Chapter 423: Evenly matched
"Gao Wen VS Kei Nishikori", 04:01.
"6:3", "7:5", "5:7", "5:6".
“30:40.”
When the game time finally exceeded four hours, this historic Asian showdown entered the end of the fourth set, and the fierce battle continued.
The entire competition process was full of ups and downs, tension and excitement.
After taking the lead in winning the first set, at the end of the second set, Gao Wen once again improved his condition and replicated the last three games of the first set, holding serve, breaking serve, and holding serve, and then successfully brought the score to "2:0". The Arthur Ashe Stadium was completely boiling. Is the dark horse going to be the dark horse all the way? This is also the first time that Gao Wen has led by a big score of "2:0" since this year's US Open; however, the tenth seed, who was fighting a desperate battle, launched a strong counterattack in the third set.
Kei Nishikori, who served first, broke Gao Wen's serve twice. Unfortunately, he failed to hold his next serve both times. He was unable to realize the break advantage and widen the score. The two players were deadlocked until the end of the set.
Kei Nishikori seized the opportunity of Gao Wen's physical strength fluctuation, improved his condition, broke Gao Wen's second serve, and completed the third break in the third set. This time he directly took the victory of the whole set and won back one set.
Looking at the first three sets, the scores were actually very close. In terms of total scores, Gao Wen won four points in the first set, Gao Wen won two points in the second set, and Kei Nishikori won three points in the third set.
In other words, the outcome of each set depends on the performance at key points. Whoever can perform at their best at the critical moment will win the set.
The same thing happened going into the fourth set.
Both players showed obvious fluctuations in physical strength, and the difficulties they faced in their serve games also increased, making breaking points relatively easier. Gao Wen and Kei Nishikori both broke each other's serve twice, and the score was unable to be widened, and the game remained deadlocked until the final stage of the fourth set.
Once again, with the score behind at 5:6, Gao Wen had to defend his serve, and Kei Nishikori launched another fierce attack.
They started attacking from the moment they received the serve, and no matter it was the first or second serve, they had to attack even at the risk of making mistakes. In particular, Kei Nishikori was in great form now, and he hit a lot of amazing balls when he rushed to serve, which made Gao Wen very passive, and then he gave away a break point at "30:40".
“Ah! Ahhhhh!”
Facing the first break point and set point, Gao Wen used a close serve with a strong sidespin to suppress Kei Nishikori's position, and scored directly with the serve to save the break point, and the two sides returned to a tie.
Gao Wen clenched his fists and cheered himself up. The more critical the moment, the more he needed to be at his best! The fourth set was not over yet, and he was not ready to give up the victory in the fourth set.
But then——
“Good job!”
Kei Nishikori did not roar, but clenched his fists tightly and waved them vigorously at his sides a few times to cheer himself up, because he once again grabbed Gawain's second serve, and used a fierce style of play to grab the rising point to force Gawain to return the ball shallowly, and then taking advantage of the opportunity when Gawain was standing behind, Kei Nishikori suddenly hit a small ball in front of the net, using a combination of long and short shots so that Gawain could not keep up, and Kei Nishikori scored.
The second break point and set point.
Just like the beginning and end of every previous set, both players gritted their teeth and tried their best. Every point was crucial and everyone had a chance.
"40:AD".
call……
Although facing a break point and set point again, Gao Wen was very calm. After taking a long breath, he started to hit the ball and his brain began to work at high speed.
How should I choose to serve?
Snap. Snap. Snap.
Gawain had already started throwing the ball. The mustard yellow tennis ball was immersed in the deep orange sunset glow all over the sky and the ground. Then his whole body was like a spring and he threw it out with force.
Bang.
Close combat relies on backhand and outward rotation.
Kei Nishikori was fully focused and moved his feet at the first moment, but when he saw where the tennis ball landed, he immediately realized: it's a trap!
Gawain sent a shallow ball.
What does it mean? The service area can be divided into six blocks. The upper part close to the net is called the shallow area, the lower part close to the service baseline is called the deep area, and the side close to the sideline is the outer corner, the middle block is the middle road (close to the body), and the side close to the center line is the inner corner.
Generally speaking, serves are often placed in the deep area, because the shallow area is close to the net, and a slight miscontrol will cause the ball to go directly into the net, and the requirements for the parabola are very high; plus, hard courts mainly use flat serves, and the entire parabola is very flat, so you must aim at the deep area to serve into the area.
However, very, very occasionally, players will specifically use super topspin, control the tennis ball in a shallow area, and then use the rotation after it bounces off the ground to tear out a large angle, especially an outside corner.
This time, Gao Wen aimed at the shallow area, but his target was in the middle.
The ball was not fast, but it rebounded very high after landing, and the topspin was fully applied. It was obvious that Gao Wen increased the spin of the first serve and then controlled the landing point to limit Kei Nishikori's strong momentum in grabbing the first and second serves in this game. Especially since Kei Nishikori was in good form now and had a very high success rate in grabbing serves, this made Gao Wen very passive.
Now, Gawain made a change.
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Kei Nishikori realized immediately that something was wrong, but it was too late for him to rush forward to grab the rising point. He was forced to retreat because Gawain's topspin was very full and it had bounced past his knees before Nishikori could grab the rising point. Therefore, retreating was the only way for Kei Nishikori to hit the tennis ball.
ah.
Kei Nishikori was still unwilling to completely retreat and lose his defensive position, so when his hands touched the ball, his body's center of gravity was still lifted back by the strong rotation of the tennis ball, so that the arc control of the return ball was slightly insufficient.
It wasn't pressed deep enough, and the arc was a little too high.
Oops!
Kei Nishikori immediately discovered that Gao Wen had entered the baseline and was approaching the midfield.
Tap tap tap.
Kei Nishikori's first reaction was to sprint towards the open space on his forehand, because there was no time to hesitate. The entire court was full of open spaces and he had to gamble, so he chose to sprint at full speed with his forehand that left the entire court empty.
However! Gao Mingming could have volleyed the ball, but he deliberately took small steps to adjust his position, waiting for the tennis ball to land while also waiting for Kei Nishikori to start his defense, and then he made a very light and simple backslash with his forehand.
The tennis ball fell into the backhand space behind Kei Nishikori.
"Equal!"
Ah! Gawain clenched his fists tightly, stared at Kei Nishikori without giving in, and showed his determination to not give in. He saved the second break point and set point in such a neat way.
At the critical moment, he showed his courage and determination! Although Kei Nishikori played like a god, Gao Wen did not give in either. He fought hard against hard. The two sides were still evenly matched. In the twelfth game of the fourth set, the two players tied for the second time.
The crisis has not been resolved yet! (End of this chapter)