Chapter 1256: Momentum
In the first set, “6:2”, the victory belongs to the Spanish team.
In the second set, “7:5”, the victory belonged to the youth combination.
The doubles matches in the Masters Tournament are played in a best-of-three format; moreover, the deciding set will not be played as a full set, but will be decided by a tiebreak.
In other words, after the second set, the game immediately entered a tiebreak.
The situation is extremely tense.
The Gao Wen team, who had previously stood on the edge of a cliff and finally turned the tide and escaped death, once again faced a new challenge -
Saving multiple match points and turning the situation around to win the second set was a hellish test both physically and mentally.
Then, after winning the second set, there was no time to catch my breath or rest, as I had to immediately engage in the fight for the tiebreak again, and the tension reached an even higher level.
This is a double test for any player.
Many players in such situations, if they fail to hold their breath, tend to start to decline, their physical strength fluctuates, their concentration drops, and they completely lose the momentum at the end of the second set. The more they try to exert more strength, the easier it is for them to collapse, and they end up falling apart in the deciding stage.
Things are definitely not easy.
Apart from others, Dimitrov is the most direct example.
Dimitrov's character lacks a bit of strength and dominance. He often fails to show the temperament to crush his opponents and win victory at critical moments. He is easily soft-hearted and prone to mistakes. Although Dimitrov will not collapse, and rarely collapses, he seems to lack a breath at the decisive moment.
This is what is happening right before our eyes.
After turning the tide in the second set, the tiebreak came immediately. The players were already at their limit and needed to stay focused and even improve further, tapping into their full potential. It was indeed a challenge to grit their teeth in the fierce battle and sprint towards the finish line.
In the spectator stands and in the players' boxes.
Rashid, Dimitrov's coach, seemed particularly anxious because he knew that Dimitrov might not be able to keep up with the pace of the tiebreaker.
In sharp contrast were Sampras and Agassi. Although both were a little nervous and the atmosphere throughout the match was indeed turbulent, overall they were more relaxed and lighter. They stayed focused, without any random thoughts, and focused wholeheartedly on the game, appearing to be particularly immersed.
Because they knew Gawain. At such moments and in such situations, Gawain could always find the right way to rise to the challenge.
The game has come to this stage, where we may win or lose, but no matter what the result is, Gao Wen can guarantee that he will give his all without reservation.
After a short break between sets, Dimitrov was a little distracted when he came back on the court. It is inevitable that his nerves will start to relax after being so tense, otherwise it would be like a rubber band, which would easily break after being stretched to the extreme. But Gawain grasped his center of gravity and steadily brought his thoughts back to the game.
At this time, Gao Wen not only did not retreat or relax, but became more focused and excited, showing the youthful vigor and vitality to the fullest, completely immersed in the work, temporarily putting aside the limits of his physical strength and energy, burning his passion and further improving his state.
As a result, Dimitrov also became focused. Although his performance declined slightly, at least he did not lose his momentum and still kept up with the game.
Monte Carlo once again becomes Gawain's stage——
In the tiebreak, at the beginning stage, the Gao-Wen combination showed strong performance in all aspects from tactics to execution, from layout to game, and pushed the momentum of saving match points at the end of the second set and winning three games in a row to a new height. They were full of momentum and swept through the enemy, performing better everywhere and completely suppressing their opponents.
Onlookers could clearly feel that the Gao Wen combination seized the initiative everywhere and completely suppressed the team in terms of rhythm and tactics.
“6:0”.
The Gao Wen combination won six points in a row at one point, established their advantage in one go, and took the lead in exchanging venues, thus killing the suspense.
Although the extreme physical problems inevitably caused fluctuations in the final stage of the game, coupled with the experience and strength of the Spanish combination, they managed to turn the situation around a little and once again saved the match point.
But the Gao Wen combination quickly gained its footing, adjusted its tactics, and finally won the victory with an incredible ace in the inside corner to convert the match point.
"10:4".
In the final set tie-break, Gawain and Dimitrov had the last laugh.
The whole audience was boiling!
Whether it was saving six match points or performing at the crucial moment; whether it was winning six points in a row in the deciding set or making tactical adjustments without fear in the face of danger, every aspect showed that the combination of Gawain and Dimitrov was getting better and better, and they ultimately presented the best match of the year in Monte Carlo.
Moreover, they defeated the fifth seed and advanced to the semi-finals.
Although both players were eliminated in the quarterfinals in the singles competition, they did not repeat the same mistake in the doubles competition, which is undoubtedly good news.
Then, the semi-finals -
The opponents are the fourth seed, a pair of doubles specialists, Nenad Zimonjic and Marcin Matkowski.
Polish player Matkowski is a professional doubles player, currently ranked sixth in the world. His career record is not brilliant, but he is a standard clay court expert. His best result is winning the doubles championship of the Madrid Masters twice in 2008 and 2010.
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But Serbia's Zimonjic is a doubles legend, currently ranked fourth in the world, with ten Masters doubles titles, three Grand Slam doubles titles and two year-end finals titles; moreover, he is also a clay court expert, having won eight Masters titles on clay courts, five of which were in Monte Carlo.
Although both players are not young anymore, Matkovsky was born in 1981 and Zimonjic was born in 1976, they are still active in doubles, especially in the clay court season.
However, facing the young and energetic combination that is rising steadily, the performance of Matkovsky and Zimonjic in Monte Carlo this year was slightly insufficient.
From the very beginning, this pair of doubles experts encountered the aura suppression of their opponents. In the first service game, Gawain and Dimitrov's tactical choice was very bold and risky; moreover, the two top singles players were able to perfectly execute the tactics and ensure that their tactics achieved the intended effect.
The Zimonjic combination seemed unprepared.
The entire competition process was completely set in the rhythm of the youth group.
“6:2”, “6:4”.
In straight sets, Gao Wen and Dimitrov won another game, defeating the first seed, fourth seed and fifth seed in succession, and made it to the final unexpectedly.
What a surprise!
Obviously, when these two young men came to Monte Carlo to compete, they did not expect that they would make a breakthrough in the doubles first. Although they did not make further progress in the singles, reaching the doubles final means that their plan to adapt to the clay court is still in progress.
Neither Dimitrov nor Gao Wen are good at doubles.
So far, Dimitrov's best performance in doubles was the semi-finals of the 2014 Rome Masters, also on clay, with his partner being Czech player Rosol.
Gao Wen's best doubles performance was in Doha at the beginning of this year, when he won the championship with Nadal, but the importance of the Doha competition is obviously not comparable to that of Monte Carlo.
Who could have imagined that these two players would both be in their first Masters doubles final in Monte Carlo?
(End of this chapter)