Chapter 193 Finals
Lower half, "Gao Wen VS Ruan".
In the upper half, “Geelong VS Hess-Olesen”.
It is very regrettable that the good show of four Asian players sweeping the semi-finals did not happen in Athens. Nevertheless, the presence of two Asian players in the semi-final lineup was already very shocking and unexpected, and it is still a beautiful landscape of this year's US Championship.
Moreover, it's not just the matchups in the lower half. In fact, strictly speaking, the matchups in the upper half are also a bit unexpected.
This year, Athens was hit by the "Siberian cold wave", which affected both men's singles and women's singles. Only the doubles competition was slightly normal.
Among them, the men's singles competition was full of upsets. After two rounds of competition, only two of the sixteen seeds were left: Giron and Hess Olesen.
At that time, everyone was wondering whether this year's U.S. Championship would be an upset, with an unexpected dark horse emerging as the champion. It was for this reason that the quarterfinals featured four Asian players facing off against American players, making this matchup even more legendary.
However, the only two remaining seeded players withstood the pressure, both advanced to the semi-finals, and defended the reputation of the seeded players with practical actions.
Although it may sound strange to say this, the reality is that the two seeded players killed the upset and were actually considered an upset.
No matter what, the final four have all been decided. The upper half is a matchup of seeds, and the lower half is a clash of dark horses, which makes the final even more exciting.
Because no matter who wins or loses, the final will inevitably be a showdown between "seeds vs. dark horses", so who will have the last laugh?
and--
The rustling and whispering of people spread throughout Athens in a flash.
"A civil war among the Bruins, is there really a chance?"
In the second stage of the U.S. Championships, UCLA was undoubtedly the brightest star. The men's and women's teams reached the top together, creating a new history in the past 24 years. However, in the third stage, various top players appeared on the stage, and the school's starlight suddenly became dim.
The Brown Bears’ women’s singles team was completely eliminated before the quarterfinals, and the men’s and women’s doubles teams all stopped before the semifinals, with no chance of sweeping the team championship.
Of course, this is not surprising, because the overall performance of the men's team runner-up and the women's team runner-up was generally sluggish, and they were obviously lacking in momentum.
The only exception was the men's singles. Gao Wen and Jilong were advancing rapidly in different half of the zone. In a blink of an eye, they had already entered the semi-finals together. There was only one game left before the final. In an instant, the discussion in Athens was boiling again.
It's very lively.
Especially when the men's singles seeds were all gone, the number of spectators who wanted to enjoy the Bruins' internal battles also increased.
Very simple——
Jilong is a well-known "little prince", while Gao Wen is a "dark horse" who emerged in the second half of the season. Under Gao Wen's strong performance, the depressed Jilong was squeezed out of the position, but in the singles arena, Jilong was rejuvenated with new vitality, proved himself again, and regained his own halo.
At the same time, the victory over Sarkeesian calmed down the doubts a little, but Gao Wen still lacks the performance to face top players head-on, at least he has not faced the top five seeds before the season. Even if the results are better now, the doubts cannot be eliminated. Now he finally has the opportunity to face the third seed Giron.
So, is it "The King Returns"? Or "The New King Ascends the Throne"?
Oh!
Just thinking about the entire background story makes me excited. This season really belongs to UCLA. Even the men's singles competition can write such a palace drama. How can people not look forward to it and be excited?
Before we knew it, the men's singles competition had attracted countless attention. Under the watchful eyes of the public, the two semi-finals started simultaneously in different venues.
After all, Giron and Hess Olesen were seeded players and were treated better, so they were arranged to play on the center court. Correspondingly, Gao Wen and Ruan competed on the No. 1 court.
For players, external disturbances are bound to be an influence, but when they step onto the court, they must put all these messy thoughts aside, otherwise off-court factors may interfere with their game and even cause them to lose the game.
Dennis Nguyen is the only opponent Gao Wen needs to focus on now.
Ruan is a very typical Asian player, 175 cm tall and 72 kg, and looks very thin. Strength is his weakness, but mobility is his strong point. He is good at using the opponent's force to play against him. When facing a pure power player, he may have a hard time. But if the opponent's strength cannot completely suppress Ruan, his counterattack using the opponent's force can also be very sharp.
From the outside, he looks gentle and just like a graduate student or doctoral student helping the professor with research in the laboratory. He is totally unsuitable for outdoor activities. But if you look closely, you can see the determination in his eyes. He is obviously a very competitive player.
The progress of the game also proved this.
At the opening stage, Gao Wen was the first to get into the game, breaking and holding the serve to take a 3:0 lead. Then the game entered a stable stage, with both sides holding their serve and the score reached 5:3, which was Gao Wen's serve to win the set.
However, Nguyen launched a fierce attack in this game. Relying on two "top five balls of the game", he broke Gao Wen's serve for the first time in the game, and then strongly defended his own serve, chasing the score to a "5:5" tie, and the suspense of the first set of the game returned again.
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At the critical moment, Gao Wen showed his experience, steadily holding his serve and taking a "6:5" lead. Then he launched a powerful attack in Ruan's serve. After two deuces, he successfully won the second break point and won the first set with "7:5".
In the second set, it was the tenacious Ruan who broke the serve first.
Taking advantage of Gao Wen's declining physical strength, Ruan broke and saved the match in one go, taking the lead and maintaining the lead until the end of the set. He was about to win the second set and decide the outcome in the deciding set, but Gao Wen, who had recovered his physical strength, did not think so.
When trailing at 4:5 and facing Ruan's serve to win the set, Gao Wen improved his condition strongly. Instead, Ruan, who had remained tense throughout the game, fell into a slump in physical strength. Then Gao Wen started to score points, scoring thirteen points in a row in the final stage of the game, and broke Ruan's serve twice in a row without mercy, winning the game.
“7:5”, “7:5”.
A fierce battle! In a bloody match, Gao Wen successfully withstood Ruan's strong counterattack, and maintained a record of not losing a set since arriving in Athens, and strode into the finals.
On the other side, Jilong's competitive state has also been elevated to a new level. "7:5", "6:3", he defeated Hess-Olesen cleanly and advanced to the final.
So, the duel that people were most looking forward to has arrived.
Second update.
(End of this chapter)