game Point, but then the hold) to pull to 3-5, but Daddy O held a third straight time and this time around it was at Love on Triple Game/Set Point). We started this match on Court One at exactly 8:38 and this initial set finished at 9:06. Two minutes later, we were onto the next one.
2nd Set: Tom was broken (Double Fault for Love-30, Triple Break Point, Double Break Point and then the break), Paul held yet again (Love-15 went straight to Double Game Point, then Game Point and the hold) and Miten was broken (15-Love fell right to Double Break Point and the break) to get off to a 0-3 start. But then Frank was broken (15-Love shifted to 15-30, 30-All, Break Point and the break), La held (Love-15 and then a sideline Ace against Frank for 15-All, 15-30, 30-All, Game Point and the hold) and then Daddio was broken for the first time (15-Love, Double Fault for 15-All then onto Double Break Point and the break) to level the set at 3-3! Patel held (started off with a Double Fault, it then shifted to 30-15, then 30-All, Game Point and the hold) while Samara was broken again (Love-15 then point for point to Break Point and then the break) to fall to 3-5. And then came the most epic game of the match with The Hit Man on serve as he started off with a Double Fault, it then shifted to 30-15, shifted again to Break Point, Deuce, another Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Game/Set Point, 3rd Deuce, 2nd Game/Set Point, 4th Deuce, and then the hold finally came on the 3rd Game/Set Point as his team had just taken six straight games for an incredible comeback (or you can also say an awful collapse on the part of Daddio/Samara...one that potentially rivals the 2014 series in the playoffs between the Yankees and the Red Sox!) to even the match at 9:38. Given that it was just 22 minutes from lights out at 10pm, we all agreed to play a Super Tiebreak (which began at 9:40).
STB: Paul was broken on his lone serve while Miten held both of his to jump out to a 3-0 lead. Frank held his first, but was broken on his second for 1-4. Tom held the first of his two serves for 5-1 at the changeover, but was then broken on his second to have his team's lead cut to 5-2. Daddio was broken on both of his serves as his team fell to 2-7. Patel was broken on the first of his two serves, but then held his second for an 8-3 lead. Samara held the first of his two serves for 4-8 at the second changeover, but was then broken on his second to hand over a 9-4 lead and Match Point to La who then seized the opportunity and held his serve to win the STB at 10-4!
The Skinny: What can be said other than kudos to Tom and Miten on a powerful comeback. Midway through that 2nd Set, the momentum completely shifted and there was no getting it back for Paul and Frank. It serves as a very impressive debut for Patel who has a very big forehand and nice two-handed backhand. The only time he doesn't hit with pace is on serve where he seems to emphasize placement instead. On the overall, he is a very solid player and also a nice guy. We hope to see more of him in our league going forward...it seemed he enjoyed the level of competition.
We now go to Cedar Grove for the recap from The Champ.
The Cedar Grove Results:
Chris Chiaro over Scott Bergenfeld, 6-1! No Aces.
Chris Chiaro over Scott Bergenfeld, 6-3! No Aces.
Scott Bergenfeld/Andrew Kroessler over Chris Chiaro/Dino Celis, 6-1! No Aces.
Scott Bergenfeld/Andrew Kroessler over Chris Chiaro/Dino Celis, 6-4! No Aces.
Chris Chiaro/Doinks Srinivasan over Kris Srinivasan/Abhilash Gadi, 6-2! No Aces.
Kris Srinivasan/Abhilash Gadi leading Chris Chiaro/Doinks Srinivasan, 3-2 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)! No Aces.
Samara's Notes: I thank Chris for sending these results in a very timely fashion. It is greatly appreciated! And we now go slightly east to Brookdale Park for the score of a couple of Singles One-Setters followed by the result of the last Semi of the long-lingering GTA Intermediate Invitational.
The Brookdale Park Results:
Edgar Valencia over Rich Liu, 6-2! Edgar: 3 Aces!
Rich Liu over Edgar Valencia, 6-3! No Aces.
Samara's Notes: I thank Rich for that report. And now we turn it over to Nick and Ryan.
GTA Intermediate Invitational Semifinal Match:
Nick Caputo over Ryan Sherry, 6-2, 6-2, to become both the New # 16 Ranked Player in the Advanced Division and the New # 1 Ranked Player in the Intermediate Division while advancing to the Finals of the GTA Intermediate Invitational Tournament!
The NC-17 Screening: Ryan and I completed our match with five minutes to spare before the lights went out in Brookdale Park. It was a very humid night. Ryan arrived around 8:35, so we warmed up quickly and then got started. The very first game of the match lasted about ten minutes and went to seven or eight Deuces! I was fortunate to win that game, but was then thinking at the time that there was no way (after that long a game) we would be able to finish this match in time. I had leads of 3-1 and 4-2 before closing out the 1st Set. I jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the 2nd Set and was at 40-15 (Double Game Point) to go up 3-0, but Ryan fought like a bull as he then reversed the momentum to break me and then he held to level the set at 2-2! I then held and broke him to go up 4-2 and then win out the rest of the games to take the match. He made me work for every point as he had very few unforced errors and, along with that, he had very consistent first serving which led to many close games. I always like playing with Ryan and he has dramatically improved since the last time we met on the court.
The Running Man Rundown: Nick played up to his usual level of awesomeness and I was just happy to give him a workout. It is always a pleasure playing with Nick as he has a great attitude, a great level of play and also great "strategery" in planning his shots. :-) He is definitely someone from whom I can always learn. Good luck, Nick! I'm also looking forward to a rematch. :-)
Samara's Notes: I thank both for their very timely reporting and congratulate Nick on yet another highly dominant and impressive victory. Ryan should be proud to take him to "2 and 2" as it is the most games that anyone has taken off of Caputo in a full match (thus far in the GTA). And now it is onto the Finals for Mr. Caputo where he will face the young "phenom" known as Jeremy "Got Game" Gottlieb. Both competitors are going into that match undefeated in Singles action in the GTA. It should be a good one...hopefully, at least a bit more of a struggle for Nick than we have seen thus far.
All the best,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com