6/7/18:
"Mole-Bernard in VP, 2 at Wayne, Samara hosts 19 at C.G.!":
There were three sessions of GTA Thursday Night Tennis: an evening one in Verona Park that featured a Challenge Match between "Del Brotro" Mike Mole and "The Headhunter" Ralph Bernard (which was followed by a One-Setter…and with both reporting); a concurrent session at The Nellis Drive Courts in Wayne which had two One-Setters between "The Webmaster" Senthil Kumar and "The Practitioner" Pranav Sinha (with Senthil reporting) and then the usual evening session at The Cedar Grove Courts where "Hollywood" Frank Samara finally returned to host.
Let's go to the quick scores from Verona and Wayne before we get the full recap of what transpired up at Cedar Grove!
The Verona Park Result:
2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:
Ralph Bernard over Mike Mole, 6-1, 6-4, to become the New # 9 Ranked Player in the Advanced Division! Ralph: 1 Ace.
The Mole Memo: Ralph was on with his forehand! Fun match!
The Ralph Report: We had a lot of competitive hard-hitting rallies. We then decided to play another set.
Mike Mole over Ralph Bernard, 6-4! Ralph: 1 Ace.
Samara's Notes: I thank both for their very timely reporting. It is truly appreciated. By the way, Mike had also said that the playing time was from 7:15 to 8:30.
We now head north to Wayne.
The Nellis Drive Courts Results:
Senthil Kumar over Pranav Sinha, 6-4! Senthil: 1 Ace!
Senthil Kumar over Pranav Sinha, 6-4! Pranav: 1 Ace!
The Untangled Web by Senthil: Both sets were at 4-4 before I was able to close them out. We played from 8:30 to 10pm.
Samara's Notes: I thank Senthil for his very timely reporting…much appreciated! And now for how the session up at Cedar Grove unfolded.
When Samara pulled into the parking lot surrounding the courts of Cedar Grove, he saw that both "GDP" Guy Dupoux and "Salsa Picante" Edwin Ortega were doing the same. Dupoux quickly headed out onto Court One where "Kerosene" Kyle Eng and "J-Wow" Janice Wang were having a hitting session/lesson. Ortega made his way out onto Court Three to take the side of "The Bulgarian Bull" Jordan Bachvaroff as he was hitting against both "Sadistic" Syed Rashid and the "A-Bomb" Andrew Truong. Court Two was still vacant, but it would not remain that way for long.
On Court Four we had the newly formed Mixed Doubles Team of GTA Champion: "King Crush" Chris Chiaro and Former GTA Women's Champ: Laura "The Aura" Gawley waiting for some worthy opposition (they were hoping it would be the current GTA Mixed Doubles Champions: "Super Mario" Marijus Kuzavas and "The Smackdown" Sally Pillay). They had already worked up a good sweat in a hitting session that also included "The Riz" John Rizzo who was now sitting on the bench outside of Court Four.
Samara took a seat next to Rizzo on the bench as he noted the scene that was taking place upon his arrival. Soon, Jordan and Andrew shifted over to Court Two where they would soon enter into a Singles One-Setter against one another.
At 7:15, Kuzavas/Pillay did arrive (as did "Hurricane" Jose Gonzales at the same time) and they would soon take Court Four for a full Non-Title Challenge Match against Chiaro/Gawley (it had to be Non-Title as Chris and Laura had yet to be ranked as a team in the Mixed Doubles Division). Jose soon made his way to Court One for what would turn into a Doubles One-Setter.
Around 7:30, "The Apex Predator" Adam Pienciak made his arrival and took a seat next to the bench where Samara and Rizzo were sitting.
"Rowdy" Rob Gawley (aka The Rogue) arrived at 7:40 for what would be an extended cameo appearance as he stuck around to watch the excellent Kuzavas/Pillay-Chiaro/Gawley encounter.
Ten minutes later, Sachiko "Sachi" Tokuda also pulled into the lot…but this time around, it was not alone. She actually had a driver, her husband Tony. Tony played with us back in the 2016 Season (it may have only been once). On the heels of the Tokudas arrival, "The Adonis" Don Moya also made his way toward the courts.
Soon enough, Rizzo, Moya and Mr. Tokuda headed out onto Court Three to join Ortega for some Doubles action as Rashid was done for the day (he had been hitting since 5:30…he never got involved in any official action). Mrs. Tokuda took a seat on the bench next to Samara.
At 8:05, "The Argentine Machine" Fernanda Toker arrived as she was hoping to team with Wang in a full match in order to get ranked as a team in the Women's Doubles Division. Janice was still involved in that Doubles One-Setter on Court One. It was turning out to be an epic outing as it would eventually go to a tough and tight Tiebreak.
Hot on her heels was the arrival of "RK Fire" Rafaelo Kazakov at 8:10 who soon made his way onto Court Two to join the hitting session between Adam and Jordan which had unfolded along the way some time earlier in the evening.
And that was it for the arrivals of official competitors (a fairly impressive total of 19 for the evening), but later we did have Natalia "Nitro" Sout come join us (I'm guessing somewhere around 9:30) as she joined the crowd that had gathered on and around the bench alongside Court One as that became the court to watch later in the evening.
All things told, it was an action-packed session…one that will have likely ramifications on the future of both the Mixed Doubles Division and the Women's Doubles Division.
The Cedar Grove Results:
Jordan Bachvaroff over Andrew Truong, 6-2! Andrew: 1 Ace. They played this one on Court Two (approximate time was from 7:10 to 7:30).
2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Non-Title Match:
Chris Chiaro/Laura Gawley over Marijus Kuzavas/Sally Pillay, 7-5, 7-5, to become the New # 2 Ranked Team in the Mixed Doubles Division/Next Top Contenders! Marijus: 1 Ace on Chris in the 1st Set (on a second serve); and Sally: 1 Ace on Laura in the 1st Set!
The Skinny: Chris and Laura got out to a 4-1 lead in the 1st Set only to have it get cut to 4-3. It was at this time in the set when Sally was on serve in a multiple Deuce game (I was too distracted by conversation to count them, but there were many!) before she managed to hold to level the set at 4-4! Chris was then broken to hand a 5-4 lead over to Marijus as he was about to serve next. He was broken for 5-5 (and this is when I had to leave to go compete over on Court Two), but then Laura held and Sally was broken to finish the set. I was later told by an emphatic Sally that her hubby had a 5-2 lead in the 2nd Set when he went on serve only to again be broken as that led to a five game rally by Chiaro/Gawley as they took this one in straight sets. It should be said that Marijus arrived a bit tipsy (Sally drove), though it did not seem to affect his performance all that much.
These two teams battled it out on Court Four from 7:33 to 9:30 (approximately on that end time as I was still involved in action on Court Two at the time). Even though it was a straight-set affair, I would say it still has a chance at being a Nominee for Mixed Doubles Match of The Year at season's end as the quality was quite high throughout the contest. It certainly was a hard-hitting, get-making and action-packed spectacle, indeed!
Jose Gonzales/Janice Wang over Kyle Eng/Guy Dupoux, 7-6 (9-7)! No Aces. Court One hosted this one from 7:35 to 8:22. Jose and Janice had been down 3-5 before coming back and then it went back and forth until a Tiebreak was necessary. Kyle and Guy were up 7-6 and had Match Point in the TB only to drop three straight points to take a tough loss! This one also has potential to be a Nominee for One-Set Specialty Doubles Match of The Year at season's end.
John Rizzo/Tony Tokuda over Edwin Ortega/Don Moya, 6-1! No Aces. It was the official GTA Return of Tony Tokuda. This one took place on Court Three and lasted from 8:01 to 8:35.
"Battle of The Sexes" 2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:
Adam Pienciak/Kyle Eng over Fernanda Toker/Janice Wang, 3-6, 6-1, 10-6 (STB)! In the process, Pienciak/Eng entered the Doubles Division as the New # 59 Ranked Team while Toker/Wang entered the Women's Doubles Division as the New # 16 Ranked Team. No Aces. This one got underway on Court One at 8:25. The 1st Set finished at 9pm and the 2nd Set was over at 9:20. The STB lasted roughly ten minutes as the match ended somewhere around 9:30. In order to make sure they got the match finished in time, they decided to forego the changeovers.
Frank Samara/Sachiko Tokuda over Jordan Bachvaroff/Rafaelo Kazakov, 6-4! No Aces. It went like this: Rafaelo held serve (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold), Frank held at Love, Jordan held (15-Love, Double Fault for 15-All, 15-30 then it shifted to Game Point and the hold), but Sachiko was the first to be broken (Double Fault for Love-30, Triple Break Point, Double Break Point and the break) for 1-3. Kazakov was broken (Love-15, 15-All then onto Double Break Point, Break Point and then a Double Fault to break himself), but Samara held again (15-Love shifted to 15-30 shifted again to Game Point, Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to level the set at 3-3. Bachvaroff was then broken (Love-15 shifted to 30-15, 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Break Point and the break) to lose the lead at 3-4, but Tokuda was broken again and this time it was at Love after hitting a Double Fault on Triple Break Point! This served to knot the score once more, this time at 4-4. RK Fire was also broken again (Triple Break Point, Double Break Point and the break) while Hollywood had another Love hold when he ended this one on Triple Game/Match Point! We played this one on Court Two from 8:35 to 9:07.
The Skinny: So we managed to pull off the upset over Team Bulgaria. As the One-Setter progressed, Jordan complained about feeling cold as it was starting to get chilly as the evening grew older. He put a sweatshirt on over his tank top (I believe it was…perhaps it was a full short sleeve T-shirt…I honestly cannot remember). By the end of this, he felt as if he had the chills (upon shaking his hand, he was cold to the touch). He decided to call it a night as Ortega would take his place in the next one on this court. But we are getting a bit ahead of ourselves, as first…
Jose Gonzales/Tony Tokuda over Edwin Ortega/Don Moya, 6-4! No Aces. Court Three hosted this one from 8:40 to 9:03.
Frank Samara/Sachiko Tokuda over Edwin Ortega/Rafaelo Kazakov, 6-2! No Aces. Here's how it went down: Sachiko was broken (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 shifted again to Break Point, Deuce, Break Point again, 2nd Deuce, another Break Point and then the break), Edwin was broken as it went Love-15 then point for point to Break Point and then the break, but Frank was the first to hold serve (Love-15 then point for point until 30-All, a mini-shift to Game Point and then the hold) for 2-1. Rafaelo was broken (Triple Break Point reduced to Break Point, but then the break) for 1-3, but Tokuda was broken again (30-Love shifted to Break Point and the break) for 3-2. Ortega was also broken again (Triple Break Point cut down to Break Point, but then the break) while Samara held again (Love-15 then point for point until 30-All, a mini-shift to Game Point and then the hold…it played out exactly the same as his previous service) to go up 5-2. And then Kazakov was broken in an epic struggle (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break/Match Point, Break/Match Point, Deuce, 3rd Break/Match Point, 2nd Deuce, 4th Break/Match Point, 3rd Deuce, 5th Break/Match Point, 4th Deuce, Game Point, 5th Deuce, the 6th Break/Match Point and finally the break) to end this one in dramatic fashion! We also played this one on Court Two as it lasted from 9:12 to 9:46.
The Skinny: It was a nice night for the Tokudas as both Tony and Sachiko each went 2-0 this evening. As for me, it was the second straight night of not once getting broken on serve. This week, I feel I'm playing at a slightly higher level than I have in quite some time. I can only hope it is a sign of things to come.
Fernanda Toker/Janice Wang leading Sally Pillay/Laura Gawley, 3-2 (Incomplete, but on serve when the lights went out at 10pm…they began this one on Court One at 9:40 and decided to forego the changeovers in the slim hopes of getting a set done)! Prior to this, Fernanda and Janice were having a hitting session with one another since their earlier match had ended around 9:30. When they saw that Sally and Laura had become available, they challenged them to a quick set. If this serves as an accurate preview of the full GTA Women's Doubles Championship Match they are likely to soon play, then that should end up being an epic encounter as well.
This partial One-Setter served to close out (with quite a crowd watching it) a session that featured impactful and monumental action that may all be a preview of things to come. Stay tuned!
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
Gtasamara5@gmail.com
