Focus, immerse
Gawain's attention was highly focused. He caught an idea in a flash, pushed the ground with his right leg, and rushed out continuously.
Trust your intuition.
Of course, it is not just a simple guess, but through the experience accumulated so far in the game and the accurate observation of the serve just now, thousands of details come together, collide to create sparks, and finally evolve into an intuition and inspiration, and the body has started.
Throughout the game today, Istomin's performance in the outside corner of the second zone was indeed outstanding. Not only were the landing points and lines excellent, always able to achieve the best results; but he also often combined them with sneak attacks from the inside corner, disrupting Gao Wen's predictions through a rich distribution of landing points, and successfully scored a lot of points in the outside corner of the second zone.
One shot is a lot, two shots are not a small number either.
At this time, although it was not a crucial point, the atmosphere of the game was changing subtly. Gao Wen could sense the subtle changes in Istomin's mentality:
From the fluke mentality in the previous round to the quick victory in this round, in essence, Istomin's beliefs were shaken, fluctuated slightly, and he began to doubt himself. He needed to quickly gain a foothold, cross the threshold in front of him, and then he could return to the familiar routine.
It is conceivable that Istomin would choose some tactical combinations with a higher success rate, trying to copy and paste points to end the game.
Of course, this was Istomin's serve, and Gawain had no choice but to adapt to the situation. But that doesn't mean Gawain needs to passively take the beating. As the receiver, his interpretation of the game can often help him find opportunities for counterattacks from clues.
For example, now.
Push off the ground, step on the ground, move -
Gao Wen caught an inspiration and followed his intuition, moving sideways, leading the racket early with both hands on the backhand, throwing his body completely out.
Then, I guessed it right!
Outside corner!
Side spin with a large outside angle.
Sure enough, Istomin chose to serve from the outside corner, trying to make full use of the horizontal space of the court by opening up the angle and moving Gao Wen out of the court; because this was the second serve, Istomin did not expect to form an ACE, so he needed to create opportunities for his next offensive connection.
That is, Istomin expected Gawain to complete the return, but he was ready to continue the attack no matter what the return was.
Outside corner, side spin, Gao Wen's position has left the singles sideline and is quickly approaching the doubles sideline, and his entire court has been cleared.
The only thing to be thankful for was that Istomin sacrificed speed in order to ensure that the angle was completely opened; and because of the second serve, he added insurance and did not pursue the extreme landing point, which left Gao Wen some breathing space.
Despite this, this serve at a speed of 169 kilometers per hour was still excellent. The entire court space was utilized to the extreme, and it bought Istomin time to return to his position, step up, and stand on the baseline.
It was clear at first glance that Istomin was ready for the follow-up attack: it was conceivable that any return from Gawain would be met with a storm of attacks, and the aggressive stance had already entered the court, leaving Gawain with not much space to hit the ball, and all routes were included in Istomin's radar range.
However, Gawain was highly focused and had already prepared a plan in mind. He didn't even bother to check Istomin's position and just hit the ball directly.
Push off the ground, brake, stop.
Gao Wen did not choose to throw his body completely out in the direction of movement. Instead, he pushed the ground hard with his left leg to brake, and used the powerful reaction force transmitted from the ground to complete the turn and swing.
His left foot had already crossed half a step over the doubles sideline, and his entire body was straddling the outermost sideline of the court. The space on the tennis court had reached its limit.
If it were the center court, there would be plenty of space on both sides of the court and in the stands, which also means that the players would have more room to defend and save the ball; but this is Court No. 2, and the entire court area is obviously smaller.
As soon as Gao Wen stepped out of the doubles line, he could already feel the pressure from the stands and the audience, and there was very little space left.
It feels like trying to practice Tai Chi in a narrow gap. It's so cramped but you have to stretch your fists and feet, and you're always in danger of hitting your head against the wall.
Gawain, unmoved, his attention completely focused.
The speed and strength are all supported by the left leg, uploaded along with the turning movement, and finally released at the moment of swinging the racket.
Flowing smoothly, done in one go——
Use both hands to backhand and strike hard. You can clearly feel the inertia of the run-up fully driving the racket head speed, completing the impact in an instant.
Swing it around, home run!
Bang! A crisp sound exploded on the second court.
The tennis ball turned into a streak of light and disappeared in the golden sunlight. All the spectators stared wide-eyed, trying to find the line of Gao Wen's return, but the green was so surging that the mustard-like light and shadow was completely integrated into it and could not be seen at all, which also cut off the breath of the whole audience.
Istomin is no exception.
Eyes wide open, concentration focused, muscles tense, always ready.
Before the brain had time to make a judgement, the body had already reflexively followed the trajectory of Gawain's racket swing captured by the pupil and rushed out directly.
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straight line.
Gao Wen chose a backhand straight line.
In this match, due to poor ball feel, Gao Wen's killer moves were not able to play their power. By the end of the third set, he had only three backhand winners, while he had seven forehand winners, which was slightly more.
Of course, a very important reason for this is that Istomin was on guard. He knew Gao Wen's backhand ability, and his backhand holding ability was also sufficient, so he prevented Gao Wen from scoring the winning points on the backhand.
Now, at the critical moment, Istomin chose his trusted routine, and Gawain did the same, but judging from the situation, Gawain had the upper hand—
Gawain accurately predicted the serve line, but Istomin did not predict Gawain's return line.
It was not until his body reflexively rushed out that Istomin realized that Gawain had chosen a backhand straight line in an incredible position.
Fight!
In a tennis match, everyone fights, including the Big Four, but the difference between top players and average players lies in the timing, the timing of the fight, and the purpose of the fight.
Some fights are not for scoring, but for intimidation; some fights are for breaking the balance, with scoring being secondary.
At this moment, at a delicate moment, Gao Wen very suddenly and unexpectedly chose to fight, and he chose to receive the serve.
Istomin was killed by surprise.
He had already rushed out, with his body's center of gravity completely extending towards the forehand position, but because it was too hasty and sudden, he staggered and swayed, almost unable to stand.
In the light and shadow, Istomin was half a beat slow to finally see the trajectory of the tennis ball, but it was too late: a straight line, a breakthrough, a big triangle at the baseline, a blind spot, and right in the center of the bull's eye.
"30:30"
The referee has announced the score directly, firmly, confidently and without hesitation.