Chapter 646: Fight against the giants again
"7:6 (8)", "6:7 (9)", "7:6 (4)".
The game is over!
Three tie-breaks and 131 minutes, Gawain finally won the fierce battle and made it to the final in Valencia with an outstanding performance, quietly waiting for the winner between Murray and Ferrer.
The difference was just a hair's breadth. From the first set to the third set, it was always a hair's breadth. Even though the score in the third set tie-break was not so close, it was actually just a difference of one serve point.
Despite this, Robredo was not too disappointed. After the game, he trotted to the net and gave Gao Wen a big hug with a smile on his face.
"A wonderful game, really, really wonderful."
Robredo is a "short" man, 180 cm tall, but with fine wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. He raised his hand and rubbed Gao Wen's wet hair, like an elder looking at a younger person.
"Good luck in the finals. I'll warn those two old guys in advance."
From a little bit of humor and warmth, it can be seen that Robredo had no regrets about this game. He played to his full potential and enjoyed the game and every minute on the court. The veteran, who has been in professional tennis for 16 years, shines with a different brilliance.
Gao Wen could feel the sincerity in Robredo's words, and a faint warmth flowed through his chest. In fact, this was only the first time they met, but it felt very natural.
Then, Gawain also smiled, "Shh, Tommy, help keep it a secret."
Such a response made Robredo smile completely. He patted Gao Wen on the back and walked towards the referee to shake hands without any formalities.
After the game, Robredo looked at the stadium affectionately and thanked the audience for their support with applause. He then gave his applause to Gawain and left the stadium without staying for too long, leaving the applause to Gawain.
Because of Robredo's help, all the fans at the scene stood up and applauded Gao Wen.
This game is worth it.
From Busta to Chadi to Robredo, three consecutive rounds were all very close and intense matches, and the scores showed it: from a negative perspective, there was no easy sweep victory, and the form still needs to be improved.
From a positive perspective, the ability to grasp key points has returned, and most importantly, he has once again demonstrated his precious competitive spirit.
In fact, to be objective, after Gao Wen won the US Open as a dark horse, everyone started to analyze his game, from tactics to technology to characteristics and so on, all were exposed to everyone. After the veil of mystery was unveiled, the shocks and challenges he faced were naturally different.
The competition will indeed become more difficult.
But the most commendable thing is that Gao Wen did not lose his mental balance just because he was the US Open champion.
He knows clearly that he still has room for improvement and growth, and he also knows clearly that there are many masters hidden in the tour, so he still maintains the mentality of a competitor and challenger, and faces all shocks calmly. Such a mentality adjustment is crucial to his performance on the court.
Therefore, three consecutive tough battles are definitely beneficial.
So, what's next? Murray and Ferrer are not only direct competitors for Gao Wen's ticket to the year-end finals, but also the top players in the current men's professional tennis world.
This also means that the time to fleece the sheep has come again.
No matter who the opponent is, Gao Wen needs to give his all.
Thirty minutes after the match between Gao Wen and Robredo ended, the second semi-final began.
"Murray vs. Ferrer".
This match is undoubtedly the most anticipated matchup in Valencia this year because of the extremely high popularity of the two top players. Especially after the second seed Berdych was upset and eliminated, the meeting of the two players ranked first and third respectively is what everyone expected.
In fact, Ferrer and Murray had just competed in the Shanghai Masters not long ago. Ferrer defeated Murray and entered the quarterfinals. The three-set match was a roller coaster: "2:6", "6:1", and "6:2".
Such a score is really surprising. After all, breaks are relatively rare in men's competitions, especially between two such top players.
The rematch after a week has naturally attracted a lot of attention, and with the competition for a spot in the year-end finals, expectations are even higher.
The two players did not disappoint and worked together to present a high-quality and high-level duel.
“6:4”, “7:5”.
For the second consecutive semi-final, the winner was decided by a very, very close score. For those who watched two semi-finals in a row, this was definitely a day worth the ticket price.
This time, Murray had the last laugh. Not only did he avenge his defeat two weeks ago, but he also severely suppressed Ferrer and seized the initiative in the year-end finals. Considering that Berdych was upset in the first round, Murray has now taken the initiative in the championship points list.
So, the final match table is freshly released:
"Murray vs. Gawain".
The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!
In just three months, after Djokovic and Nadal, Gao Wen will face the third giant -
Get ready!
Among the Big Four, there has always been an objective "controversy" among fans about Murray's status. Judging from the number of Grand Slam and Masters titles, the number of weeks ranked first in the world, etc., it is indeed difficult for him to compare with the other three superstars.
But in the eyes of professionals, there is not much controversy about the "Big Four".
In fact, Murray and Djokovic are very, very similar. They are the same age, have similar playing styles, and were good friends who trained and played together during their childhood.
In 2007, Djokovic rose to prominence; in 2008, it was Murray.
In August 2008, Murray first ranked fourth in the world and has remained at the top ever since. From then until January 2014, in a period of five years and six months, he was ranked fifth for only fourteen weeks, and was ranked in the top four for the rest of the time.
Among them, a large amount of time is spent in second or third place.
In other words, Murray and three other top players are the first group of players, and they have a huge gap with other professional players. This is also the original source of the title of "Big Four".
To be precise, before Djokovic won three Grand Slam titles in 2011, these four players had already long held the top four positions in the world rankings, so the media began to call them that, which has nothing to do with the number of titles.
Unfortunately, Murray's playing style and mentality also determine that he is not at an advantage when facing Federer, Nadal and Djokovic.
In fact, Murray and the other Big Three are all close friends, and this friendship is somewhat different from the relationship between the other Big Three.
Later, the media also asked the Big Four about this matter, and Murray himself joked, "Maybe it's because they all think I'm easy to bully and can't beat them, so they all have a very good relationship with me."
(End of this chapter)