6/29/18:
"Ortega-Phoenix at C.G., Bernard-Mehta at VHS, Liu-Samara + 6 at PAC, 14 more at C.G.!":
There were four official sessions of GTA Friday Tennis: a late afternoon one at The Cedar Grove Courts featuring a full Challenge Match between "Salsa Picante" Edwin Ortega and Jay "The Rising" Phoenix (as reported by Jay); a late afternoon/early evening one at the Verona High School Courts featuring a full Challenge Match between "The Headhunter" Ralph Bernard and "The AM Rush" Anish Mehta (as reported by both); an evening one at The Park Ave. Courts in Nutley featuring a full Challenge Match between "SWAT" Rich Liu and "Hollywood" Frank Samara (with Frank reporting) along with some other action there as well; and a concurrent evening one at the Cedar Grove Courts featuring the last of the M2 Round of 12 Matches as the teams of "The Webmaster" Senthil Kumar/Frank "Hydro" Hohorst and "Del Brotro" Mike Mole/ "Hurricane" Jose Gonzales did battle (with Senthil, Mike and Jose reporting). "The Riz" John Rizzo was the other contributor from that session.
THIS JUST IN – "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan was another contributor to this report from that Cedar Grove session. And even though his submission of that result was in a timely manner, the transmission of that communication to one Mr. Samara was not. So here now is the revised version of this report.
It is pretty plain to see that it was quite a busy Friday night for the league. Let's go to that lone result from the earlier Cedar Grove session first, then to Verona, then to Nutley and then back up to Cedar Grove to close out this report!
The Cedar Grove Result:
2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:
Jay Phoenix over Edwin Ortega, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, to become both the New # 19 Ranked Player in the Advanced Division and the New # 4 Ranked Player in the Intermediate Division! Edwin: 3 Aces (one in each set)!
Jay has his say: I finally beat Edwin after more than two years of trying. We played from 4pm to 5:45. It was a thrilling match in the sweltering heat. He raced to a 3-0 lead in the 1st Set and I never recovered in that one, but then I played my best tennis in the last two sets.
Samara's Notes: I thank Jay on his very timely reporting and congratulate him on a hard-fought victory that was also long-awaited.
We now head south just a bit to Verona.
The VHS Result:
2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:
Anish Mehta over Ralph Bernard, 6-1, 6-2, to become the New # 9 Ranked Player in the Advanced Division! Anish: 1 Ace!
The AM News: I ended up taking Ralph's Open Challenge in the early evening at the Verona High School courts. I also needed to play a June match since my previous attempt with someone else couldn't be completed due to time constraints. I had that one Ace but, more importantly, I only had one double fault (I tend to double a lot more often) which helped me hold my serve throughout the match. It was a hot, sunny afternoon/evening and Ralph had me running a lot. I was able to hold on long enough to not run out of steam.
Samara's Notes: I thank Anish for his very timely reporting and also congratulate him on an impressive victory. Ralph pretty much just repeated the same result.
We now head east to Nutley.
The Park Ave. Courts Results:
Arunraj Nair over Sam Wong, 6-1! No Aces.
Samara's Notes: This One-Setter was taking place on Court One when I arrived for my match with Rich. Rich was already hitting with someone (I cannot remember who it was) on Court Three. Keith Lewkowitz was hitting with Arthur Fontanilla on Court Two.
2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:
Frank Samara over Rich Liu, 6-2, 6-3, to become the New # 23 Ranked Player in the Advanced Division! No Aces. To save time and energy, I did not do my usual note-taking on the changeovers. Instead, I did my best to remember the basic flow or endings of the games and then I wrote the notes after each set.
1st Set: Frank held serve (Break Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point again and the hold), Rich was broken (Break Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point and the break) and Samara held again (a Triple Break Point start and what looked to be a quick Love break instead went straight to Deuce and then Game Point for the comeback hold) for a 3-0 lead. Liu held (Love-15 went right to Double Game Point and the hold) to get onto the scoreboard, but Hollywood held yet again (Game Point, Deuce, Game Point again and then the hold) to go up 4-1. SWAT was broken (Break Point, Deuce, Break Point again and then the break) to fall to 1-5, but then Frank was finally broken (Love-30 shifted to Game Point only to have Rich hit a roller over the net to make it Deuce and then came Break Point, it went to 2nd Deuce and then Break Point again before the break) to have his lead cut to 5-2. But Rich was broken yet again (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 shifted again to Break/Set Point and then came the break) to drop the set. After an almost ten minute hitting session, we began the match on Court Four at 7:25. This set ended exactly at 7:59. Rich went to get more water, so the next set started six minutes later.
2nd Set: Frank held (Love-15 went straight to Double Game Point and the hold), Rich was broken at Love and Samara held again to once more start the set up 3-0. Liu held to get onto the scoreboard, but The Wood held again (15-Love and point for point until 30-All, a mini-shift to Break Point, Deuce, Game Point and the hold) for 4-1. SWAT then held to pull to 2-4, but Frank held once more to go up 5-2. Then came two crazy games as Rich held again despite dropping down quickly at first to Triple Break/Match Point, it then went to Double Break/Match Point, Break/Match Point, Deuce, a Double Fault for the 4th Break/Match Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point, 3rd Deuce, Game Point and the hold as he just saved 4 MP's to stay alive and extend the set to 3-5! Samara then held, but it was not easy as the opposite of the last game occurred with a quick start taking it straight to Triple Game/Match Point, then came Double Game/Match Point, Game/Match Point, Deuce and then finally the put-away on the 4th Game/Match Point which was the 8th M.P. overall! The match finished precisely at 8:43.
The Skinny: My memory bank wiped out a bit with some of those earlier games in the 2nd Set once those last two games got so crazy. In those last two, it was a combination of me suddenly getting tight just trying to finish the match while Rich threw all caution to the wind and just started swinging away and hitting winners. In fact, he hit many nice winners throughout the match...but he also made far too many unforced errors along the way. He was having trouble with my backhand slice for most of the contest. I played pretty clean tennis throughout...until those last two games where I started trying to be too precise and that cost me!
Samara's Notes: Kudos to Rich for not only a fine, fighting effort...but for offering me the shot in the first place. It is the first time in many seasons that anyone has done that for me and it is much appreciated. The good news for me is that despite having not played a full Singles Match since last season's Grove Cup Tournament, I feel "match-ready" physically. Despite the ever-increasing age and rapidly increasing weight these past few seasons, I still have plenty in the tank stamina-wise and my movement has suffered very little. The bad news was the lack of killer instinct at the end and the fact that I almost opened the door for Rich to make a comeback. I can ill afford to do that in the coming tournament.
While the previous match was underway, a couple of Doubles One-Setters took place on Court One. It should also be said that, on Court Two, Arthur then hit with Joe Renga to warm him up once Keith shifted over to play Doubles. Art never got involved in any official action as he was already exhausted from a day of play with his children prior to the session.
Keith Lewkowitz/Arunraj Nair over Sam Wong/Muhammad Haque, 6-4! No Aces.
Keith Lewkowitz/Arunraj Nair over Sam Wong/Joe Renga, 6-0! No Aces. It was the official GTA Return of Joe Renga.
Samara's Notes: Muhammad arrived a little while after Rich and I started our match, so he was not the one hitting with Rich in the beginning. The GTA had control of three of the four courts as Court Three hosted back-to-back outsiders until it opened up prior to the finish of Liu-Samara. After that, we had the run of the entire place. Joe arrived after Muhammad did and the final arrival was made by Fausto Murg. Rich, Fausto and Muhammad were hoping to play some Doubles, so I said I had enough left in the tank for a One-Setter. While we were playing that One-Setter, Singles Half-Sets (of which I did not collect the scores) took place on Court One and their order was as follows: Sam vs. Arunraj, Sam vs. Keith, Sam vs. Arunraj, Keith vs. Arunraj, and one last go-round of Sam-Arunraj. The guys were amazed by the fitness of Mr. Wong...especially after they learned his age!
Meanwhile, the following Doubles One-Setter took place on Court Two.
Rich Liu/Fausto Murg over Frank Samara/Muhammad Haque, 7-6 (7-1)! No Aces. The basic breakdown: Frank held, Fausto held, Muhammad held, but Rich was the first one to be broken for a 1-3 start for his team. Samara held again to take a 4-1 lead for his team, but Murg did the same despite two Double Faults to pull to 2-4. Haque was then broken with a Double Fault to have his team's lead cut to 4-3, but Liu was broken again to fall to 3-5. Next came the pivotal game of the match with Hollywood on serve as it was Game/Match Point where Rich made a great defensive play with a sudden backhand to block what would have been a great passing shot from Frank to make it Deuce, it then went to Break Point where another awesome get/defensive maneuver made by Rich earned the break to now make the score 5-4! Mr. Mystery held a third straight time despite another Double Fault to keep things alive at 5-5! The Great Wall (yes, that's the new moniker for Muhammad...which I will explain later) then had a Love hold to reclaim the lead for his team at 6-5! Finally, SWAT managed a hold (Love-30 went straight to Game Point and the hold) to force the Tiebreak! In the Breaker: Frank was broken on his lone serve, Fausto was broken on the first of his two serves, but then held his second for 2-1. Muhammad was broken on both of his serves and Rich held both of his for a 6-1 lead and now Match Point in favor of his team! Samara was once again broken and that is how this one ended...quite the comeback victory for Liu and Murg! This one was one minutes shy of being exactly an hour long (8:57 to 9:56)!
The Skinny: Again, I did not take notes on the changeovers in order to save time...and it is a good thing I made that decision as we never would have gotten this one done in time. We should have gotten the job done with a 6-3 win, but Mr. Liu had other plans! He came up strong when he needed to as, prior to that, Fausto was providing most of the offensive spark for his team with many nice overheads and forehands. Rich got a measure of revenge...or, at least, satisfaction...against Samara for the evening. Muhammad may have been the MVP of this one as his vast improvement was on display here. No more "Diver Down" nickname for him as he is not doing the constant dives and dropping to his knees defensively anymore. Instead, he has turned into a veritable wall with all the gets he makes and shots he sends back. He is very good at lobbing, but also knows when to suddenly blast the opposition with a fast-paced passing shot. It has been a while since I've seen him play and all the tennis he has been playing with others is now paying off in dividends.
There were eight official competitors and it would have been nine had Art gotten involved in at least one One-Setter. Still, he was very helpful in getting others warmed up for official play and all in attendance had quite a good time. It was a nice Friday night in Nutley, indeed!
And now it is time to head back west for the rest of what took place up at Cedar Grove.
The Cedar Grove Results:
M2 Round of 12 Match:
Senthil Kumar/Frank Hohorst over Mike Mole/Jose Gonzales, 6-3, 6-4, to successfully defend their # 70 Rank in the Doubles Division while advancing to the Quarterfinals of the M2 Men's Doubles Tournament! Mike: 1 Ace on Senthil; and Jose: 1 Ace on Frank!
The Untangled Web by Senthil: We won the rally and Frank started as the first server of the match. 1st Set went like this for our team - 0-1, 1-1, 2-1, 3-1, 4-1, 5-2 and then 6-3. And then the 2nd Set went for us - 0-3, 3-3, 3-4, 4-4 and then 6-4.
Mike was exhausted towards the middle of the 2nd Set. My game dropped in the beginning of the 2nd Set, but then picked up again. Frank was the most consistent among the four. Jose didn't find his best game through the match, but he fought back in the 2nd Set.
The Mole Memo: We played from 6:40 to 8:30. Senthil and Frank played well and more consistently. I just played badly.
Jose has his say: They were more consistent than us so they deserve the victory. Hopefully, we'll get a rematch in the near future.
John Rizzo/Janice Wang over Mike Kazlauskas/Omar Santos, 7-5! No Aces.
Don Moya/Janice Wang over John Rizzo/Arlene Hyde, 6-1! No Aces.
2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Marijus Kuzavas/Kris Srinivasan over Kyle Eng/Jorge Solano, 6-2, 7-6 (8-6), as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 87 and # 88 Ranked Teams respectively! Marijus: 2 Aces (one on each)!
The K has his say: Marijus scored an Ace on Jorge to conclude the 1st Set and then he later scored an Ace on Kyle to conclude the 2nd Set. The 2nd Set was pretty close. We were down in the Tiebreak, but came back to make it 5-All only for me to hit my first Double Fault of the match! I surely made up for it in the next point and then Marijus showed his serving prowess to clinch the match.
Samara's Notes: I thank everyone for their very timely reporting. It is truly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
Gtasamara5@gmail.com
