8/14 Results.

8/14/18:

"Mole-Celis in VP, 5 play (1 New) at PAC, 16 play at C.G.!":

There were three official sessions of GTA Tuesday Night Tennis and they all took place around the same time: the first was at Verona Park and featured a full 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match between "Del Brotro" Mike Mole and "The Scorpion Dragon" Dino Celis (as reported by Mike); the second was at The Park Ave. Courts with "The Dark Knight" Dan Knitzer acting as the sole contributor from that session: and the third was at The Cedar Grove Courts with the contributors from that session being "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan, "Bravo" Brenda Jordan, "Dominant" Dawn Peterson, "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan and "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes.

THIS JUST IN – After this report initially went out, some additional results were reported late by "J-Rod" Joe Rodrigues and "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan.  We will present those scores at the end of this report.

Let's first go to Verona, then Nutley and then Cedar Grove!

 

The Verona Park Results:

 

2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:

Mike Mole over Dino Celis, 6-3, 6-4, to successfully defend his # 12 Rank in the Advanced Division!  No Aces.

 

The Mole Memo: We played from 7pm to 8pm.  The courts were a little wet so we had to squeegee our court.

 

Dino Celis over Mike Mole, 7-5!  No Aces.

 

The Mole Memo: We played this one from 8pm to 9pm.

 

Samara's Notes: I thank Mike for his very timely reporting.  It is much appreciated. 

 

We now head east to Nutley for the scores from Dan.

 

The Park Ave. Courts Results:

 

Dan Knitzer/Tim Nguyen over Umang Jain/Dhaval Fitter, 6-4!  No Aces.  It was the official GTA Debut of Dhaval Fitter. 

 

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:

Dan Knitzer/Umang Jain over Tim Nguyen/Fausto Murg, 6-4, 6-2, to become the New # 60 Ranked Team in the Doubles Division!  No Aces. 

 

The TDK Replay: A sun-shower threatened to derail tennis this night, but then it quickly passed.

 

Samara's Notes: I thank Dan for his timely reporting.  It is greatly appreciated.

 

We now head west to Cedar Grove where Gen will start off the report.  It should be noted that for the first result, Brenda and Dawn also both sent in that score.

 

The Cedar Grove Results:

2 out of 3 Sets Women's Doubles Match:

Genalin Capan/Diane Raum over Brenda Jordan/Dawn Peterson, 6-3, 3-6, 10-4 (STB)!  No Aces.  Once they went to the Super Tiebreak, the # 2 Rank of Jordan/Peterson was no longer on the line.  In the process, Capan/Raum entered the Women's Doubles Division as the New # 21 Ranked Team.

Gen's Notes: During the 1st Set, we started to get some light, but steady rain.  It was a pretty good set so we continued to play.  Brenda and Dawn had early leads of 2-0, 2-1 and 3-1 before we came back to win the set.  Then Diane and I switched our return sides to get more practice for the 2nd Set.  Once again, Brenda and Dawn were leading.  This time, we were down and falling behind at 0-4 when we finally got on the scoreboard at 1-4.  We took two more games at 2-5 then 3-5 before Brenda and Dawn took the set to level the match.  The rain did subside, but then it started again so it was decided we would play a 10-Point Super Tiebreaker instead of the full 3rd Set to decide the match.  We played from 6:28 to 7:40 on Court Three.

It was a fun and competitive match.  All the ladies played very well.  Dawn's serves were on and she had some nice winners at the net.  Brenda is always a fierce competitor at the net.  We had some really good exchanges.  Diane did well covering the baseline, but she also was quite comfortable attacking at the net.  Initially, it was supposed to be Doinks and I playing Brenda and Dawn, but Doinks would not be available until after 8pm. Diane Raum was able to fill that fourth spot.  This was my first time meeting Diane.  She is a very nice player and person.  I really enjoyed teaming with her.

The Brief from Brenda: It was drizzling during our match so we decided on the Super Tiebreak.

The Details from Dawn: Very good match!  Diane played well and Gen had very good shots down the line in the Doubles Alley.  Gen has not played in awhile, but she played very well.  It was very competitive and enjoyable.  It was raining on and off most of the match, but we continued playing anyway.

Samara's Notes: I thank Brenda and Dawn for their contributions to this report.  We now go back to Gen for an additional comment.

Afterwards, we sat by the bench to chat a bit until Frank Hohorst arrived.  Brenda then teamed up with Frank to face Nate and Natalia in a Mixed Doubles Match on Court Three.

Samara's Notes: Thanks for that report so far, Gen.  We will now go to Nate's report of the match that Gen just referenced before going back to Ms. Capan for one more score.

2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:

Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout over Frank Hohorst/Brenda Jordan, 6-1, 6-1, to successfully defend their # 8 Rank in the Mixed Doubles Division!  In the process, Hohorst/Jordan entered the division as the New # 43 Ranked Team.  No Aces. 

 

Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout over T.J. Shah/Frank Hohorst, 6-4!  No Aces.

Samara's Notes: I thank Nate for his timely submission of those scores.  We go back to Gen for one more.

Senthil Kumar/Jorge Solano over Doinks Srinivasan/Genalin Capan, 6-2!  No Aces.  We played from 8:38 to 9:10 on Court Two.

Samara's Notes: My guess is that Gen and Doinks wanted to play this one "Battle of The Sexes" style to get some practice in for the ongoing W2 Women's Doubles Tournament.  It should also be said that Doinks reported this result as well.  Doinks also reported the next one, too.

Joe Rodrigues/Jorge Solano over Senthil Kumar/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-3!  No Aces.

Samara's Notes: I thank Doinks for her timely reporting as well.  It is greatly appreciated.  And now we present the late results from Joe and Kris.

Kris Srinivasan/Joe Rodrigues over Jordan Bachvaroff/Mostafa Hussaini, 7-5!  Jordan: 1 Ace on Joe; and Joe: 1 Ace on Jordan!

 

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:

Abhilash Gadi/Kris Srinivasan over Jordan Bachvaroff/Mostafa Hussaini, 6-3, 6-0, to successfully defend their # 55 Rank in the Doubles Division!  In the process, Bachvaroff/Hussaini entered the division as the New # 62 Ranked Team.  No Aces.

Samara's Notes: I thank Joe and Kris for the additional results.  As I always say, "better late than never!"

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com  

 

 

 

 

8/13 Results.

8/13/18:

"4 play in Maywood!":

While there was just practice hitting going on at the still recovering Cedar Grove Courts (by the way, much thanks to young Peter Corso who worked hard there on Sunday...clearing the drains to alleviate the flooding conditions caused by the downpour the day before), "The Riz" John Rizzo arranged a foursome for some Indoor Tennis at The Maywood Tennis Club.  And it was "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak who sent in the results.

The MTC Results:

2 out of 3 Sets Non-Title Match:

Nick Caputo/Ryan Pienciak over Adam Pienciak/John Rizzo, 7-6 (7-5), 6-0!  No Aces.  This was not a defense of the GTA Doubles Championship for Caputo/Pienciak as they are still waiting for a winner to emerge from the in-progress M2 Final.  Nonetheless, this match allows both teams to re-up their activity in the Doubles Division.

Adam Pienciak/Ryan Pienciak over Nick Caputo/John Rizzo, 6-2!  No Aces.

Nick Caputo/John Rizzo leading Adam Pienciak/Ryan Pienciak, 3-2- (Incomplete when their session ran out of time)!  No Aces.

Samara's Notes: I thank Ryan for his timely reporting of these results.

Sincerely,
Frank Samara

8/12 Results.

8/12/18:

"Tim hosts 8 (1 New) at PAC!":

"Hollywood" Frank Samara had announced ahead of time that he would not be hosting the usual GTA Sunday Tennis session at Albion Park in Clifton due to the uncertain weather forecasts and not wanting to have to make any last-minute decision either way.  But for the past few weeks now, "TNT" Tim Nguyen has been hosting a similarly timed session at The Park Ave. Courts in Nutley.  And so he did on this Sunday as well.

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

Hold on…this just in…"Kaptain" Keith Lewkowitz was able to provide the full name of the now third Frank in the GTA.  His name is Frank Ratnasamy and he is looking forward to continuing to be a part of the league as we move forward.

We had been planning for the usual Sunday tennis session at Park Ave., but we were not completely sure because the weather forecast indicated there was going to be rain.  Still, we did not want to call it off because of the uncertainty.  The night before, Keith Lewkowitz saw that the weather prediction said it was not going to rain until after 11am on Sunday morning and so we wanted to keep the Sunday morning tennis session going...to make sure it would happen.  It turned out to be beautiful after all and no rain.  We had eight players, but one will remain unofficial as we never got his last name.  We enjoyed the matches of Sunday morning tennis and then coffee, brunch and some friendly conversation at the Nutley Diner.  Below are the scores.

The Park Ave. Courts Results:

Keith Lewkowitz/Mike Sindler over Tim Nguyen/Carl Brownson, 6-4!  No Aces.

Tim Nguyen/Mike Sindler over David Wong/Vivian Lee, 6-4!  No Aces. 

Tim Nguyen/Vivian Lee over Keith Lewkowitz/Frank Ratnasamy, 6-1!  No Aces.  It was the official GTA Debut of Frank Ratnasamy.

Tim Nguyen/Mike Sindler over Keith Lewkowitz/Joe Renga, 6-0!  No Aces.

Tim's Up: It was a great Sunday morning tennis session overall and then seven of us stopped by the Nutley Diner afterwards.

Samara's Notes: Tim also added he thought they had about ten players there, but there were some results that he was unable to record and report.  Despite that, I am impressed with Tim's efforts as he seems to be building a nice Sunday morning session and a little social scene afterwards as well.  I thank him for his very timely reporting.  And I hope that this Sunday morning session in Nutley continues to build as this season grows older.

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

gtasamara5@gmail.com

 

8/10 Results.

8/10/18:

"6 play (1 New) at PAC, 10 play at C.G.!":

There were two official sessions of GTA Friday Night Tennis: there was one at the Park Ave. Courts in Nutley with "SWAT" Rich Liu reporting; and then there was the usual one at the Cedar Grove Courts with "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan and "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak both reporting.

Let's go to Nutley first and then to Cedar Grove!

The Park Ave. Courts Results:

 

Rich Liu/Fausto Murg over team Umang Jain/Arunraj Nair, 6-3!  No Aces. 

 

The Rich Recap: Fausto was great at the net playing like a seven-footer as our team (aka Team Fantastic) cruised to something like a 4-0 lead before Ash and Arun made a nice run!  Arun showed solid net play while Ash had some good serves to make it close.

Umang Jain/Arunraj Nair over Muhammad Haque/David Wong, 6-2!  No Aces.  It was the official GTA Debut of David Wong.

Rich Liu leading Fausto Murg, 4-1 (Incomplete as Fausto needed to stop)!  No Aces.

 

2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:

Rich Liu over Muhammad Haque, 6-2, 6-2, to successfully defend his # 4 Rank in the Intermediate Division!  No Aces.

 

The Rich Recap: Muhammad decided to challenge me in Singles!  I definitely needed the practice, so I accepted.  The match lasted maybe 45 minutes.  Muhammad has definitely improved as he's no pushover anymore - I had to work hard to beat him.  Both sets, after being down a quick 0-4, Muhammad made a brief comeback, hitting to my backhand and forcing some errors. 

 

Samara's Notes: I thank Rich for his timely and comprehensive report…much appreciated!  

Time to move head west to Cedar Grove for the rest of what took place on Friday night!

The Cedar Grove Results:

Senthil Kumar/Doinks Srinivasan over Mike Sindler/Syed Rashid, 6-3!  No Aces.

 

2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:

Senthil Kumar/Doinks Srinivasan over Rob Gawley/Laura Gawley, 6-2, 6-3, to successfully defend their # 19 Rank in the Mixed Doubles Division!  In the process, The Gawleys returned to the division as the New # 42 Ranked Team.  No Aces.

Ryan Pienciak/John Rizzo over Kyle Eng/Janice Wang, 7-5!  No Aces.

 

The Ryan Report: We were down 3-5 and fought off one Break/Match Point at 3-5 and 3 more MP's at 4-5! 

 

Everyone was so worn out from that long One-Setter that we all got a little weird. The next two sets (the last one incomplete) were played entirely left-handed (with no two-handed backhands allowed).  We all improved a bit as the sets went on, but it was pretty much a hilarious mess the entire time...

 

Ryan Pienciak/Janice Wang over John Rizzo/Kyle Eng, 6-0!  No Aces.

 

Ryan Pienciak/Janice Wang leading John Rizzo/Kyle Eng, 4-0 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)!  No Aces. 

Samara's Notes: I thank both Doinks and Ryan for contributing to this report in such a timely manner.  As always, it is greatly appreciated!

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com  

 

 

 

 

8/9 Results.

8/9/18:

"12 play (3 New, 4 Return) at FLTC, 18 play at C.G.!":

There were two official sessions of GTA Thursday Night Tennis.  The first one was in the evening at the Fair Lawn Tennis Club as it was Marie Salamon's annual Year-End Party to wrap up the season of the indoor group she hosts there on Tuesday evenings.  And the second one was at the Cedar Grove Courts where the contributors to this report were "Instant" Moka Pathan, "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak, Thomas "Not Tommy" Lee (also not Tom La, ha ha!) and "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan.

We'll go to Fair Lawn first and then pull together all the results from Cedar Grove! 

It was very sweet of Marie Salamon to once again invite me to her Year-End Party for the indoor group she runs at the Fair Lawn Tennis Club.  This was at least my third year (perhaps fourth) in a row attending the event.  There is usually two hours of tennis followed by an hour or more of food, drinks and conversation.  I do believe (though I could be wrong) that it came much later in the year this season as I seem to recall this event usually being held in June.

 

Anyway, she had three of the five courts there (the two courts on each end remained vacant).  Marie had twelve players (including herself), so it worked out perfectly...four players per court, three courts.  Tim Yu was in charge of booking the matches (as he usually does).  Three of the twelve competitors I had never met before.  It is always a fun group and the tennis is solid.  I thank Marie for allowing me to be part of it and also for letting me record and report the results as being part of the GTA as well.

 

There were three time slots in terms of the action - 8pm to 8:40, 8:40 to 9:20 and 9:20 to 10pm.  Forty minutes each and then you switch courts for the next match-up.  It all moved along at a very fast clip (no changeovers every two games...only after completed sets).  Within that opening time slot, all twelve players warmed up with one another (already paired off in the assigned teams) for about ten minutes.

 

For the sets that I was involved in, I did not do my normal note-taking as there were no changeovers.  In fact, I remembered the scores from all three time slots and wrote everything down at the end of the evening (just before we were about to eat).

 

I think that is all that needs to be said...so let's get to the action!

 

The Fair Lawn Tennis Club Results:

 

Brian Sears/Michele Panzitta over Kenny Lombardo/Pearl Wong, 6-1!  No Aces (apparently).  It was the official GTA Debut of Brian Sears, Kenny Lombardo and Pearl Wong.

 

Samara's Notes: Kenny had already heard of the GTA via Dan Hwang (who he has played with before) and he hopes to play more with us in the future as he has been looking to get involved with some larger groups of tennis players.

 

Russ Johnson/Robin Altman over Tim Yu/Marcia Yu, 6-1!  No Aces (apparently).  It was the official GTA Return of Russ Johnson, Robin Altman, Tim Yu and Marcia Yu.

 

Samara's Notes: Tim jokingly added that he and Marcia had not sufficient time to warm up...he then added a wink as they had the same amount of time that everyone else there had.

 

Frank Samara/Arlene Hyde over Dino Celis/Marie Salamon, 6-2!  No Aces.  Here's the basic breakdown: Arlene held serve at Game Point, Dino was broken on Double Break Point, Frank held at Love and Marie was broken in a battle (Double Game Point was reduced to Deuce, then Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point again and then a Double Fault to break herself) to get off to a 0-4 start!  Hyde held again (Double Break Point and then a rebound to Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to give her team a 5-0 lead, but then Celis fought back hard on his next service as his team was down Break/Match Point, then Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold to put his team on the scoreboard at 1-5!  Samara was then broken at Love to have his team's lead cut to 5-2, but then Salamon was broken again (Double Break/Match Point, it ended on Break/Match Point which was the 3rd M.P. overall) to take the loss.

 

Samara's Notes: What looked to be a certain shutout at first ended up getting more interesting toward the end.  We finished this one just in time as Tim soon after gave the signal to have all the players switch up teams and courts.  I should also note that the two previous pairings may have had time to play incomplete sets before their time was up, but I did not bother noting those.

 

Russ Johnson/Michele Panzitta over Dino Celis/Arlene Hyde, 6-0!  No Aces (apparently).

 

Brian Sears/Marcia Yu over Kenny Lombardo/Marie Salamon, 6-2!  No Aces (apparently).

 

Tim Yu/Pearl Wong over Frank Samara/Robin Altman, 6-1!  No Aces.  Again, the basic breakdown: Tim held (Double Game Point was reduced to Deuce and then it was all Break Points until 4th Deuce, Game Point and the hold), Frank held at Love, Pearl held (Double Fault for 30-All, Break Point, Deuce, Game Point and the hold), but Robin was the first one to be broken (Double Fault for 15-30, Double Break Point and the break) for 1-3.  And from there, Yu held again (this time at Double Game Point), Samara was broken at Love and Pearl held at Double Game/Match Point for a very impressive victory!

 

Samara's Notes: Robin warned me how good Pearl was just before we got started.  In fact, Altman described her as not only being the best female player there, but possibly the strongest competitor of everyone in attendance.  Her assessment was not far off as Ms. Wong has a lethal forehand along with precise volleys and consistent overheads.  She was not really lacking in any other areas either.  We then had time to start another one (where I did not note the games).

 

Frank Samara/Robin Altman leading Tim Yu/Pearl Wong, 3-2 (Incomplete)!  No Aces.

 

Brian Sears/Arlene Hyde over Dino Celis/Robin Altman, 6-4!  No Aces (apparently).

 

Tim Yu/Marie Salamon over Kenny Lombardo/Michele Panzitta, 7-5!  No Aces (apparently).

 

Russ Johnson/Pearl Wong over Frank Samara/Marcia Yu, 6-2!  No Aces.  Once more, the basic breakdown: Frank held on Double Game Point, Russ held on Double Game Point, but Marcia was the first to be broken and it was at Love after hitting a Double Fault to set up Love-30.  Pearl was then broken in a battle (Double Fault for Love-30, a shift to 30-All, Break Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point, 3rd Deuce, Break Point and the break) to level the set at 2-2, but from there Samara was broken (hit his first and only Double Fault of the night to set up 15-30, the break came on Double Break Point), Johnson held at Love, Yu was broken on Double Break Point and Wong held on Double Game/Match Point to run away with the victory! 

 

Samara's Notes: This one started off close and then suddenly got away from us.  I had a strange personal trend for most of the evening (including the incomplete half-sets) where I would hold serve at Love and then the next time around get broken at Love!  It changed up a bit in this One-Setter, but that tale of two services returned in the following incomplete half-set.  And I remembered the games in this one as it was rather epic...and it was the last action of the night.

 

Russ Johnson/Pearl Wong leading Frank Samara/Marcia Yu, 3-2 (Incomplete)!  Russ: 1 Ace on Frank!  This is how it was going: Frank held at Love and Russ was broken despite scoring with a nice sideline Ace against Frank (while down 15-30) to make it 30-All and he then went up Game Point before going to Deuce, Break Point and the break for 0-2!  Next came the pivotal game of the half-set and toughest battle of the evening as Marcia was up Double Game Point, that got reduced to Deuce, then Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point, 3rd Deuce, Game Point again and then a Double Fault for 4th Deuce, Break Point and the break as it was now 2-1 despite so many opportunities to go up 3-0!  Pearl held in a 3-Deuce game where I can't remember the flow of the points and that evened things at 2-2.  With time almost up, we decided to play one more game to decide it all...and then Samara quickly got broken at Love to end it!  So bizarre! 

 

Samara's Notes: All in all, it was a lot of fun.  I thank Marie, Tim, Arlene, Kenny and Michele for supplying and/or correcting the scores that I was unable to record while I was there that night.  It is greatly appreciated!

And now we shift southwest to Cedar Grove!

 

The Cedar Grove Results:

 

Moka Pathan over Jay Phoenix, 6-0!  No Aces.

 

Moka Pathan leading Jay Phoenix, 3-2 (Incomplete)!  No Aces.

 

Moka's Brew: In the first One-Setter, I played really clean tennis and it was over pretty quick.  In the second One-Setter, Jay adjusted a little bit and started hitting a lot more balls back.  We stopped because Janice Wang and Guy Dupoux were waiting on the side and all four courts were taken, two with Singles action.  

 

Jay Phoenix/Guy Dupoux over Moka Pathan/Janice Wang, 6-4!  Guy: 1 Ace!

 

This was a competitive set with lots of Deuce games.  I made a few errors, Janice hit well from the baseline, Guy served big and played well at net, and Jay made good gets and was consistent.

 

Samara's Notes: I thank Moka for his timely and comprehensive report.  I also want to say how I respect the fact that Moka and Jay recognized the situation unfolding around them and then they accommodated it appropriately (i.e. relenting their Singles action to make room for Doubles action).  I have heard several complaints as of late (and I am not going to name names) that many others up there have refused to do the same.

 

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:

Ryan Pienciak/Tito Castolo over Adam Pienciak/John Rizzo, 6-3, 7-5, to become the New # 7 Ranked Team in the Doubles Division!  No Aces.

 

Samara's Notes: I thank Ryan for his very timely reporting…much appreciated! 

 

Frank Hohorst/Diane Raum over Thomas Lee/Kathy Marabundo, 7-6 (7-5)!  Frank: 4 Aces on Kathy (on the Deuce side all four times)!

 

There's no doubting Thomas: There were more serves from Frank that were service winners where Kathy could only barely get a racket on them.  Frank was solid in hitting the corner of the service box and taking her out very wide.

Diane and Kathy had been hitting Singles with one another, so they were already warmed up before Frank and I showed up to play.  Frank has excellent strokes and is very good at varying the angle and pace of the ball throughout the match.  Diane is strong at the net.

Tom and Kathy were up 2-0, 4-2 and in place to go up 5-2 before Kathy got broken to make it 4-3.
Frank and Diane then went up 5-4 before each side held serve right up until the Tiebreak.  There were some long points where there was a lot of shot-making using the entire court on both sides of the net.

Mike Corrado/Peter Corso over Frank Hohorst/Thomas Lee, 6-2!  No Aces.

 

There's no doubting Thomas: Mike is a heavy topspin hitter who likes to kick his serve out wide on the Deuce side.  We then played another one that we didn't get to finish.

 

Samara's Notes: We will get to the incomplete set at the end of this report, but let me say right now how impressed I am with the report received from Tom.  Not only was it timely, it is very thorough and comprehensive…and this is coming from someone who is still very new to the league which makes it all the more difficult.

 

Kris Srinivasan/Janice Wang over Dennis Cabanatan/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-2!  No Aces.

 

Nick Inciong/Doinks Srinivasan tied with Dennis Cabanatan/Janice Wang, 5-5 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm with Dennis serving at 30-Love)!  No Aces.

 

Samara's Notes: I thank Doinks for submitting those last two results in a very timely manner.  We now go back to the one additional incomplete result submitted by Thomas.

Mike Corrado/Peter Corso tied with Frank Hohorst/Thomas Lee, 5-5 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm with Tom serving at 30-Love)!  No Aces.

 

There's no doubting Thomas: Frank said that he was at least three times older than each of our opponents!

 

Samara's Notes: Again, I thank everyone who reported results from this session.  It was all timely, comprehensive and easy to follow.  I also have to give credit for an assist from "Momma Chris" Christine Corso as she confirmed that Mike was Mike Corrado as Thomas was not entirely sure (nor was Frank H.). 

 

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com   

 

 

 

 

8/8 Results.

8/8/18:

"Ryan-Tommy part of 13 (1 return) at C.G.!":

There was just one official session of GTA Wednesday Night Tennis, but it did feature a major match.  It was at The Cedar Grove Courts and that match was the "Grove Cup 21" Round of 16 Match between "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak and "Tireless" Tommy Reszkowski (with Ryan reporting).  Other contributors to this report were "Bravo" Brenda Jordan and Frank "Hydro" Hohorst.

Time for some action!                                                                                  

The Cedar Grove Results:

"Grove Cup 21" Round of 16 Match:

Ryan Pienciak over Tommy Reszkowski, 6-3, 6-2, to become the New # 13 Ranked Player in the Advanced Division while advancing to the Quarterfinals of the 21st Annual Grove Cup Men's Singles Tournament!  No Aces.

The Ryan Report: The weather finally cooperated enough for us to play our match, though it was hot and humid (for me, at least) and very hard to breathe.  Tommy has improved greatly since I played him in Doubles last year. It was a fun match.  We started around 6:30 and went to 7:35. 

Samara's Notes: I thank Ryan for his timely reporting and congratulate him on an impressive victory.  And kudos to Tommy who remains one of the most improved players of this season. 

The Top Seed Quarter (aka The Pienciak Quarter) has now produced the Quarterfinal many of us have been waiting for…brother versus brother…Adam vs. Ryan!

Ryan reported an additional result.  

Ryan Pienciak/Peter Corso over Chris Chiaro/Edwin Ortega, 6-4!  No Aces.

2 out of 3 Sets Women's Doubles Match:

Kathy Sheldon/Brenda Jordan over Dawn Peterson/Michelle Panzitta, 6-3, 3-6, 10-7 (STB)!  No Aces.  Once they went to the Super Tiebreak, this was no longer a rank defense for Sheldon/Jordan (the # 17 Ranked Team), but the match did allow Peterson/Panzitta to enter the Women's Doubles Division as the New # 20 Ranked Team.

Frank Hohorst/Lou La Forgia over Senthil Kumar/Mostafa Hussaini, 6-3!  No Aces.  It was the official GTA Return of Lou La Forgia.

Frank Hohorst/Lou La Forgia over Edwin Ortega/Peter Corso, 6-4!  No Aces.

Samara's Notes: I thank everyone for their contributions to this report.  It is much appreciated. 

 

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

   

 

 

 

 

8/6 Results.

8/6/18:

"Paul-Randy in PAC, Adam-Rich in VP, Dan K.-Jay in PP, M2 Final TBC part of 8 at C.G.!":

There were four official sessions of GTA Monday Night Tennis...a night that we should call "Major Monday" as many big matches took place on this particular evening!  They all pretty much ran at the same time, so I am going to run this report with more of a geographical flow than a chronological one.

The first one was at The Park Ave. Courts in Nutley and featured the "Grove Cup 21" Round of 16 Match between "Daddy O" Paul Daddio and "Ravishing" Randy Doran (with both reporting).  The second one was in Verona Park and featured yet another "Grove Cup 21" Round of 16 Match.  This one was between "The Apex Predator" Adam Pienciak and "SWAT" Rich Liu (with both reporting).

Next we had a session in Pulaski Park in Bloomfield as "The Dark Knight" Dan Knitzer and Jay "The Rising" Phoenix battled for the vacated GTA Intermediate Title (as reported by Dan).  And then we had the usual evening session at The Cedar Grove Courts which featured the M2 Men's Doubles Tournament Final Match between the teams of "Super Mario" Marijus Kuzavas/"Big Kaz" Mike Kazlauskas and GTA Champion: "King Crush" Chris Chiaro/"Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes (as reported by Marijus).  "Bravo" Brenda Jordan is the other contributor to this report from that session.

Let's now get to all the epic action…and we start in Nutley!

 

The Park Ave. Courts Result:

"Grove Cup 21" Round of 16 Match:

Paul Daddio over Randy Doran, 6-0, 6-7(7-4), 6-2, to successfully defend his # 3 Rank in the Advanced Division while advancing to the Quarterfinals of the 21^st Annual Grove Cup Men's Tournament!  No Aces.

The Dilly-O from Daddy O: Great match!  Randy is very consistent and will force errors on you. We played from 7:50 to 9:55!  Randy will provide a serious challenge to many Top 15 players. 

The Randy Recap: This was a fun match! In the 1st Set, Paul dominated me.  The 2nd Set was close.  And then in the 3rd Set I feel I could have been more competitive if not for my slipping racket grip from the sweaty, humid, rainforest-like conditions in which we were playing.  Paul has an awesomely complete, consistent, well-rounded game and I wish him the best of luck with advancing (and winning) in the tournament. 

 

Samara's Notes: Sounds like it was one heck of a match as it lasted over two hours.  Congratulations to Paul for a hard-fought victory, but also major kudos to Randy for such a spirited effort.  And I thank both for their very timely and detailed reporting.  It is definitely appreciated. 

 

We now head southwest to Verona for the next result, yet another Grove Cup Round of 16 Match.

 

The Verona Park Courts Result:

 

"Grove Cup 21" Round of 16 Match:

Adam Pienciak over Rich Liu, 6-0, 6-1, to successfully defend his # 2 Rank in the Advanced Division while advancing to the Quarterfinals of the 21^st Annual Grove Cup Men's Singles Tournament! 

 

From the AP: We played at Verona Park beginning at around 8:15.  It was a balmy evening! Despite the score, Rich and I had many great rallies and one game that went to 7 or 8 Deuces. Plus, we both got quite the workout!

The Rich Report: Adam beat me easily in a hot, grueling match that lasted about an hour and fifteen minutes.  I did see tons of sweat on him, so I think he got a workout at least. 

He's the real deal, powerful and has good placement as well as having solid net play.  In the 1st Set, I think he had only one unforced error!  In the 2^nd Set, one game went to like 7 Deuces yet he pulled it out after being down 0-40, coming back with two great serves back-to-back!  So he's clutch as well.  I was clearly outmatched.  He had a good game plan too, exploiting my weak backhand on rallies.  I think I had over 20 errors on my backhand – I need to really work on it!  It is clearly exposed versus really good players.  I also had too many double faults on my service game.  It was fun and I'm glad to have had the opportunity to play the Top Seed in the tourney.  And thanks for all you do, Frank!

Samara's Notes: I thank Rich for the thank you…and I thank both of them for very timely and detailed reporting (always appreciated)!  Congratulations to Adam on such a dominant victory!  I know Rich will always go down swinging and I'm sure that is what happened here.  Seeing this score makes me feel a little less bad about not advancing to the Round of 16 to face Adam…LOL!

 

We now head north a bit to go to Bloomfield and find out what happened in the GTA Intermediate Title Match. 

 

The Pulaski Park Courts Result:

 

GTA Intermediate Title Match:

Dan Knitzer over Jay Phoenix, 6-2, 6-3, to become the New GTA Intermediate Champion while also successfully defending his # 18 Rank in the Advanced Division!  Dan: 2 Aces!

The TDK Replay: So we played at Pulaski Park in Bloomfield.  My serves were landing, the backhand was rocking and I jumped out to an early lead, though Jay was able to deflect my better serves and more aggressive forehands very effectively.  We had some long points and both of us had some success at the net, but my lobs were landing, and my slices were chopping! Jay played great defense, returning balls that I thought I had easily put away and forcing me to make over-ambitious shots.  But I also did the same to him.  And I added a little extra kick to my second serve, which he couldn't punish which saved a few key Break Points en route to winning the 1st Set, 6-2.

In the 2nd Set, Jay began serving much better and jumped out to a 3-2 lead, but I broke him a few times and then held serve behind some clutch shot-making.  I also implemented some uncharacteristically hard serves including an Ace to go up 4-3.  Eventually I won the set, 6-3. It was a very competitive, physically draining match, and I'm glad it didn't go to a 3rd Set!

Samara's Notes: I thank Dan for his very comprehensive report (timely as well) and congratulate him on becoming the New GTA Intermediate Champ!  I can envision this leading to a scene at The Park Ave. Courts in Nutley where that crew will be battling quite often for the Intermediate Title. 

We now go one town west to Cedar Grove for the rest!

The Cedar Grove Results:

2 out of 3 Sets Women's Doubles Match:

Brenda Jordan/Michele Panzitta over Kathy Sheldon/Dawn Peterson, 6-1, 3-6, 7-5, to become the New # 13 Ranked Team in the Women's Doubles Division!         

Samara's Notes: I thank Brenda for reporting in such a timely manner.  And now we turn it over to Marijus to discuss the in-progress M2 Final!

M2 Final Match:

Chris Chiaro/Nathan Fernandes leading Marijus Kuzavas/Mike Kazlauskas, 6-7 (7-3), 7-5, 4-3 (Marijus is to serve next)!

The Scoop from Super Mario: We started our match, but did not have enough time to finish it even though we started around 7:20 and stopped at 10pm.  The plan is to finish the match on Wednesday at 7pm at Cedar Grove.

Samara's Notes: I thank Marijus for keeping me in the loop on the status of this in-progress match.  Mother Nature may lay those Wednesday night plans to waste!  We shall see! 

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com