Chapter 606: Unique
“15:0”, an ACE.
“30:0”, direct point from serve.
"40:0", a strong inside corner serve created suppression, followed by a volley at the net to score the winning point.
"Game, Lopez", another ACE.
Lopez won four points in a love game and gave Gao Wen almost no chance. He took 98 seconds to hold the serve. This also means that the victory of the first set will be decided by the tie-break.
The progress of the "Gao Wen VS Fe Lopez" game was as expected.
The whole game started with Gao Wen's serve.
In daily training, facing Sampras, a master-level serve-and-volley player, Gao Wen's biggest gain was not Sampras's sparring partner, but a new understanding of the three-dimensional space of the court based on Sampras's skills and tactics:
When hitting the ball, in addition to the landing point and line, the arc is also very important, that is, the height of the tennis ball flying over the net. The flatter the ball is, the closer it is to the net, and the more super topspin it is, the farther it is from the net. But more importantly, if you adjust your line and landing point by changing the parabola.
In fact, this is a physics problem, but obviously, physics is not Gao Wen's strong point, so he uses Sampras' interpretation to gain understanding.
The two doubles matches in Shanghai this time were against two groups of doubles masters with different styles. This can be regarded as a further interpretation of the course through actual combat.
So, when Gao Wen actually stood in front of Fe Lopez, although it was strange and new, he had actually prepared himself mentally.
Obviously, Felipe Lopez was also ready. He knew that Gao Wen's basic skills at the baseline were very solid. If they were to fight purely at the baseline, Felipe Lopez could form a confrontation but might not have the upper hand. Therefore, he tried in the opening stage to disrupt Gao Wen's rhythm.
After all, youth and lack of experience are Gao Wen's obvious shortcomings. Facing a serve-and-volley player for the first time, Gao Wen was inevitably flustered.
Then we can see that in the opening stage, Filipe Lopez went to the net frequently. As long as the quality of receiving the serve was slightly better, he would go directly to the net, forming frontcourt pressure and near-net control, thus breaking Gao Wen's usual game pattern.
But Gawain responded very calmly. The distribution and adjustment of the entire return line showed his maturity and experience. Not only was he not anxious or panicky, but he quickly stabilized his position. Instead, he took advantage of the haste of Felipe Lopez who had not figured out the situation in the opening stage and rashly broke the balance, and scored quickly and easily.
In fact, Gao Wen is still in the recovery period of his condition and touch, and his baseline hitting feeling is not at its best. If Felipe Lopez plays steadily with Gao Wen at the baseline, and then waits for opportunities to go to the net, the pressure on Gao Wen should be stronger.
But now that F. Lopez has disrupted the situation, Gao Wen no longer needs to frequently drive the ball from the baseline. Instead, he needs to look for breakthroughs in terms of line and rotation. He needs to spend more energy on his brain, constantly observing and planning, and completing the shot. Is this... just what he wants? Forehand through, backhand through, backhand over the top high ball, forehand over the net and drop...
This should be the first time that Gao Wen had the opportunity to show the delicacy and richness of his skills. Different hitting techniques created different hitting effects and continuously put pressure on Feliciano Lopez. Of course, Gao Wen's touch was indeed not at its best, and Feliciano Lopez's blocking ability was very good, so this also forced Gao Wen to make many mistakes.
The whole game was very fast-paced, with the ball going back and forth, a bit like table tennis.
Gao Wen still managed to gain his footing smoothly, found a way to score points that suited him, and held his serve, without struggling as much as expected.
And Felipe Lopez was also very experienced. Even if his strategy did not work immediately, he remained calm and steady in defending his serve, and then continued to seek changes in Gawain's serve.
Felipe Lopez's serve was another case.
First of all, the serve was excellent, really, really excellent.
Gao Wen has played against many powerful serve players so far and is not afraid of power players at all, but he must admit that Lopez's serve is indeed strong.
He thought of Isner again.
Lopez doesn't have Isner's innate conditions, but his serve is very smooth and elegant.
Players including Federer and Wawrinka once half-jokingly joked that Lopez had the best-looking calf lines on tour, until Dimitrov came along.
This is a joke, but it is also true, when Felipe Lopez serves, the power of his legs is very sufficient, and the power applied by the whole body in the serving action is full and abundant, so Felipe Lopez's serve is not the kind of powerful and heavy, but like a wind blade, fast and sharp, as fast as lightning.
Moreover, Filipe Lopez did not pursue extreme speed, but the landing point was extremely accurate, either pressing the line or in the shallow area. The angle control and line layout were very good, and he did not give Gao Wen too many opportunities in the serving stage.
Before the first set was over, Lopez had already scored ten aces and a series of direct hits from serves.
Secondly, the big-name players that Felipe Lopez and Gao Wen have encountered before are different.
Fe Lopez is very agile and light.
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What does it mean? The movement of big players is often clumsy, Isner, Raonic, Karlovic, etc. are all like this. Not only are their defenses relatively weak, but they also have relatively short boards in terms of offensive connection after serving and the rate of returning to defense after receiving serves.
But Felipe Lopez won't.
His footsteps are light and fast, and he appears in different positions on the court in a mysterious way. Especially after establishing an advantage through serving, his smooth offense is really pleasing to the eye; then he suddenly goes to the net from time to time, interrupting the rhythm of baseline shots from a physical level and putting pressure on his opponent.
Originally, Felipe Lopez's serve was excellent, and the two sides did not have many opportunities to form a baseline round of balls; once a round was formed, Felipe Lopez's ever-changing tactical combinations were always in the lead - the advantage laid by the serve was indispensable, and Gao Wen's return layout time was naturally further compressed.
Although Gawain was not panicked, the fact was that this was indeed a style that Gawain had never encountered before. Lopez's changes were even ahead of Gawain. Not to mention the success rate and scoring rate, at least the difference in the content of the game was visible to the naked eye.
It was indeed a unique style! In this way, Gao Wen successfully held his serve, and Felipe Lopez also successfully held his serve. In fact, in the entire first set, neither player saw a break point, and even a tie only occurred once in Gao Wen's serve game.
Lopez is in good form as he was able to beat Nadal in the last round.
But the two sides remained deadlocked until "6:6", so the first set entered a tiebreak.
Even in the tie-break, the two players still insisted on their own styles. The scores rose alternately. Neither of them could break the other's serve. After the score was "3:3", the venues were exchanged, and the next point was continued by Felipe Lopez's serve.
(End of this chapter)