10/5 Results.

10/5/18:

"Rich-David part of 9 at PAC, 10 play at C.G.!":

GTA Friday Night Tennis took place at both The Park Ave. Courts in Nutley (as reported by "Hollywood" Frank Samara) and The Cedar Grove Courts (as reported by "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan and "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak).  We will first detail how the session unfolded in Nutley and then we'll get the dual report from Cedar Grove.

As "Hollywood" Frank Samara knew he would be in Nutley around 7pm, he figured he would join the gang at the Park Ave. Courts for some tennis action.  He actually arrived there a little earlier than expected at 6:50.  After he parked in the lot, he approached the courts and saw that all four were full (it was a very nice night weather-wise).  Only on Court Four did he recognize the players there (who looked like they just finished their action).  It was "SWAT" Rich Liu and David Wong.  Upon approaching them, Samara found out that they had just finished a full Challenge Match.

 

While Rich went to the restroom (I assume), David was talking to Frank when suddenly another player was approaching them.  Wong exclaimed, "Hi, Santosh!"  Samara said, "that's not Santosh!"  Well, it was not Santosh Reddy (the Santosh that many of us know already).  Instead, it was a new Santosh...Santosh Mangnale.  He had actually made his debut with the league in the Monk Memorial Men's Doubles Tournament back on September 16th!

 

Since nobody reported him as being a new player to Samara, Frank assumed that Santosh Reddy had been reading the e-mails and decided to get involved in the Nutley portion of the Monk Memorial.  Those results that day and all Nutley results including Mangnale would now have to be retroactively corrected!  Anyway, this Mangnale is a very nice guy with a very sound game.  He hits blasting forehands which he couples with great get-making speed...plus, he is lefty as well!  Due to the whole retroactive requirement to bring the Results and Rankings up to speed to reflect that it has been Mangnale all along since Sept. 16th, his moniker now becomes "Radioactive" as his style of tennis is quite explosive as well (still have to come up with a moniker for David Wong...hmm!).

 

From 7:05 to 7:15, three more players arrived - Laurie "L-Boogie" Boughton, "The Great Wall" Muhammad Haque and Arunraj "Air" Nair.  From there, it was Joe Renga (he needs a nickname, too) coming to the courts at 7:50 and "TNT" Tim Nguyen as the final arrival at 8:15.  All the way until 8:30, the eight of us (as Wong had left earlier) only had the one court (Court Four) as the other three remained occupied (very rare occurrence)!  Then, Courts Two and Three became available at the same time.  We had Courts Three and Four for the balance of the evening.

 

Let's get to the action!

 

The Park Ave. Courts Results:

 

2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:

Rich Liu over David Wong, 6-1, 6-2, to successfully defend his # 2 Rank in the Intermediate Division!  In the process, Wong entered the Intermediate Division as the New # 43 Ranked Player.  David: 2 Aces!  This match was played on Court Four from 6pm to 6:45 (approximately).

 

Arunraj Nair/Santosh Mangnale over Muhammad Haque/Laurie Boughton, 6-3!  Santosh: 1 Ace on Laurie; and Muhammad: 1 Ace on Santosh!  Court Four hosted this one from 7:20 to 7:47.

 

Arunraj Nair/Santosh Mangnale over Rich Liu/Muhammad Haque, 6-3!  Arunraj: 1 Ace on Muhammad!  Again, Court Four was "the scene of the crime" as this one lasted from 7:50 to 8:21.

 

Tim Nguyen/Laurie Boughton over Frank Samara/Joe Renga, 6-2!  No Aces.  It went like this: Frank held serve (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 shifted again to Break Point, Deuce, Game Point and the hold), Laurie held (30-Love shifted to 30-All, then Game Point, a Double Fault for Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold), but Joe was the first to be broken and it was at Love after he had hit a Double Fault to set up Love-30.  But Tim was also broken (Love-15, 15-All then onto Double Break Point, Break Point and the break) to level matters at 2-2.  Samara was then shockingly broken at Love and then the opposition was off and running as Boughton held again (Love-15 shifted to 30-15, then 30-All, Game Point and the hold), Renga was broken at Love again and Nguyen held (Triple Break Point and then a big rebound to Deuce, Break Point again, 2nd Deuce, Game/Match Point, 3rd Deuce, it finally ended on the 2nd Game/Match Point) to get the win!  We played this on Court Four from 8:25 to 9:03.

 

Rich Liu/Muhammad Haque over Arunraj Nair/Santosh Mangnale, 7-5!  No Aces.  Rich and Muhammad had been down 2-5 before taking five straight games for an impressive comeback victory!  Court Three hosted this action from 8:35 to 9:25.  Liu left soon afterward (as did Nair), but Haque and Mangnale stayed behind to have quite the intense hitting session with one another.

 

Tim Nguyen/Laurie Boughton over Frank Samara/Joe Renga, 6-4!  No Aces.  Here's how this one went down: Frank held (Love-15 shifted to 30-15, then 30-All, Game Point and the hold) and Laurie was broken at Love to go down 0-2!  But then Joe was broken (15-Love, 15-All then onto Double Game Point which was then reduced to Deuce, Break Point and the break) and Tim held (Triple Game Point lead cut down to Game Point, but then came the hold) to again level the set at 2-2.  Samara held again (Love-15 then point for point until 30-All, Game Point and the hold), but Boughton also held (Love-30 went straight to Game Point, Deuce, Game Point again and then the hold) to tie things again, this time at 3-3.  Renga then got his first hold of the night (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold), but Nguyen responded with a Love hold to knot the score once more, this time at 4-4!  The Wood was then broken (30-Love lead diminished to Break Point and the break) while L-Boogie got down with her bad self and held for the win (Triple Game/Match Point, the hold came on Double Game/Match Point)!  This one was also played on Court Four as it lasted from 9:05 to 9:40.

 

The Cedar Grove Results:

 

2 out of 3 Sets Women's Doubles Match:

Genalin Capan/Diane Raum over Doinks Srinivasan/Susan Koshy, 6-3, 6-4, to become the New #14 Ranked Team in the Women's Doubles Division!  No Aces.

 

Gen's Notes: We played this from 7:38 to 8:55 on Court 3.  It was a fun and competitive match.  Everyone played well.  Thanks to Doinks for setting up this match.

After the ladies match, Susan and Diane were done for the night.  Doinks and I asked the guys if they were still up for playing a set.  Mike said he was divorcing me since I chose to split us up and I opted to team with Jose...LOL!

Mike Mole/Doinks Srinivasan over Jose Gonzales/Genalin Capan, 6-3!  Jose: 1 Ace on Doinks; and Gen: 1 Ace on Doinks!

 

Gen's Notes: We played this from 9:10 to 9:50 on Court 4.  We had a good time.  We got it done just in time before lights out!

 

Samara's Notes: As always, I thank Gen for her timely and comprehensive reporting.  It seems that the "ex-wife" in this scenario was punished for her infidelity!  LMAO!

 

2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Gender Doubles Match:

Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout over Ryan Pienciak/John Rizzo, 7-5, 6-2!  This match enabled R. Pienciak/Rizzo to return to the Doubles Division as the New # 52 Ranked Team while also maintaining activity in the Mixed Doubles Division for Fernandes/Sout.  No Aces.

 

Samara's Notes: I thank Ryan for his timely reporting as well.  It is interesting to note that there were absolutely no full 2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Gender Doubles Matches in the month of Sept.

 

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com  

 

 

 

 

10/3 Results.

10/3/18:

"EWC Dbls + 4 at PAC, 14 play at C.G.!":

There were two sessions of GTA Wednesday Night Tennis on an action-packed night where the weather felt more like early September rather than early October.  Both sessions ran at the same time.  The first was at The Park Ave. Courts in Nutley and was hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara as he was also acting as the Team Captain of Team West in the East-West Challenge series there to support his team of "The Accelerator" Abhilash Gadi and "The Legendary" Chazz Weldon as they took on the representatives for Team East, "Ravishing" Randy Doran and "SWAT" Rich Liu in the EWC Doubles Match featuring each contingent's "A-Teams" (as the battle between the "B-Teams" had already taken place a few weeks ago).  Samara never got involved in any official action (the same holds true for three others there), but there were four more players who did get involved in some official action at the session.

And then there was the usual evening session at The Cedar Grove Courts as we have three contributors to this report from that session – "Killer Kat" Kathy Sheldon, "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes and "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan.

We will first detail what took place at Nutley and then gather all the results from Cedar Grove later in this report.

Even though the EWC Doubles Match was set for an 8pm start, Samara arrived at the Park Ave. Courts at 7pm.  As he pulled into the lot, he saw that three of the four courts were full and he did not recognize any of the players.  So he hurried to make sure to try to grab the one court that remained vacant, Court Two.

On his way to the courts, he saw "Vin Diesel" Vinnie Puglisi waiting on the bench and Big Vin asked Frank if he wanted to hit.  Soon after they took Court Two, the two people on Court Three left…and this trend continued as the other two courts would also soon clear…leaving all four courts for GTA action the rest of the evening!

That was a good thing as GTA players started filing in quite quickly.  Randy and Rich were the next two to arrive as Doran took Samara's place in the hitting session against Puglisi (as it turns out, Vinnie has been hitting with both of them quite a bit lately…hence, their recent improvement) while Samara talked to Liu over on Court One as Rich was about to practice his serve.  But the idea of serve practice was soon replaced by the reality of Rich having a hitting session with "The Great Wall" Muhammad Haque instead. 

"The Scorpion Dragon" Dino Celis arrived at 7:30 and soon got into a hitting session with Samara on Court Three.  Fifteen minutes later, "Eddie Money" Edgar Valencia and a mystery player (well, only a mystery to Frank and Dino at the time as the rest of the Nutley regulars knew who he was) went onto Court One to hit with Rich and Muhammad (and then somewhere along the way, Liu took the place of Doran in the hitting session with Puglisi).

Valencia would then grab Court Four (the last of the four to become available to us) in order to hold it for the GTA and practice his serve.  It was also around this time that "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan made a cameo appearance as she came up to the fence to talk to Samara as she was on her way home from work.  She said she wanted to see the coming Doubles Match and would perhaps make the effort to come back around 8:30 to watch it, but if she did not show it would be both due to exhaustion and the fact that she would be facing the same hellish work schedule the following day.  Alas, she did not return.

Chazz arrived at 7:50 and soon made his way over to Court Four to hit with Edgar (the two of them had faced on another in a previous EWC Singles Match…Eddie joked that "this is the guy who kicked my ass!").  Abhi also arrived soon after and ended up in a hitting session with Dino for just a bit.

The match got underway on Court Two exactly at 8pm as originally agreed upon while Samara stood by to take notes of it in its entirety.  At the same time, Celis and Puglisi entered into a lengthy and hard-hitting practice session on Court Three.  On Court One, the hitting session that had been going on between Muhammad and "the mystery player)" had now developed into a Singles One-Setter.  And Edgar went back to "flying solo" on Court Four, once again practicing his serve.

As the EWC Doubles Match was drawing close to the conclusion of its 1^st Set, "TNT" Tim Nguyen stepped onto the courts at 8:25 and soon informed Samara that Haque was playing David Soto on Court One.  And when that Singles One-Setter ended on Court One, those three guys (Tim, Muhammad and David) went down to Court Four for some Doubles with Edgar.

When the EWC Doubles Match was in the early stages of its 2^nd Set, Dino and Vinnie soon joined Frank at the sidelines (along the fence, actually) to watch the rest of the match all the way to its finish.  And it was a finish that almost did not get finished in time (more on that later)! 

And the final arrival of the night was Joe Renga who strolled on to Court One at 9:10 and ended up practicing his serve for the balance of the session.

Enough chit chat…time for some action!

The Park Ave. Courts Results:

Muhammad Haque over David Soto, 6-1!  No Aces.  This took place on Court One from 8pm to 8:30.

EWC Doubles Match (2 out of 3 Sets):

Abhilash Gadi/Chazz Weldon over Randy Doran/Rich Liu, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, to become the New # 7 Ranked Team in the Doubles Division while also earning a point for Team West in the East-West Challenge Series, tying the series at 6-6!  Abhi: 1 Ace on Randy in the 1^st Set!

1^st Set: Abhi was broken (Triple Break Point, Double Break Point and the break) and then Randy held at Love for a quick 2-0 lead.  Chazz held serve (started with a Double Fault, but then went straight to Double Game Point and the hold) to get his team on the scoreboard, but Rich also held (also started with a Double Fault and then it shifted to 30-15, 30-All, Game Point and the hold) for 3-1.  Gadi held (the third straight game with the server starting with a Double Fault, then Love-30 only to then go right to Game Point and the hold) and this time around Doran was broken at Love to level the set at 3-3!  But then Weldon was also broken (30-Love lead descends to Break Point and the break) while Liu held again (15-Love, a Double Fault for 15-All and then onto Double Game Point, Game Point and the hold) for 5-3.  The Accelerator was then broken in a truly pivotal game as at 30-Love, he hit a big Ace up the T against Randy to set up Triple Game Point only to then hit a Double Fault to make it Double Game Point and then came Game Point, Deuce, Break/Set Point and the break to suddenly have the game and the set get away from him as it ended exactly at 8:30 (as stated earlier, they began promptly at 8pm on Court Two).  Two minutes later, the next set was underway.

2^nd Set: Randy was broken (15-Love, 15-All, 30-15 and then a Double Fault for 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2^nd Deuce, Game Point, 3^rd Deuce, Break Point and the break), Chazz was broken in a battle (Love-15 shifted to 30-15, then 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2^nd Deuce, Game Point, 3^rd Deuce, Break Point, 4^th Deuce, Break Point and the break) and then Rich was also broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point, Break Point and then a Double Fault to break himself), but Abhi was the first to hold serve in this set (started with a Double Fault, 15-All, 15-30, Double Break Point but then a rebound to Deuce, Game Point, 2^nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to put his team up 3-1.  Doran was broken again (15-Love and then point for point until 30-All, then Break Point and the break) while Weldon held again (started with a Double Fault and then a shift to 30-15, then 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to take a fairly commanding lead at 5-1  Liu battled back with a hold of his own (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold) for 2-5, but Gadi held again (15-Love, a Double Fault for 15-All, 30-15, Double Game/Set Point, the hold came on Game/Set Point) to take the set and level the match at precisely 9:13.  Two minutes later, the deciding set got started.

3^rd Set: Randy was broken (Double Fault for Love-30, 15-30, 30-All, Break Point and the break) and then Chazz held (15-Love shifted to 15-30 shifted again to Game Point and then came the hold) for 2-0.  Rich had a Love hold for 1-2, but Abhi also held (15-Love then point for point to Game Point and the hold) to go up 3-1.  Doran then held in a struggle (Love-15 shifted to 30-15, then 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Break Point, 2^nd Deuce, Break Point, 3^rd Deuce, Game Point, 4^th Deuce, Game Point and finally the hold) to pull to 2-3, but then Weldon had a Love hold for 4-2!  Liu was then broken in the biggest battle of all the games (15-Love, 15-All, Double Fault to make it 15-30, then Double Break Point and bounce back to Deuce, Break Point, 2^nd Deuce, Game Point, 3^rd Deuce, Game Point, 4^th Deuce, Game Point, 5^th Deuce, Break Point and then the break) to fall to 2-5!  And then Gadi held in yet another struggle (Triple Game/Match Point, Double Game/Match Point, Game/Match Point, Deuce, the 4^th Game/Match Point, 2^nd Deuce, Break Point, 3^rd Deuce, the 5^th Game/Match Point and finally the hold) as he got it done for his team just in time at 9:58 (and it was halfway thru that minute as the lights were out just ninety seconds later)!

The Skinny: First things first, the score line of this match truly does not do it justice.  You see the scores of the sets and it does not readily impress…until you actually read how the games went.  But on top of the simple recap of how the points unfolded, you need to understand the intensity of this match and the steely determination of all the competitors involved in it.  This EWC series has, indeed, created a Davis Cup-like feeling as nobody wanted to let their "greater" team down.  There were cries of ecstasy after winners were hit, moments of team-bonding to congratulate such efforts, groans of agony after painful errors were made and even a few contested calls…but nothing of the shady variety.  All line calls seemed to be made in good faith and any protests from the other team soon subsided as all parties agreed to play on…and they did just that in a fierce and fiery manner. 

By the time this match was seemingly heading for its finish line, it truly became a race against the clock to get it concluded before it would be lights out at 10pm…and all the players in attendance were now riveted as they were watching a true tug of war as the leading team (Gadi/Weldon) simply wanted to get it done on time while the trailing team (Doran/Liu) was looking to extend it just to fight for survival.

The 1^st Set was a clear display of the steady improvement of both Randy and Rich (obviously, the hitting sessions with Vinnie are working) as they hit a few winners that caught both Abhi and Chazz flatfooted and seemingly powerless to play the middle area between them.  After that set, it seemed that Team East may be cruising to an overall victory in this series…until a seismic shift took place as a measure of overconfidence for Doran/Liu and a step-up in intensity (with a subtle shift in strategy) from Gadi/Weldon then turned this match on a dime.  For the rest of its entirety, Randy and Rich found themselves playing catch-up…but they just couldn't cut the mustard (that Chazz often has in his tennis bag to relieve cramping…OK, I had to lighten the mood just a bit with that bad pun…please don't PUN-ish me for it!). 

Afterward, Randy put the blame on himself as he said he was growing tired and not getting enough on his overheads as he was starting to push them back rather than snap them back.  He also felt he did not hold his serve enough.  Getting back to overheads…save for one miss of a true gift of an overhead set-up for Abhi, Mr. Gadi was a beast at the net as he often sent his overheads bouncing over the fence (though Rich did the same on a couple of occasions).  Liu has definitely improved his overall consistency, but most in attendance agreed that the steadiest presence on the court was Chazz as he often resorted to strategic lobs that not only kept his team in the rallies, but often shifted the momentum of the points.

Randy and Rich had nothing but praise for their opponents after the match as they felt that they had been beaten by the better team.  But they also said they would like a chance for revenge somewhere down the line (post-EWC series).

While the final score likely keeps this match out of the running as a potential Nominee for Doubles Match of The Year, it definitely ranks high as one of the most entertaining matches I have seen this season.  I congratulate "my guys" Abhi and Chazz for getting a win for the team (Team West), but I truly offer hearty kudos to Randy and Rich for a most spirited effort.  It was definitely good stuff all the way around.

And as I've been typing this report, an exchange of comments came in from three of the four competitors that I share here now.

Rich Remarks: Great match, Chazz and Abhi!  Congrats on your win!  It was an intense competitive match and really was a lot of fun.  Thanks again for coming to Park Ave to play.

Abhi's Answer: Randy and Rich, thank you both for an amazing match last night!  It was definitely the most intense match that I've played since I joined the GTA and that was because you both were really good.  You had us rattled in the 1st Set and we had to come up with something to keep the match alive!  It was great fun and I definitely look forward to playing you both again!

Randy's Reply: Fantastic match!  I'm looking forward to the rematch. 

There were some more results that occurred as the above match was taking place.

Tim Nguyen/Muhammad Haque over Edgar Valencia/David Soto, 6-2!  Edgar: 1 Ace on Muhammad!  These four played on Court Four from 8:40 to 9:05.

Edgar Valencia/Muhammad Haque over Tim Nguyen/David Soto, 6-1!  Edgar: 1 Ace on David!  Court Four hosted this same foursome (they just switched up the teams) from 9:09 to 9:31.

Let's now head west to Cedar Grove to get the word from Kat, Nate and Doinks as we go to their triple report now.

The Cedar Grove Results:

2 out of 3 Sets Women's Doubles Match:

Brenda Jordan/Kathy Marabondo over Kathy Sheldon/Dawn Peterson, 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 10-8 (STB)!  Dawn: 1 Ace on Brenda!  Once they went to the Super Tiebreak, the # 19 Rank in the Doubles Division of Sheldon/Peterson was no longer on the line.     

The Chat from Kat: We started at 6:30 and ended at 8:30pm.  It was an excellent match!  Kathy M. was her usual steady self at net and Brenda held down the baseline.  It was a competitive match and could have gone either way.  We had a blast!

Samara's Notes: I thank Kat for her timely and detailed reporting…always appreciated!  And now we get a combo of results from Nate and Doinks as I leave the last action to take place (the incomplete One-Setter) for the end to try to achieve some semblance of chronological order. 

2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:

Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout over Paul Daddio/Diane Raum, 6-3, 6-2, to successfully defend their # 5 Rank in the Mixed Doubles Division!  In the process, Daddio/Raum entered the Mixed Doubles Division as the New # 26 Ranked Team.  No Aces.

 

Dan Hwang/Janice Wang over Kyle Eng/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-3!  No Aces.

 

Kyle Eng/Doinks Srinivasan over Dan Hwang/Janice Wang, 6-4!  No Aces.

 

Paul Daddio/Nathan Fernandes leading Don Moya/Guy Dupoux, 5-3 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)!  No Aces.

Samara's Notes: I thank both Nate and Doinks for their timely reporting as well.  It is much appreciated.

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

10/2 Results.

10/2/18:

"12 play at C.G.!":

The weather forecasts calling for heavy storms and possible tornadoes spinning through our area may have deterred some from playing any GTA Tuesday Night Tennis, but not all as there was a fairly sizeable session at The Cedar Grove Courts.  Contributors to this report from that session are "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan, "NC-17" Nick Caputo and "The Argentine Machine" Fernanda Toker.  We first turn this report over to Gen and then grab the results from Nick and Fernanda after that.

The Cedar Grove Results:

2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Challenge Match:

Moka Pathan/Doinks Srinivasan over Mike Mole/Genalin Capan, 7-6 (7-2), 1-6, 6-3, to become the New # 6 Ranked Team in the Mixed Doubles Division!  Mike: 2 Aces on Doinks in the 1st Set!

In the 1st Set, Moka and Doinks were leading at 4-1.  We started to pick up some momentum as we got it closer to 3-4.  Moka/Doinks were leading at 5-3 and 5-4.  Mike and I battled back to get it to 5-All.  Both sides held to take us into the TB.

In the TB, Moka and Doinks jumped to a commanding lead at 5-0 when we finally got on board at 5-1.  The rest went 5-2, 6-2 and then 7-2 to end the TB and 1st Set.  The set lasted about an hour.

After our 1st Set, it started to drizzle but that only lasted for five minutes and then stopped.

2nd Set, Mike and I stayed focused and found ourselves with a 5-0 lead.  Moka and Doinks got on the board at 1-5 before we closed out the much needed 2nd Set to level it at one set a piece. This one took about 25 minutes.

3rd Set, this time Moka and Doinks had the 5-0 lead.  Mike and I battled back to get it closer and took the next three games for 3-5.  Mike was then broken on his service game to end the match and take a tough loss.  This set took 27 minutes.

We played from 6:50 to 8:45.  Moka and Doinks asked to play us in a Challenge Match to get back on the ranks.  It was a pretty even match-up of teams.  We had some nice rallies and also our fair share of errors.  It was a fun evening.

Samara's Notes: I thank Gen for her very timely and comprehensive reporting…it is much appreciated!  And I congratulate Moka and Doinks on their impressive victory!  We now go to Nick.

Nick Caputo/Marie Salamon over Joe Rodrigues/Tito Castolo, 7-6 (8-6)!  No Aces.

The NC-17 Screening: It was lots of fun!

Samara's Notes: I thank Nick for his timely submission of this result.  We now let Fernanda finish off this report. 

2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:

Tommy Reszkowski/Fernanda Toker over Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout, 7-6 (7-5), 7-5, to successfully defend their # 4 Rank in the Mixed Doubles Division!  No Aces.

Toker's Take: We were up 5-2 and at Set Point in the 1st Set before they made a comeback to eventually tie it at 5-5 and then force the Tiebreak (where they had the lead).  They were up 4-2 in the 2nd Set.  They were a lot of fun to play...very tough team...good strategy!  Happy we got it finished just before the rain came (there were a few drizzles along the way).

Samara's Notes: I thank Fernanda for her very timely reporting as well…and also congratulate her and Tommy on a hard-fought victory.  Even though this was a straight set affair, this match may have an outside shot at becoming a Nominee for Mixed Doubles Match of The Year at season's end. 

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

 

 

 

10/1 Results.

10/1/18:

There was just one session of GTA Monday Night Tennis and it took place at the Cedar Grove Courts.  There are three contributors to this report from that session: "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan, "Dominant" Dawn Peterson and "Killer Kat" Kathy Sheldon.  Let's go to their combined report now.  We will have Doinks start things off with her commentary.

Brenda Jordan sent an e-mail to some of the GTA women asking who would be available to play at 6:30pm. Kathy, Michele Panzitta and I (along with Brenda) happened to be all available at that time. 

The Cedar Grove Results:

2 out of 3 Sets Women's Doubles Match:

Doinks Srinivasan/Kathy Sheldon over Brenda Jordan/Michele Panzitta, 7-6 (7-4), 5-7, 7-6 (7-3), to become the New # 7 Ranked Team in the Women's Doubles Division!  Michelle: 2 Aces (one on each)!

The Details from Doinks: It was a very close match and it could have been won by either team.  We had long games, multiple Deuces, lengthy rallies and exciting net play!  We played from around 6:40 to 9:39 (three hours!).  Thanks, ladies, for the fun match!

Samara's Notes: I thank Doinks for her very timely reporting.  Based on that super-close score and the fact that this match lasted three hours, it seems like it should be a certain Nominee for Women's Doubles Match of The Year at season's end.

Now let's go to Dawn for some more scores.

Russ Johnson/Dawn Peterson over Chris Chiaro/Ellen Anderson, 6-4!  No Aces.  It was the official GTA Debut of Ellen Anderson.

Chris Chiaro/Ellen Anderson over Russ Johnson/Dawn Peterson, 7-5!  No Aces.

The Details from Dawn: Russ and Ellen are Kathy's friends from work.  They are very nice people and very good players.  Each one is a lefty.

Samara's Notes: Kathy was the one to confirm Ellen's last name and she hopes that Ellen will become one of our regulars.  I am already familiar with Russ (he was already on the ranks) as he is a steady presence at Marie Salamon's Tuesday Night Group sessions at the Fair Lawn Tennis Club (but I actually first met him via The Sheldons).  I thank Dawn for her timely reporting as well...and also thank Kathy for coming through with the confirm...and also for the recruiting.

All the best,

Frank Samara

9/30 Results.

9/30/18:

"12 play (1 New) at PAC, Frank-Carl + 8 at AP, 5 at NTC, Mixed Dbls action at C.G.!":

There were four sessions of GTA Sunday Tennis: the first one was at The Park Ave. Courts in Nutley and was hosted by "TNT" Tim Nguyen; the second was "Hollywood" Frank Samara hosting the "usual" GTA Sunday Tennis session at Albion Park in Clifton as he also first handled the EWC Singles Match against Carl "Buster" Brownson who was representing Team East: the third was at Nutley Tennis Club hosted by "The Riz" John Rizzo.  And then the fourth was the usual evening session at The Cedar Grove Courts with both "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan and "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes reporting the Mixed Doubles action that took place there. 

Let's turn this report over to Tim right now!

We had another great Sunday morning at PAC, Nutley.  This time the weather was perfect for the season of fall - cool and breezy on a Sunday morning…..and the crew (12 of us) enjoyed GTA Tennis and took up three of the four courts on Park Ave.  One player is new to the league, Christian Rossi (introducing and welcoming Christian to the GTA).  This time we also had two of the ladies...Laurie Boughton and Vivian Lee...it was great fun!

The Park Ave. Courts Results:

Tim Nguyen/Vivian Lee over Tom Heidt/Laurie Boughton, 6-4!  No Aces.

Tim's Take: Tom's ankle was acting up toward the end of the games so we thought that we should stop, but he insisted to finish out the set.  We hope your ankle feels better, Tom.

Sam Wong/Santosh Reddy over David Wong/Christian Rossi, 7-6 (7-3)!  No Aces.  It was the official GTA Debut of Christian Rossi.

Arunraj Nair/Matt Aery over Edgar Valencia/Joe Renga, 6-1!  No Aces.

Tim Nguyen/Santosh Reddy over David Wong/Christian Rossi, 6-1!  No Aces.

Tim Nguyen/Santosh Reddy over Edgar Valencia/Arunraj Nair, 6-4!  No Aces.

David Wong/Vivian Lee over Matt Aery/Joe Renga, 6-2!  No Aces.

Samara's Notes: As I've said in the past, I really appreciate Tim stepping up as the host of these early Sunday morning sessions in Nutley.  I also thank him for his timely and comprehensive reporting.

We will now detail how the session unfolded at Albion Park in Clifton.

"Hollywood" Frank Samara pulled up to the curb on Maplewood Ave. overlooking the courts at Albion Park at 9:45am.  The agreed upon starting time for his East-West Challenge series match against Carl "Buster" Brownson was 10am, so Frank wanted to make sure to grab a court. 

 

Heading down the hill toward the three courts, he saw that "Z-Man" Dave Zapusek was already out on the North Court just starting a full match against the same mystery man he played two weeks ago (Dave never reported that result then and he didn't do it this time around either...quite likely due to the fact that their outings are so contentious...constant arguing over calls and negotiations as to what the score should be...unlike his matches against his buddy, "The Flax Machine" Mike Flax, which Dave usually does report).

 

Anyway, I got sidetracked a bit there.  The other two courts (Center and South) were still available, so Samara situated himself on the South Court to keep some distance from Dave and Mr. X.  While waiting for Carl to arrive, Frank flicked numerous acorns off the court with his racquet.  He also had much to think about as the day before he found out via text from "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan that she had lost her EWC Women's Singles Match to "M-Pact" Megan Reed.  Megan's win gave Team East a two match lead over Team West, six wins to four...just one more win away from a total series victory (as seven matches won takes a thirteen match series).  Samara knew as the Captain, he could not let his team down...he must lead by example!  He had already won his Men's Doubles Match a little more than a couple of weeks ago...now he had to do the same in Singles just to keep Team West alive in the competition...to give them the chance to play on to hopefully catch up with (and hopefully surpass) Team East.

 

But then there was another consequence to consider...because while winning would be great for Team West, it would actually not be the best thing for Mr. Samara himself.  With the September Rank Defense Review set to take place after all the weekend's results get reported, Frank would actually benefit more from losing to Carl rather than beating Brownson...as crazy as that sounds!  See, the rules of the Review were set up many, many seasons ago and their main purpose was twofold - one, to crack the whip on players who fail to put their rank on the line (and punish them for not doing so) and also to make sure that said players were putting their rank on the line against contenders worthy of the challenge.  With Brownson solely in the Intermediate Division and Samara exclusively in the Advanced Division, Frank winning over Carl does not meet with the requirements of the Rank Defense Review as Brownson is not a contender within fourteen ranks of him.  But, if Carl were to win the match, then he would have proven himself to be a worthy challenger in taking Samara's rank and thus Frank's loss would not qualify as a rank defense worthy of the monthly requirements.  Yes, it sounds screwy...and, in a way, it is...but there in no perfect system to be implemented here.

 

Well, never let it be said that Samara is not truly a team player...because going into this match, his only true thoughts with regard to both possible scenarios were on the former and not the latter...even though the latter would ultimately help propel him up the ladder (i.e. the rankings of the Advanced Division).  He knew he had to put on his proverbial Captain's cap and be steely in his resolve to win this one...even though it would be only his third full 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match of the season.

 

Carl arrived at 9:55 (meeting Frank in person for the very first time) and the two competitors hit for just over five minutes before officially starting the match.  During the contest, "The Great Wall" Muhammad Haque (also on Team East) arrived at 10:10 and then held Center Court while waiting for others to hopefully arrive (by the way, Zapusek and guest would hold the North Court until 11am, their usual exit time).  Muhammad had to wait for a while until "Lucky" Leo Victor finally made his way down to the courts at 10:45.  The two of them soon started hitting with each other.

 

Five minutes later, "The Scorpion Dragon" Dino Celis also arrived (at 10:50) and he took the bench alongside the South Court to witness the last seven minutes of the match.  Just three minutes later at 11am, three more competitors arrived - "The Shade Shark" Suzanne Bujara, "Hurricane" Jose Gonzales and "Sensei Sachi" Sachiko Tokuda.  At the same time, Zapusek and his pal were heading off of the North Court.  Brownson felt the need to leave as he was not sure if he may be coming down with a cold or not...plus he later admitted Samara's style of play gave his legs a good workout (i.e. a lot of running needed to be done to stay in the rallies).

 

It led to Frank briefly hitting with the ladies on the North Court until he overhead the fact that Dino wanted to practice his serve alone on the South Court.  With just three guys hitting on Center Court, Samara asked the gals if they wouldn't mind hitting with each other one-on-one (they didn't mind...in fact, they seemed to be happy to be rid of him...just kidding) while he made his way over to Center Court to enable some Men's Doubles to occur.

 

So that Doubles One-Setter got underway at 11:15.  Just five minutes later, "The Legendary" Chazz Weldon made his way down to the courts.  As Samara did before him, he went solo in hitting against the ladies on the North Court.  Around 11:30, a rather rotund interloper made his way onto the South Court and asked Dino (who was taking a break on the bench at the time) if he was still using the court.  Celis allowed him to take it and, five minutes later, "Double B" (aka "Beer Belly") was soon joined by his buddy (also, a portly fellow...though not as big as his pal...perhaps his secret code is BOSCO!).  The two of them had the court until 12:30, I believe.  Not sure if they played a full match or not...or maybe they just hit. 

 

And even though I am being somewhat of a ball buster as I write this, they were actually both nice guys.  The only reason I even weigh in with the weight issue of these guys is the fact that the first one was wearing a shirt that looked to be about three sizes too small...so his gut was constantly revealing itself as a result.  So, I am not a "weight-ist"...I'm just a guy who thinks properly fitting attire would be proper!

 

The next player to arrive was "Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli at 11:40.  When Samara asked why he was sans racquet, Spin said he could go back and get it if he was needed.  Well, he was needed...to join Chazz and the gals on the North Court for some Mixed Doubles.  As the Doc is still slightly limpy and gimpy, he suggested that they do it "Battle of The Sexes" style and the ladies were game for the challenge!

 

Once Dino later became part of a Doubles One-Setter, we got to a total of ten official competitors for the session.  On such an amazing day weather-wise (sunny and in the low 70 degree range), that turnout may have been somewhat low...but, then again, given the inconsistency of this "regular session" due to all the wet weekends we had this season...I guess we should be happy we even got up to ten players! 

 

All those in attendance had a lot of fun.  And even though all the official action ended by 12:40, Frank, Spin and Dino had a bull session that ran all the way to 2:10...just like the old days.  Good times!

 

The Albion Park Results:

 

EWC Singles Match (2 out of 3 Sets):

Frank Samara over Carl Brownson, 6-1, 6-3, to earn a point for Team West in the East-West Challenge Series!  This was not a rank defense for Samara as he is solely in the Advanced Division while Brownson is strictly in the Intermediate Division.  No Aces.

 

1st Set: Carl was broken (15-Love then point for point to Game Point, Deuce, Break Point and then a Double Fault to break himself), Frank held serve (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold), Brownson was broken again (a Double Fault set up Love-30, 15-30 and then another Double Fault to set up Double Break Point and then came the break) and Samara held again (Love-15 shifted to 30-15, then came 30-All, Game Point and the hold) to go up 4-0!  Buster held to get onto the scoreboard (a Triple Game Point lead was cut down to Game Point, but then came the hold), but Hollywood held yet again (15-Love shifted to 15-30 shifted again to Game Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point, 3rd Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to go up 5-1.  And then Carl was broken (Love-15, 15-All, Double Fault for 15-30, Double Break/Set Point and the break) to drop the set at exactly 10:27 (we began it on the South Court at 10:02)!  Three minutes later, the next set would be underway.

 

2nd Set: Frank was broken for the first time as a 15-Love lead then went straight to Double Break Point and the break, but Carl was also broken (Love-15 then point for point to Break Point and then the break).  Samara then held (a Love-30 lead then launched directly to Game Point and the hold), but so did Brownson (30-Love shifted to 30-All, but then came Game Point and the hold) for 2-2.  The Wood was broken for the second time (15-Love shifted to 15-30 shifted again to Game Point, but then came Deuce, Break Point and the break) for 2-3, but Buster was also broken (15-Love dropped directly to Double Break Point and the break) to tie things again, this time at 3-3!  And from there, Frank held (a Triple Game Point lead was cut down to Game Point, but then came the hold) while Carl was broken again (15-Love shifted to 15-30 and then a Double Fault set up Double Break Point and then came the break) only to have Samara hold once more (15-Love, 15-All then onto Double Game/Match Point and the hold) to get the win at precisely 10:57 (the entire match was 55 minutes long)!

 

The Skinny: Coming into this match, I had only heard good things about Carl...and they all proved to be true as he is just that...a true gentleman and sportsman on the court.  There were a couple of line calls where he called my shots in and I would have also believed him had he said otherwise (both were close calls).  He has a big forehand and also has great variance on his serve (sometimes coming with pace and other times emphasizing more topspin).  He sometimes hits a one-handed topspin backhand a la Federer (Dino is also quite adept at hitting this shot) that crushed a couple of my short and weaker serves to become winning returns.  But the slice backhands that I hit deep to his backhand side were harder for him to handle as he often sent them back wide off the court as it was hard for him to get around them.  Considering the fact that I have played very little as of late (and especially Singles), I had an "on" day today for the most part.  It would be a pleasure to give Carl a rematch somewhere down the road.

 

The Consequences: This victory brought Team West one win away from tying Team East's total (it is 6-5 in favor of the East).  There are just two matches to be played - the Men's Doubles Match featuring the "A" Teams of "The Accelerator" Abhilash Gadi and Chazz Weldon going up against "SWAT" Rich Liu and "Ravishing" Randy Doran, and then William "Bombs Away" Bobila (now taking the place of the injured "Macho Man" Tom La) to face "The Art Font" Arthur Fontanilla.  Both of these matches could go either way and it may very well come down to the last one to be played to break a 6-6 tie to take the ultimate seventh point for the overall team victory!

 

Frank Samara/Muhammad Haque over Jose Gonzales/Leo Victor, 6-3!  Jose: 1 Ace on Frank!  It went like this: Muhammad was broken (Triple Break Point, Double Break Point and the break) and Jose held serve (started with an Ace up the T against Frank, but then dropped right down to Double Break Point only to rebound to Deuce, Game Point and the hold) for 2-0.  Frank held (Triple Game Point, Double Game Point and the hold) and then Leo was broken in a lengthy struggle (15-Love shifted to 15-30 shifted again to Game Point, then came Deuce and all Break Points until 3rd Deuce, Game Point, 4th Deuce and then all Break Points until 6th Deuce, Game Point, 7th Deuce, Break Point and finally the break) to level things at 2-2!  Haque was broken again (started with a Double Fault, Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and then another Double Fault to break himself), but Gonzales was also broken (Love-15, 15-All then onto Double Break Point and the break) to even it up again, this time at 3-3.  Samara held again (Love-15 went straight to Double Game Point, Game Point and the hold) and then Victor was broken again (Love-15, 15-All, a Double Fault for 15-30, then Double Break Point and the break) and then The Great Wall finally held (a Double Fault to set up Love-30, but then it shifted straight to Game/Match Point, Deuce, the 2nd Game/Match Point and the hold) to earn the victory!  We played this one on Center Court from 11:15 to 11:59.

 

Chazz Weldon/Dan Martinelli over Suzanne Bujara/Sachiko Tokuda, 6-0!  No Aces.  They played this "Battle of The Sexes" One-Setter on the North Court from 11:50 to 12:13.  Afterward, Suzanne said she would need to leave by 12:30.  The four of them then decided to start another just to see how many games they could complete.

 

Chazz Weldon/Dan Martinelli leading Suzanne Bujara/Sachiko Tokuda, 3-1 (Incomplete when Bujara had to leave at 12:30)!  Spin: 2 Aces (one on each and back-to-back in the same game)! 

 

Dino Celis/Jose Gonzales over Frank Samara/Muhammad Haque, 6-3!  Jose: 2 Aces on Frank (in the same game)!  The dirty lowdown: Dino held (30-Love, a Double Fault for 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold), Frank held (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and then a rebound to Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold), Jose held (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold), but Muhammad was the first to be broken (15-Love shifted to 15-30, 30-All, Break Point and the break) to fall to 1-3.  Celis was then broken (15-Love, 15-All, Double Fault for 1-30, Double Break Point and the break) to have his team's lead cut to 3-2, but then Samara was also broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and the break) for 2-4.  Despite two Aces in the same game, Gonzales was broken (started with a T-line Ace against Frank, but then that brief lead shifted straight to Double Break Point as the rally to set up that DBP was the best of the match as they ran Muhammad all over the place, but he had the answer when he made a great get/winner combo to end the lengthy point, but then Jose scored with an even faster Ace up the T-line against Frank to make it Break Point and then it went to Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point and the break) to have his team's lead cut to 4-3.  But from there, Haque was broken again (30-Love, a Double Fault for 30-15 and then the hard shift occurred all the way to Break Point and the break) while The Scorpion Dragon held (15-Love, 15-All then onto Double Game/Match Point and the hold) for the victory!  We played this one on Center Court from 12:05 to 12:40.

 

We now head back to Nutley, but this time around it is The Riz Report from the Nutley Tennis Club!

 

The NTC Results:

 

Ryan Sherry/Frank Hohorst over John Rizzo/Ryan Pienciak, 7-5!  No Aces.

 

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:

Ryan Sherry/Frank Hohorst over Ryan Pienciak/Abhilash Gadi, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 66 and # 67 Ranked Teams respectively!  No Aces.

Samara's Notes: As always, I thank John for his very timely reporting.  I do believe this action took place on Court One.

We now head into the evening and move west to Cedar Grove for the dual report from Gen and Nate.

The Cedar Grove Results:

2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Challenge Match:

Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout over Mike Mole/Genalin Capan, 6-0, 6-1, to become the New # 6 Ranked Team in the Mixed Doubles Division!  Mike: 1 Ace on Nate in the 2nd Set!

Gen's Notes: Nate and Natalia challenged us to play a match.  This match was fairly quick (lasted only 40 minutes).  Nate and Natalia played really well and didn't miss much.  We just had way too many errors on our part.  Congrats to them on a very impressive win!

We played one more set and mixed up the team.

Nathan Fernandes/Genalin Capan over Mike Mole/Natalia Sout, 6-1!  No Aces.

Gen's Notes: Despite the score, it was a lot of fun.  We had some really good rallies.

We ended this "mini" session by 7:25.

Samara's Notes: I thank Gen and Nate for their timely reporting (Nate reported the same scores as Gen, just without any commentary).  It is greatly appreciated!

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

gtasamara5@gmail.com

 

9/29 Results.

9/29/18:

"Gen-Megan at PAC, Riz hosts 6 at NTC, Mixed Dbls action at C.G.!":

There were three official sessions of GTA Saturday Tennis…and perhaps there were actually four, but there were no results reported from the Cedar Grove morning session that "Dominant" Dawn Peterson said she would be hosting (I even followed up on it and never heard back from her).  Perhaps it never happened…and, if it did, it will all just have to remain unofficial at this point.  Maybe the tone of exclusivity in promoting the session scared some potential players away…who knows!

Anyway, getting back to the three sessions for which we do have official results…the first one was at the Park Ave. Courts in Nutley and it featured the East-West Challenge series Women's Singles Match as it was "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan (representing Team West) going up against the lady for Team East, "M-Pact" Megan Reed (as reported by Gen).  Coming into this match, Team East had a 5-4 lead over Team West.  Seven matches won will earn total victory in the series. 

The next session was also in Nutley, but it was at the Nutley Tennis Club as "The Riz" John Rizzo hosted a session there that featured six players (including John) in various Mixed Doubles One-Setters.

And speaking of Mixed Doubles, there was a full Mixed Doubles Challenge Match in the final session of the evening at the Cedar Grove Courts (as reported by "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes) followed by a One-Setter.

So we will now let Gen get this report started.

The Park Ave. Courts Results:

 

EWC Women's Singles Match (2 out of 3 Sets):

Megan Reed over Genalin Capan, 6-2, 6-4, to become the New # 9 Ranked Player in the Women's Division while also earning a point for Team East in the East-West Challenge Series!  Megan: 1 Ace in the 2nd Set!

Gen's Notes: We played from 4:15 to 5:20 at Nutley.  It was a pretty competitive match.  Megan has a wicked topspin forehand.  She also got me with a few well-played drop shots.  We had some really nice rallies.  I enjoyed playing our match and it was a lot of fun.  Congrats to Megan on her win and she has earned another point for Team East in the EWC series!

Samara's Notes: I thank Gen for reporting this result in a very timely manner.  And I congratulate Megan on a very impressive victory!

 

The Consequences: This win gives Team East a 6-4 lead over Team West in the East-West Challenge series...just one more match win from a total victory in the series!

 

We now head just slightly west to Nutley Tennis Club for the scores from John.

 

The NTC Results:

 

Mike Mole/Sally Pillay over John Rizzo/Pat McNamara, 6-3!  No Aces.

 

Mike Mole/Sally Pillay over Marijus Kuzavas/Pat McNamara, 6-3!  No Aces.  

 

Marijus Kuzavas/Sally Pillay over Mike Mole/Janice Wang, 7-6 (7-4)!  No Aces.

 

The Riz Report: Mike and Janice led 5-1 and had 3 Match Points along the way.  Down 0-6 in the Tiebreak, they saved 4 Match Points before just falling short!

 

Mike Mole/Janice Wang over John Rizzo/Sally Pillay, 6-3!  No Aces.

 

The Riz Report: The last half of this set was played in the dark!

Samara's Notes: I do thank John for his very timely reporting.  Also, that one One-Setter that went to the Tiebreak may have a chance at being a Nominee for One-Set Mixed Doubles Match of The Year at season's end.  And I do believe that all this action took place on Court Five at NTC.

We now head further west to Cedar Grove to get the news from Nate. 

The Cedar Grove Results:

GTA Mixed Doubles Challenge Match:

Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout over Jeff Rozner/Louise Bysiek, 6-0, 6-0, to successfully defend their # 7 Rank in the Mixed Doubles Division!  In the process, Rozner/Bysiek entered the Mixed Doubles Division as the New # 38 Ranked Team.  No Aces.

Nathan Fernandes/Louise Bysiek over Jeff Rozner/Natalia Sout, 6-2!  No Aces.

Samara's Notes: I thank Nate for his very timely reporting…much appreciated. 

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com  

 

 

 

 

9/28 Results.

9/28/18:

"Just 4 play at PAC!":

It was a light Friday night in terms of GTA Tennis as there was only one session featuring four players at The Park Ave. Courts in Nutley as reported by both "The Great Wall" Muhammad Haque and Arunraj "Air" Nair.  So let's go to their report now. 

The Park Ave. Courts Results:

 

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:

Santosh Reddy/Arunraj Nair over Rich Liu/Muhammad Haque, 6-2, 6-3, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 64 and # 65 Ranked Teams respectively!  No Aces.

 

The Arun Rundown: In both sets we were able to maintain our lead from the beginning.  Rich and Muhammad played well, with Rich's strong forehand shots and Mohammad's serves.  In return, Santosh countered their attack with his forehand and cross-court shots and I was more than happy to be the one guarding at the net.

 

The Muhammad Memo: Santosh played very well and his forehand bamboozled Rich a couple of times.

 

We then switched the teams to play a One-Setter.

 

Muhammad Haque/Arunraj Nair over Rich Liu/Santosh Reddy, 7-5!  No Aces.

 

The Arun Rundown: Santosh and Rich were too good for us in the beginning and they easily took the lead to 3-1.  We then came back into the set to tie it up at 3-3.  But again they took the lead, up 5-3.  In the 9th game, they were leading 40-15, but our fight was still not over.  We won that game and then took the next three games for the comeback to win the set at 7-5.

 

The Muhammad Memo: At one time they were leading 5-3 with Double Match Point, but we came back and won.

 

Samara's Notes: I thank both Muhammad and Tim for their timely and comprehensive reporting.

 

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com