Match point

Chapter 1248 The Lost East Corner
Some people say, "If you love the right person, Valentine's Day is celebrated every day." In fact, the same is true for competitive sports. "If you find the right person, singles and doubles are equally exciting."

Everyone expects Federer and Nadal to be able to partner in doubles, but such a dream cannot be realized for the time being, and the partner of Gawain and Dimitrov is also good.

Obviously, in today's game, the two new-generation players satisfied the wild fantasies of the fans. In fact, not only the fans, but also both sides of the game benefited a lot today.

The Bryan brothers are still in a sluggish state this season. They have not won a game on clay. There is still a period of time before the French Open. They need to adjust slowly, but what is certain is that today's game mobilized their state, just the performance of key points And there is still room for improvement in adapting to clay.

The competition is a kind of test. When they return to training, they can start targeted training.

You can be [-]% sure that their careers are not over, they still enjoy the game, they still look forward to the challenge, they still want to win, and they will continue to fight.

A wonderful wisdom condensed from a long career is that they have experienced peaks and troughs, and they have faced difficulties after reaching the top. The Bryan brothers know the difficulty of climbing the peak again, but this difficulty is precisely the charm of competitive sports. In the place, complete self-breakthrough in the challenge.

The same is true for Dimitrov and Gao Wen. They faced different difficulties, but both needed the tempering of this game. More importantly, they won the victory:
In terms of confidence and status, this is a very important step.

At any time, victory can always bring positive effects, not to mention, this is the first Masters of this year's clay court season, and they have made a good start.

Afterwards, Gao Wen and Dimitrov, the doubles partner, also extended their impressive state to the singles arena——

In the second round, Dimitrov defeated Fognini in two straight sets, and then showed his fiery touch, beating Wawrinka in two straight sets. After winning two games in a row, he advanced to the quarterfinals.

Among them, in the match between Dimitrov and Wawrinka, he only allowed his opponent to win three rounds. The competitive state has recovered strongly, and the upward momentum is indeed gratifying. It can be deeply felt that the doubles field has revitalized the state and slowly returned to the right track. , showing a completely different style from the North American hard court season.

On the other hand, after defeating Pouilly, Gao Wen faced a small challenge and defeated Isner in three hard-fought sets, in which he lost a tie-break in the second set.

Logically speaking, what Isner is least good at is the clay court. Because of the venue, the serving power is weakened, and the advantage is not so obvious. But don’t forget, Isner is the first to drag Nadal to the French Open. The fundamental reason for the players in the final set is:

His serve is still a problem on clay, and he can even overcome the site factors of clay and continuously output strong serves.

Compared with Gao Wen, Isner insisted on his own style of play and achieved good results on clay.

But in the end, Gao Wen still showed his changeability and flexibility in the face of Cannon players. In the final set, he relied on a break advantage to win the game. The score of the final set was "6:3".

After Dimitrov, Gao Wen also successfully advanced to the quarterfinals.

Little by little, both Gawain and Dimitrov are getting used to the clay, which is off to a solid start to the season.

however!
Quarterfinals——

Dimitrov faced Monfils, who had returned from injury.

Monfils, who was absent from the Sunshine Double, finally came back in the clay court season. He played with a wild card and showed excellent touch. He defeated Federer in straight sets in the last round.

Of course, Monfils' personal ability is very good, and he is a tough nut to crack at any time. He has pushed them into desperation in the face of the Big Four. This is a talented player with a very, very high upper limit. With a wild imagination, it's tricky to deal with.

Facts have proved that Monfils is indeed in good condition. When he met Dimitrov, he lost only four rounds, had the last laugh again, and advanced strongly to the semi-finals.

It is undoubtedly a pity for Dimitrov, who is on the rise and does not need to face Federer, so he did not seize the opportunity; but from another perspective, Monfils is indeed ready for the clay court season Prepare, as evidenced by back-to-back wins over Federer and Dimitrov.

At the same time, Gao Wen also encountered the first severe challenge of the clay court season, and he can be said to be a true clay court master:

David Ferrell.

This game was not easy. To be more precise, it was very difficult. Compared with Puy and Isner, Ferrer is a typical clay court player. It is Ferrer's territory, and the only Grand Slam final in his career took place at the French Open.

Previously, Gao Wen and Ferrer had fought against each other once, and Gao Wen successfully won at that time, but Ferrer's biggest advantage was stability.

Maybe the upper limit is not high, but the lower limit is very high. No matter what venue, opponent, or round, Ferrer can always maintain stability and continue to put pressure on his opponent; therefore, Ferrer once maintained a record of consecutive In five seasons, he faced players outside the world's top [-] and maintained a complete victory.

This stability is amazing.

Coming to clay, Ferrer's understanding, tactics, and skills are all ahead of Gao Wen. There is no doubt that this is a hard battle.

In Gao Wen's view, this is an opportunity to test his adaptation to the clay and adjust his state——

Strictly speaking, Gao Wen has played two singles games and two doubles games on clay so far, which is not worth mentioning in front of real clay court masters, but this is what competitive sports is all about. Keep moving forward, look at yourself through the game, then make adjustments and continue to improve.

In the clay court, it is obviously a bit too hasty to face a "stable man" like Ferrer after only four games, but this is the Monte Carlo Masters, and as the rounds of the game deepen, the confrontation will become more and more intense , from another perspective, it may be a good thing to play against a stable man——

After all, all Ferrell's skills are relatively average, not the best nor the worst, and this is also the best opponent to test Gao Wen.

The game, very, very tough.

As expected.

Although Gao Wen has gradually understood the red clay, standing in front of Ferrer, he can realize that he still has not grasped the essence of the red clay:

That is just getting started.

Tactical layout is one aspect, and subconscious conditioned reflex behaviors such as batting habits, batting techniques, and batting choices are another aspect.

Even though Gao Wen has been adjusting and learning, the hard court style that is deeply imprinted in his bones is definitely not something that can be adjusted in just a few games.

"6:2".

Ferrer won the first set.Gao Wen lost two serve games and lost by a big score. What's worse, he got four break points and missed all of them.

"7:5".

In the second set, Gao Wen pulled back a victory.

This set was very intense. Ferrer broke serve early, showing his experience and stability on clay. However, in the middle of the set, Gao Wen made a strong effort to break the balance and broke serve with a wonderful backhand slash winning point. Back to the balance of power, and stalemate all the way.

Seeing that the game was about to enter the tiebreaker, Gao Wen keenly seized the opportunity at the end of the set, broke and secured, and won the second set with great momentum.

Game, go to the final set!

(End of this chapter)