Advanced Men's League · Week 2
Sixty and Sixty
Two men, two courts, two nights, one identical score. The standings took it personally.
Twenty-four matches, 800 points, and a podium that did not survive contact with week two. Adam Frantz and Nicholas Dukeman each went 60 of 66 without ever sharing a court, Jon Forrester quietly became the outright leader, and three men climbed four places apiece — which in a sixteen-player league is less a trend than a stampede.
Performance of the week · shared, and not amicably
Sixty and sixty
Two men reached 60 of 66 and neither knew the other had. Adam Frantz did it Thursday night in Group 2 at Holey Ballz — 11–3, 11–7, 11–7, 11–8 — with his second loss coming in the 11–10 that closed the evening, the single point between him and a 61 he will presumably be thinking about until Thursday. Sixty points moved him from seventh to third. Fourth in week one on a 3-3, third in week two on a 4-2: the win-loss column is finally catching up to what the points table said about him a fortnight ago.
Nicholas Dukeman matched him to the point Friday morning in Group 3 — 60 of 66, 4-2, with wins of 11–3, 11–2, 11–7 and 11–7 — and moved up two places to second. Dukeman was the week-one 5-1 who landed fifth because the format has opinions about margins. This week the record and the points finally agreed with each other, which around here counts as a truce.
Just behind them: Jon Forrester put up 59 and, with the week-one co-leader having a quieter night, becomes the outright leader at 92.4% — the first man to hold first place alone, achieved by the classic method of not losing very much while everyone else was busy. Paul Schmitz also posted 59 in Group 4's Tuesday-lunchtime session and jumped four spots to eighth, the week's most under-the-radar move, because Group 4 had finished before most of the league had found its shoes.
“Two men posted the same score on different nights, and the standings still couldn't decide which one to be more impressed by.”
Group 1 · Nocatee · Aug. 31
Extra time
Group 1 arrived at Sunday's deadline the way most of us arrive at a syllabus. No court, no time, and an availability board that showed one window already expired and one never filled in. The commissioner pushed the lock to Monday. The group booked Nocatee for six and played the entire week in one sitting — which is a normal night's work, and also the first slate this season completed on an extension, a distinction the group will surely not be printing on anything.
It was two nights inside one. The first three games were competitive — 11–8, 11–6, 11–6. The last three were not — 11–2, 11–3, 11–4 — and Andrew Mahaven was on the winning side of every one of them. He finished 4-2 on 58 points, which reads as a decent night until you notice it carried him four places up the table. Javier Vargas matched the 4-2 and kept fourth, which is what happens when you're consistent in a league that punishes it slightly.
On the wire
Both 11–10s were closers
Both closers, because of course they were. Group 2's came in the sixth and final game of the night, David Kampmeyer and Jon Forrester edging Frantz and Niebrugge — the one point between Frantz and a 61. Group 4's came in game five, Evan Kestenbaum and Juri Blinder holding off Blake and Schmitz. Kestenbaum went 4-2 on 53 and Blinder 4-2 on 51, which is the quiet story of Group 4: three of its four players went 4-2 in the same group, and the standings barely noticed because they did it entirely to each other. The math checks out. Nobody involved is happy about it.
After Week 2
The top five
| Rank | Player | W–L | Points | % Won |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jon Forrester | 9-3 | 122 | 92.4% |
| 2 | Nicholas Dukeman | 9-3 | 116 | 87.9% |
| 3 | Adam Frantz | 7-5 | 110 | 83.3% |
| 4 | Javier Vargas | 7-5 | 108 | 81.8% |
| 5 | Andrew Mahaven | 6-6 | 108 | 81.8% |
Standings are ordered by percentage of available points won; Vargas holds fourth over Mahaven on win rate.
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