Chapter 556: Bloodless Battle
"Backhand vs. backhand"! Gulbis took the lead in attacking with his backhand, and finally Gawain scored with his backhand. From the beginning to the end, the two players really showed their confidence and determination in the backhand position. The short duel seemed very simple and easy, but the game of attack and counterattack collided with sparks.
The second break point was the same.
Gulbis took the lead in attacking, and continued to exert pressure with his forehand and backhand, but Gawain's excellent defense made Gulbis return in vain, and the two sides fell into a tug-of-war in the round of balls.
After ten rounds of back and forth, Gulbis launched another backhand attack, but Gawain predicted the correct line in advance, and with a step forward he made a quick backhand connection, using the force to hit the tennis ball back in the same direction. The line and landing point were ordinary, but the speed and power were improved to a higher level.
Gulbis was not surprised.
He was waiting there early, and completed the backhand lead in advance with his two-handed backhand, trying to change the line and launch another attack with a tough attitude, but Gawain's return speed exceeded expectations, so that Gulbis' backhand hitting point was a little late, and the gambling backhand straight line could not be pulled back into bounds.
Out of bounds.
Gao Wen saved two consecutive break points.
It’s not that Gulbis was not proactive enough, but that Gao Wen’s tenacious defense brought huge pressure, and the balance of advantages between the two sides continued to fluctuate.
In this serving game, in the first half, Gulbis took the lead and got a break point; in the second half, Gawain turned the disadvantage around, saved break points in succession, and after experiencing two draw tests, he successfully kept his first serving game. The whole situation subtly changed.
With a moment of distraction, Gao Wen had already won two more games by breaking and defending, and entered the first break with a "3:0" advantage.
At this point, Gulbis' "Grand Slam Syndrome" has already quietly revealed clues, and the main problem still comes from:
Backhand.
First comes the offense.
Gulbis' backhand attack often consists of only two shots. If he cannot score points after two shots of continuous pressure, he will easily make mistakes. The entire attack is not smooth or continuous enough. His choice of lines and landing points shows that he lacks confidence, so his error rate remains high.
The second is defense.
Gulbis' defense is not top-notch, but it has been stable; however, in this game, the overall defense rate and success rate were unsatisfactory, mainly because the entire prediction and start-up rhythm were a little slower, making it difficult to maintain high intensity and high efficiency, and the defense became more and more guilty.
Once Gawain seizes the opportunity to launch a defensive counterattack, Gulbis will easily panic, especially when he can't keep his eye on the ball with his backhand.
It was like the third point in the eighth game of the first set.
Gulbis launched a series of powerful attacks, forehand diagonal, backhand straight line, backhand diagonal, three consecutive powerful attacks showed his solid hitting ability; the lines and angles were torn apart, although he did not pursue the ultimate blind spot, he forced Gao Wen to run all over the court.
However, the connection between the attacks was not tight enough, which not only left Gao Wen with time to predict, but also left him with space to move in advance.
Three consecutive heavy hammer blows were all blocked by Gawain.
Amid the exclamations of surprise at the Diamond Stadium, Gulbis watched the tennis ball return to his half of the court. He took small steps to adjust to the backhand return from the middle, and continued to attack with his backhand in the next shot. However, this time, he obviously lacked a bit of unstoppable momentum:
Backhand! Backhand diagonal! Repeated landing!
Gulbis' fourth shot tried to find a breakthrough in Gawain's forehand position, but the whole shot had no rotation and was caught by Gawain directly. The power of his legs pushing off the ground was very solid, and he used the force of his forehand to hit a small diagonal shot, and shot out like a rocket.
Gulbis immediately started to defend, stumbling out and barely touching the tennis ball with his racket, but he was still half a beat too late and failed to complete the shot. The tennis ball hit the racket frame, changed its flight trajectory, and rushed towards the stands like an anti-aircraft gun.
One shot! With just one shot of defensive counterattack, Gao Wen completely reversed the situation, and then got three consecutive break points and set points in this game.
This was because of the opportunity that Gawain had gained by defending for three consecutive shots, and also because Gulbis was a little slow in attacking the ball with his backhand at the last moment, and he obviously failed to combine his strength. Although it was not a mistake, it was not common in Gulbis's games.
On the one hand, it is lack of concentration, and on the other hand, it is lack of confidence.
What Gao Wen is best at is seizing opportunities and loopholes. He has been doing this since the NCAA era. He has always had a unique keen sense of the game context and the opponent's mentality. How could Gao Wen easily miss the opportunity when he felt Gulbis' impatience and anxiety? Compared with the first round, Gao Wen was more confident and calm, because he knew that his offense did not need to pursue extremes to gain an advantage.
On the first break point and set point, after just six rounds, Gao Wen used a backhand deep zone pressure backhand shot, forcing Gulbis to make a mistake of hitting the ball out of the racket and easily won the first set.
At the beginning and the end of the game, Gao Wen broke Gulbis' serve once each. In less than thirty-five minutes, Gao Wen won the first set, "6:2".
Gulbis, furious.
The last point was not because of how well Gauvin played. In fact, the last shot was not difficult, but Gulbis's footwork adjustment obviously did not keep up with the rhythm, so that his position was squeezed, the trajectory of his swing action also deviated, and finally he made a terrible mistake of hitting the ball off the racket.
And it was a backhand.
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This is not common in Gulbis's games.
Gulbis was very, very dissatisfied with his performance. He cursed in Latvian, which no one could understand, and almost smashed his racket on the spot. But he finally controlled himself, and then rushed to the players' rest area angrily, knocking over all his water bottles like he was bowling, and didn't care.
During the 120-second break, Gulbis spent 100 seconds muttering to himself, filled with rage and not knowing how to vent it.
Entering the second set, Gulbis' condition did not improve. Not only that, but there was a trend of continuous decline. It was not sure if it was due to his mood or what, but Gulbis' mistakes increased significantly, and he kept kneading and moving his shoulders after each point.
The match was somewhat fragmented because it was difficult to sustain the ball in rounds. Often after two or three hits, Gulbis would make mistakes and his entire batting state seemed to be continuing to decline.
Gao Wen tried his best to stay focused, avoid being affected by his opponent's condition, which would cause his own touch to decline, and maintain his concentration in the game.
Eight minutes later, Gao Wen had already taken a 3:0 lead.
From the second half of the first set to now, Gao Wen has won five games in a row, and the match has become one-sided.
Then, during the break between innings, Gulbis requested an official medical timeout and eventually retired from the game due to a shoulder injury.
In this way, Gao Wenbing won another game without any bloodshed and advanced to the third round.
(End of this chapter)