Some people say, "If you love the right person, Valentine's Day will be celebrated every day." In fact, the same is true for competitive sports. "If you find the right person, singles and doubles will be equally exciting."
Everyone hopes that Federer and Nadal can play doubles together, but such a dream cannot be realized for the time being. The partnership between Gauvin 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 and spectators, 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 single game on clay. There is still some time before the French Open. They need to slowly adjust. But what is certain is that today's game has mobilized their state. It is just the performance of key points.
And there is still room for improvement in adapting to red soil.
The game is a test. When they return to training, they can start targeted training.
It is 100% certain that their careers are not over yet. They still enjoy the game, still look forward to challenges, still desire to win, and will continue to fight.
One of the wonderful wisdoms condensed from a long career is that they have experienced peaks and troughs, climbed to the top and faced difficulties. The Bryan brothers know the difficulty of climbing the peak again, but this difficulty is also the charm of competitive sports.
Where to achieve self-breakthrough in challenges.
The same is true for Dimitrov and Gao Wen. They faced different difficulties, but both needed the training of this game. More importantly, they won:
In terms of confidence and state, this is a very important step.
Any time, victory can always bring positive effects, not to mention, this is the first Masters tournament of this year's clay court season, and they have made a good start.
Subsequently, the doubles partners Gao Wen and Dimitrov also extended their good form to the singles arena——
In the second round, Dimitrov defeated Fognini in straight sets. Then, he showed a fiery touch and defeated Wawrinka in 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 games. His competitive state recovered strongly and the upward momentum was indeed gratifying. You can deeply feel that the doubles arena has revitalized its 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 Puy, Gao Wen encountered a small challenge and defeated Isner in three hard-fought sets, losing a tiebreaker in the second set.
Logically speaking, what Isner is least good at is clay. Due to the surface, the power of the serve is weakened and the advantage is not so obvious. But don't forget that Isner was the first to drag Nadal at the French Open.
The fundamental reasons for the players entering the final set are:
His serve is still a problem on clay, and he can even overcome the court factors of clay and continuously output strong serves.
Compared to Gawain, Isner sticks to his own style of play and has achieved good results on clay.
But in the end, Gao Wen still showed his changeability and flexibility when facing big players. He relied on a break advantage to win the decisive set. The score of the decisive set was "6:3".
Following Dimitrov, Gao Wen also successfully advanced to the quarterfinals.
Little by little, both Gao Wen and Dimitrov are adapting to the clay court, and the clay court season has had a good start.
However!
Quarterfinals battle——
Dimitrov meets Monfils, who is returning from injury.
Monfils, who missed the Sunshine Double Championship, finally returned in the clay court season. He played with a wild card and showed excellent touch. In the last round, he defeated Federer in straight sets.
Of course, Monfils's personal ability is very outstanding, and he is always a tough nut to crack. He has pushed them into desperate situations when facing the Big Four. This is a talented player with a very, very high ceiling, both in batting and tactics.
He has a wild imagination and is very difficult to deal with.
Facts have proved that Monfils is indeed in good condition. He only lost four games against Dimitrov and once again had the last laugh, advancing to the semi-finals.
For Dimitrov, this is undoubtedly a pity. His condition is on the rise and he does not need to face Federer. As a result, he did not seize the opportunity; but from another perspective, Monfils is indeed ready for the clay court season.
Be prepared, as evidenced by consecutive defeats of Federer and Dimitrov.
At the same time, Gao Wen also encountered the first severe challenge of the clay court season. He can be said to be a true clay court master:
David Ferrell.
This game is not easy, to be more precise, it is very difficult. Compared with Puy and Isner, Ferrer is a typical clay court player. Although he also performs very well on hard courts, he is only good at clay courts.
It is Ferrer's territory. The only Grand Slam final in his career occurred at the French Open.
Gawain and Ferrer had played against each other once before, and Gawain 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 the venue, what opponent, what round, Ferrer can always remain stable and continue to put pressure on the opponent; therefore, Ferrer once maintained a record of continuous
Maintained undefeated victories against players ranked outside the top 30 in the world for five seasons.
This stability is amazing.
Coming to the clay court, Ferrer's understanding, tactics, and skills were all ahead of Gawain. There was no doubt that this was a tough battle.
In Gao Wen's view, this is an opportunity to test his adaptation and adjustment to clay soil——
Strictly speaking, Gao Wen has played two singles and two doubles on clay so far, which is not worth mentioning in front of real clay court masters. But competitive sports are like this. In the midst of tests and challenges
Keep moving forward, look at yourself through competition, then make adjustments and continue to improve.
On the clay court, facing a "stable man" like Ferrer after only four games is obviously a bit too hasty, but this is the Monte Carlo Masters. As the rounds of the competition progress, the confrontation will become more and more intense.
, from another perspective, it might be a good thing to play against a stable man——
After all, all of Ferrell's skills are relatively average, neither the best nor the worst. This is also the best opponent to test Gawain.
The competition is very, very difficult.
As expected.
Although Gawain has gradually gained some understanding of red clay, standing in front of Ferrell, he can realize that he still has not grasped the essence of red clay:
That's just an introduction.
Tactical layout is one aspect, while subconscious conditioned reflex behaviors such as batting habits, batting techniques, bat selection, etc. are another aspect.
Even though Gao Wen has been adjusting and learning, the hard court style that is deeply imprinted in his bones cannot be adjusted in just a few games.
"6:2".
Ferrer won the first set. Gauvin lost two serve games and lost by a big margin. What was even worse was that he missed all four break points.
"7:5".
In the second game, Gao Wen regained a victory.
This set was very intense. Ferrer broke serve early and showed his sophistication and stability on clay. However, in the middle of the set, Gao Wen broke the balance with a strong force and completed the break with a wonderful backhand diagonal winner.
The balance of power returned and the stalemate continued all the way.
Seeing that the game was about to enter a tie-break, Gao Wen keenly seized the opportunity at the end of the game, broke and kept, and won the second set with great momentum.