10/30 Results.

10/30/18:

"Kuzavas-Haque at C.G.!":

It seems there was only one session of GTA Tuesday Night Tennis and that there was only one official GTA match at that session as "Super Mario" Marijus Kuzavas and "The Great Wall" Muhammad Haque got together for a full 3 out of 5 Sets Singles Match (as reported by Marijus).  Let's go to the report from Marijus now.
 

The Cedar Grove Result:

3 out of 5 Sets Singles Match:
Marijus Kuzavas over Muhammad Haque, 6-2, 6-1, 6-0!  This was not a rank defense for Kuzavas as he is solely in the Advanced Division while Haque is strictly in the Intermediate Division.  No Aces.

The Marijus Memo: We played from about 7:20 to around 8:40pm. It was a fun match with many good points.  Muhammed is a very nice guy to play against.  The night was a bit chilly, so perhaps he was not very comfortable playing in such conditions.

Samara's Notes: I thank Marijus for his timely reporting and I appreciate the fact that he took the time to play a full match with Muhammad.  I hope that effort is rewarded with someone stepping up and answering the Open Challenge that Kuzavas issued yesterday...with a Challenge Match that takes place today/tonight.

Sincerely,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com

10/29 Results.

10/29/18

"Phoenix-Ortega at C.G.!":

It seems there was only one session of GTA Monday Night Tennis and that there was only one official GTA match at that session as Jay "The Rising" Phoenix and "Salsa Picante" Edwin Ortega got together for a full 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match (as reported by Edwin).  Let's go to Edwin's report now.
 

The Cedar Grove Result:

2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:

Edwin Ortega over Jay Phoenix, 6-3, 6-7 (7-4), 6-1, to become both the New # 20 Ranked Player in the Advanced Division and the New # 3 Ranked Player in the Intermediate Division!  Edwin: 1 Ace in the 2nd Set!

The Edwin Editorial: We started in the afternoon which was cool and also perfect for a nighttime session.  We started around 4pm and ended around 6:40.  It seemed Jay was still warming up in the 1st Set.  The 2nd Set was more competitive as Jay climbed back from being down 2-4 and eventually forcing the Tiebreaker.  Despite the score, the 3rd Set was still competitive with multiple Deuce games during the set.  As always, it was fun competing with Jay!  

Samara's Notes: I thank Edwin for his very timely reporting...always appreciated!  This friendly rivalry has produced many closely contested matches over the past few seasons.

Sincerely,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com

10/28 Results.

10/28/18:

"Doinks-Susan, Janice-Sally and much more at C.G.!":

There was one extended session of GTA Sunday Tennis at the Cedar Grove Courts as it got underway in the morning hours and then continued throughout the afternoon and evening hours as well.  There was a full Singles Challenge Match between "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan and Susan Koshy (with Doinks reporting) and then there was a GTA Women's Championship Match with the GTA Women's Champion: Janice "J-Wow" Wang putting her Title on the line against "The Smackdown" Sally Pillay (as reported by "The Riz" John Rizzo).

There was also plenty of other action along the way.  Other contributors to this report from that session are "Super Mario" Marijus Kuzavas, "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes and "The Great Wall" Muhammad Haque.  I will do my best to gather all their info and put it in some semblance of chronological order here in this report.

The Cedar Grove Results:

2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:

Doinks Srinivasan over Susan Koshy, 6-3, 6-3, to successfully defend her # 7 Rank in the Women's Division!  In the process, Koshy entered the division as the New # 15 Ranked Player.  No Aces.

The Details from Doinks: Susan was up 3-1 in the 1^st Set, but then she started making errors.

GTA Women's Championship Match:

Janice Wang over Sally Pillay, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, to complete her second successful GTA Women's Championship defense of her first reign!  No Aces.

 

2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Challenge Match:

Marijus Kuzavas/Sally Pillay over Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout, 6-2, 6-2, to successfully defend their # 2 Rank in the Mixed Doubles Division!  Marijus: 2 Aces on Natalia! 

 

The Marijus Memo: We played from 2:40 to 3:50pm.  It was a good competitive match.  Nate was, as always, steadily getting to every ball and putting it back in play and Natalia keeps improving and giving a tougher fight every time we play them.

 

Samara's Notes: Nate reported the same and then also reported another match score which we will get to later in this report.

 

Dino Celis/Elias Eid over Jay Phoenix/Muhammad Haque, 6-4!  No Aces.  It was the official GTA Return of Elias Eid

Jay Phoenix/Muhammad Haque over Dino Celis/Elias Eid, 6-3!  No Aces.

Jorge Solano/Elias Eid over Jay Phoenix/Muhammad Haque, 7-6 (7-5)!  No Aces.

 

The Muhammad Memo: I played there from 4pm to 6:30.

 

2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Gender Doubles Match:

Nick Inciong/Guy Dupoux over Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout, 6-2, 8-6!  No Aces.  The match allowed Inciong/Dupoux to enter the Doubles Division as the New # 67 Ranked Team. 

Samara's Notes: I thank everyone for their very timely reporting…much appreciated! 

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

gtasamara5@gmail.com

 

10/26 Results.

10/26/18:

"M-Dub action in Maywood, 14 play (2 New, 1 Return) at The Bubble!":

GTA Friday Night Tennis took place at two locations: The Maywood Tennis Club as the teams of Patrick Hsu/Juliet Wallace and "SWAT" Rich Liu/"K.O." Kazumi Otake got together to continue and conclude their in-progress M-Dub match which served as the "Final" for the Nutley portion of the tourney, but was to determine one of four Semifinal teams in the overall event (as reported by Rich); and The Wayne Bubble (as reported and organized by "The Riz" John Rizzo as "Hollywood" Frank Samara had to pull out of the event due to the continuing and developing situation with his mom's health).  We will first get the recap from Rich in Maywood and then we'll get the full report from John at The Bubble.

 

The MTC Result:

 

2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match (M-Dub Nutley "Final"):

Patrick Hsu/Juliet Wallace over Rich Liu/Kazumi Otake, 6-4, 6-2, to successfully defend their # 33 Rank in the Mixed Doubles Division while advancing to the overall Semifinals of the M-Dub Mixed Doubles Tournament!  Patrick: 1 Ace on Rich in the 1^st Set!

 

Samara's Notes: As always, I thank Rich for his very timely reporting…it is much appreciated!  And I congratulate Patrick and Juliet on their impressive victory.  And I thank all four of them for taking the time and making the effort to get this match done (including taking on the expense of playing the balance of the match indoors…the 1^st Set had taken place at the Park Ave. Courts in Nutley when we had the second Sunday of M-Dub action simultaneously in Nutley and in Cedar Grove).

 

The Consequences: Hsu/Wallace is now the first of the four Semifinalist teams with two pending matches left to be played.  One is the still-pending match from the Cedar Grove, Part One portion of the tournament – "The Apex Predator" Adam Pienciak/"NCIS" Nicole Caputo versus "NC-17" Nick Caputo/"Dominant" Dawn Peterson.  And then the other match is from the Cedar Grove, Part Two portion of the tourney – Samara/"Killer Kat" Kathy Sheldon vs. "Ice Berg" Scott Bergenfeld/"The Olympian" Marie Salamon.

 

The winning teams that emerge from both of those matches will be two more of the four Semifinalist teams overall.  The fourth team will be the tandem that lost their match prior to the Semis by the closest margin (i.e. The Lucky Losers).  They will face the team that won their match prior to the Semis by the widest margin…leaving the other two teams to face one another in the other Semi.    

 

The team that eventually wins the entire M-Dub Tournament will be the next Top Contenders (and New # 2 Ranked Team in the Mixed Doubles Division) to challenge the reigning GTA Mixed Doubles Champions: "King Crush" Chris Chiaro/Laura "The Aura" Gawley.  There is a very solid chance that the eventual Title Match will not take place until the 2019 Season at the rate this tourney (the M-Dub) is currently advancing. 

We now head west to The Wayne Bubble.

The Wayne Bubble Results:

 

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:

Senthil Kumar/Nick Inciong over Ryan Pienciak/Fred Crespo, 6-0, 6-1, to successfully defend their # 36 Rank in the Doubles Division!  In the process, Pienciak/Crespo entered the division as the New # 63 Ranked Team.  It was the official GTA Debut of Fred Crespo.

 

Ryan Pienciak/Doinks Srinivisian over Senthil Kumar/Janice Wang, 7-6 (8-6)!  No Aces.

 

The Riz Report: Ryan/Doinks led 5-2 in the set before Senthil/Janice came back to force the Tiebreak and then have a 6-3 lead in the TB with 3 Match Points!  Ryan/Doinks then won the final five points and the match.

 

Samara's Notes: Sounds like this one could be a possible Nominee for One-Set Mixed Doubles Match of The Year at season's end. 

 

Don Moya/Laurie Boughton over Tom Heidt/Denise Savino, 7-5!  No Aces.

 

Don Moya/Denise Savino over Tom Heidt/Laurie Boughton, 6-2!  No Aces.

 

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:

Paul Mallick/Arindam Mukherjee over Frank Hohorst/Matt Aery, 6-4, 6-3, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 64 and # 65 Ranked Teams respectively!  It was the official GTA Return of Paul Mallick and the official GTA Debut of Arindam Mukherjee.  No Aces.

 

Samara's Notes: Much like Umang Jain prefers to be called "Ash," Arindam likes to be called "Buba."

 

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:

Nick Inciong/Paul Mallick over Frank Hohorst/Matt Aery, 6-3, 6-4, to become the New # 65 Ranked Team in the Doubles Division!  No Aces.

 

Arindam Mukherjee over Fred Crespo, 6-0!  No Aces. 

 

Samara's Notes: I thank John for his very timely and comprehensive report…and also for having to run the entire session without my help. 

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com  

 

 

 

 

10/23 Results.

10/23/18:

"7 play at PAC, 9 play at C.G.!":

There were two sessions of GTA Tuesday Night Tennis: one at The Park Ave. Courts in Nutley with both "The Great Wall" Muhammad Haque and William "Bombs Away" Bobila reporting and the other at The Cedar Grove Courts with "Bravo" Brenda Jordan, "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan and "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes all reporting. 

So we first go to the dual recap from Nutley and then the report from Cedar Grove. 

The Park Ave. Courts Results:

William Bobila/Edgar Inclan over Rich Liu/Muhammad Haque, 7-5!  William: 1 Ace on Rich on the Ad court; and Rich: 1 Ace on William on the Deuce court!

Edgar Valencia/Umang Jain over Muhammad Haque/Santosh Mangnale, 6-4!  No Aces.

Samara's Notes: I thank Muhammad and William for their very timely reporting…much appreciated!  And now let's head west to Cedar Grove.

The Cedar Grove Results:

2 out of 3 Sets Women's Doubles Match:

Brenda Jordan/Diane Raum against Dawn Peterson/Kathy Marabondo, 6-2, 6-3, to become the New # 4 Ranked Team in the Women's Doubles Division!  No Aces. 

The Brief from Brenda: Luckily, there was no rain at the Cedar Grove courts, but there was a beautiful full moon.  The Pickle Ball players took up two of the courts until 8pm.  After we played the full match, Doinks then came over, so Diane stepped out of the next one.

Doinks Srinivasan/Dawn Peterson over Brenda Jordan/Kathy Marabondo, 6-4!  No Aces.

The Brief from Brenda: Dawn and I were done after playing three sets, so Diane stepped back on and was hitting with Doinks and Kathy Marabondo when I left.  It was a good night of tennis and the weather was perfect.

The Details from Doinks: It was dry in Cedar Grove.  It was actually quite pleasant and milder than the day before.  Afterward, both Brenda and Dawn had to leave.  So, the remaining women (Diane Raum, Kathy M. and I) played Canadian Doubles. 

2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Gender Doubles Match:

Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout over Jordan Bachvaroff/Joe Rodrigues, 6-2, 6-3!  No Aces.  While Fernandes/Sout re-up their activity level (they've already made their monthly rank defense anyway), the match enables Bachvaroff/Rodrigues to enter the Doubles Division as the New # 62 Ranked Team.

Samara's Notes: I thank all three for taking the time to send in the results in such a timely manner…always awesome! 

 

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

10/22 Results.

10/22/18:

"Women's Doubles Title Match part of 9 at C.G.!":

GTA Monday Night Tennis took place at The Cedar Grove Courts and it featured the GTA Women's Doubles Championship Match as the reigning Champs: "The Smackdown" Sally Pillay and Laura "The Aura" Gawley put their Titles on the line against "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan and "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan (with both Laura and Gen reporting).  There was also an additional Mixed Doubles One-Setter afterward (as reported by Gen) and then a full 2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match (as reported by "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes).

Let's go to the dual recap now.

The Cedar Grove Results:

GTA Women's Doubles Championship Match:

Sally Pillay/Laura Gawley over Genalin Capan/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-0, 6-2, to complete their sixth successful GTA Women's Doubles Championship defense of their second reign!  No Aces.

The Lowdown from Laura: We started the match at approximately 7:30 and finished at 8:15.  Gen and Doinks are always fun to play!  It was cold and I think we were all moving a little slower than usual until we warmed up!

Gen's Notes: We tried to play this match a week ago (last Monday), but it was rained out.  We started the match at 7:30 and ended by 8:15.  It was a very chilly night with the temperature only in the mid 40's.  We had a few multiple Deuce games, but just couldn't get past the Champs.  They just dominated.  Doinks and I tried, but they are tough competitors.  It's always a pleasure to play them.  Congrats to Sally and Laura on a very impressive win!

Samara's Notes: Though it had not been previously publicly announced, Natalia Sout opted to not cash in on the guaranteed title shot she had earned as the result of her winning the W2 Women's Doubles Tournament with Gawley as her partner.  Thus, the Champs were then informed they needed to defend their Titles against any team ranked in the Women's Doubles Division within the month of October.  Now that they have done that, they are now asked to wait for a winning team to emerge from the upcoming W-Dub Women's Doubles Tournament as that yet to be formed tandem will be the next Top Contenders after winning the tourney.  There is a very strong likelihood that the match will not take place until next season.

Let's now go back to Gen for that additional One-Setter score.

Mike Mole/Genalin Capan over Kyle Eng/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-3!  No Aces.

Gen's Notes: We played this one from 8:20 to 8:55.  Mike and I had a 3-0 lead.  Kyle and Doinks got it closer, making it 2-3.  We took the next two games for 5-2.  They took one more game before Mike served it out for the win.  Despite the cold, we had a fun and competitive set.  Mike and I were done for the night.  Kyle and Doinks stayed on Court 3 to hit around until it was lights out at 10pm.

There was some Mixed Doubles action in progress on Court 4 (Nate/Natalia vs. Nick Inciong/Sally Pillay).  I'm not sure how that turned out since I left around 9pm.

Samara's Notes: Thanks Gen.  We now go to Nate for that last official result of the session.

2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:
Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout over Nick Inciong/Sally Pillay, 6-3, 6-4, to successfully defend their # 5 Rank in the Mixed Doubles Division!  In the process, Inciong/Pillay entered the division as the New # 41 Ranked Team.  No Aces.

Samara's Notes: I thank Laura, Gen and Nate for their timely reporting...much appreciated!

10/20 Results.

10/20/18:

"Ortega-Santos in Wayne, Women's Dbls and Doinks-Fadia at C.G.!":

Turns out there were two official sessions of GTA Saturday Tennis: the first one in the early afternoon at The Nellis Drive Courts in Wayne (alongside and across the street from the Wayne Bubble) as "Salsa Picante" Edwin Ortega and "Stealth" Omar Santos got together there for a full 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match (as reported by Edwin); and the second one extended over the course of the afternoon and into the evening as first there was some Women's Doubles action (as reported by "Killer Kat" Kathy Sheldon) and then there was another full Challenge Match, this one featuring "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan going up against Fadia "Finesse" Nicolas (with Doinks reporting).

Let's first go to Wayne and then to Cedar Grove after that.

The Nellis Drive Courts Results:

2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:

Edwin Ortega over Omar Santos, 6-7 (7-1), 6-3, 6-2, to successfully defend both his # 24 Rank in the Advanced Division and his # 4 Rank in the Intermediate Division!  Edwin: 2 Aces (1 in the 2nd Set and 1 in the 3rd Set)!

The Edwin Editorial: We started somewhere between 1pm and 1:30.  I was up 4-2 in the 1st Set, but Omar managed to come back and force a Tiebreak and win it.  I then took the next two sets.  It was a good match!  Afterward, we decided to play one more set so I can try out my newly strung racquet.

Omar Santos leading Edwin Ortega, 5-0 (Incomplete when Omar had to leave)!  No Aces.

The Edwin Editorial: It looked as if Omar was going to give me a bagel, but then he had to leave.

The Cedar Grove Results:

GTA Women's Doubles Match:

Dawn Peterson/Kathy Marabondo over Kathy Sheldon/Diane Raum, 7-5, 4-6, 6-1, to become the New # 4 Ranked Team in the Women's Doubles Division!  No Aces.

The Chat from Kat: Although the match seemed tight, Diane and I were soundly beaten in the 3rd Set.  Kathy and Dawn were very steady and consistent.  It was tough for us to lose so miserably in the final set.  Hopefully, we'll challenge them again. 

Samara's Notes: I thank Kat for her very timely reporting...always appreciated! 

 

2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:

Doinks Srinivasan over Fadia Nicolas, 6-2, 6-3, to successfully defend her # 7 Rank in the Women's Division!  No Aces.

The Details from Doinks: I texted both Sally Pillay and Fadia to see who would be available to play Singles in the evening.  Fadia replied first and came at 8pm.  It was our first time to play each other in Singles.

Fadia's drop shots and serves were not working in the first two sets (the match) and she gifted me with uncharacteristic errors.  I was lucky to win in straight sets.

Since there was a half hour left, we decided to play an additional set.

Fadia Nicolas leading Doinks Srinivasan, 5-2 (Incomplete when they had to stop due to rain)!  No Aces.

The Details from Doinks: This time her serves started to click and her drop shots were too good and I also started making some errors.  She was up 5-2 when it started to rain.  I made her finish her service game to seal the score at 5-2 then we had to stop because the rain was becoming too steady and it made the court wet and unsafe for running down balls.  She would have won this set the way she was playing.

We had a good workout and the cool temps were just perfect for playing.  Thanks to Fadia for driving to Cedar Grove for some tennis.

Samara's Notes: As always, I thank Doinks for her very timely reporting…much appreciated!

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com