In the second half, the quarterfinals battle, "Gawain VS Tsonga", no one should miss it, and no one is willing to miss it.
First of all, this is a rematch of the Roland Garros round of 16.
Two whole months have passed, but people still get excited when they think of the classic collision between Gauvin and Tsonga in the five-set fierce battle at Roland Garros.
Secondly, Tsonga is the defending champion.
In this event last year - even though it was in different cities and different venues, Tsonga's feat of defeating three giants in succession to win the championship is still talked about by people to this day. That was also before Gawain was born in Flushing.
A sign that the Challenger Alliance is fully in place.
For Tsonga, he is about to have a chance for revenge, and it is not on clay, but on hard courts where he is best at and can best display his talents.
For Gao Wen, he will face the first severe test after returning to the court after a month, and it is likely to be a weathervane for this year's US Open.
Of course, there are variables in things, and it's not that simple.
No one should have forgotten that Tsonga chose to return from injury on the eve of Roland Garros and has been recovering and adjusting. After losing to Gao Wen, he entered the rest period again. He did not act too hastily, but took it step by step for two full months.
I only participated in two competitions in that time.
One was Wimbledon, where they lost to Karlovic in the third round and ended up in the top 32.
One was the Davis Cup, which they lost to Murray, and France finally lost to Great Britain.
Then... there is no more.
In other words, after Tsonga lost to Gao Wen, he only played four games in total, and his world ranking fell all the way out of the top twenty, away from the public eye.
In such a state, Tsonga arrived in Toronto in a low-key manner and had reservations about the prospect of defending his title. More, he hoped to move forward step by step.
Similarly, Gao Wen also stayed away from the game for a month and was a raw player. He faced no real challenges against Gironde and Muller, and his condition was not adjusted to the best. This time he met Tsonga again, but he was completely different from Roland Garros.
, it’s a completely new game for both players.
Pre-match prediction... 50-50.
It’s not that I’m looking down on Gawain, but because after Tsonga came to Toronto, his performance was very convincing——
Defeated Coric in the first round, Agut in the second round, and Tomic in the third round.
All three players have reached the top 40 in the world rankings; at the same time, all three players are also on the rise and showing good condition.
Although Tsonga's victory was a bit thrilling, his feel and condition are improving step by step, and his explosive power at critical moments cannot be underestimated.
Between one addition and one subtraction, the suspense of victory or defeat becomes difficult to predict.
After all, once Tsonga goes crazy, no one can suppress him, including the Big Four.
Due to the collision of various reasons, this quarterfinal match has undoubtedly become one of the most watchable and eye-catching matches in this year's Rogers Cup.
In fact, the two players Gao Wen and Tsonga did not disappoint the expectations. They started a strong collision from the first point of the first game of the game——
The bayonet is red.
In the first point, the two players collided with each other in a real way. After a full 18-shot contest, Gawain's forehand slash "inside-out" tore through Tsonga's defense and won the winning point.
Put an end to it.
The whole audience burst into applause!
Real professionals can see that compared with the clay court season before, Gao Wen developed the classic route of the forehand diagonal line in addition to the backhand straight line, repeatedly scoring winning points and once again showing growth.
As expected, this was indeed a collision worth the price of admission. No wonder it became the first sold-out game of this year’s Rogers Cup. It lived up to the expectations of the audience, and the whole audience cheered——
Tsonga's violent forehand can already be seen as the nine-point success in his peak period. His sudden and unreasonable force is like that of a heavyweight boxing champion, and his arrogant and ferocious scoring easily ignites the whole audience into a frenzy.
Gao Wen's defensive and counterattack skills are still astonishing. At the same time, his forehand and backhand left and right bows to break the deadlock and launch an attack with courage also bring different surprises. From layout to game to counterattack, he has dedicated his performances again and again.
Data is the most intuitive.
Tsonga had nine winning points and six unforced errors.
Gawain had eight winning points and three unforced errors.
Violence! Toughness! Confrontation!
On one side, he punches hard, and on the other side, he moves smoothly.
Different styles, but equally beautiful, interpreting two colors of tennis balls, it is really exciting.
and!
Errors were controlled within the effective range, winning points became the dominant force, and the back-and-forth offensive battles came one after another.
Definitely lives up to expectations!
finally--
Tsonga's violent forehand seized the opportunity and hit a diagonal shot, fast and heavy, aiming at the blind spot, and after finishing the shot, he followed the ball directly to the net.
On the opposite side of the court, in an extremely passive state where his body had already left the doubles line and was about to lose his center of gravity, Gao Wen extended his forehand to the extreme to complete the whip stroke, relying on the strength of his forearm and wrist to forcefully throw out a shot that broke the net in a straight line.
The return ball is low and flat, passing through the net.
Tsonga, who was blocking and intercepting in front of the net, also lost his center of gravity. His two-handed backhand was forced to evolve into a one-handed backhand. He tried to intercept, but lost his balance when his body was extended to the extreme. The racket control lacked strength support, resulting in harsh tennis.
He hit the racket string hard and returned the ball to the net with all his strength.
Both players have stretched their bodies to the extreme, showing everything from body to will to skills without reservation.
This point fell into Gawain's pocket.
This was the third break point and set point. With the only break of serve in the first set, Gao Wen won the first victory with a score of "6:4".
boom!
The whole place is boiling!
It's not that Tsonga didn't play well enough, but the courage and courage shown by Gawain at critical moments were really amazing, pushing the game to a new level. The two players brought out the best in each other during the powerful collision.
As the smoke filled the air, the game took on a completely new look.
Beautiful, really beautiful!
In the second set, Gao Wen was still the first to break serve.
Relying on the advantage of serving first, after breaking serve, Gao Wen had directly opened the score to "3:0".
However, Tsonga, who was in trouble, once again showed his ability.
First, he held the serve and gained a firm foothold; then, with a forehand straight shot, his unreasonable attack completely made Gawain lose his temper, and he broke Gawain's serve for the first time in the game with a winning point.
In the second set, the game quickly returned to the same starting line.
Just when people thought that Gawain would bag the victory in one fell swoop, Tsonga issued his own protest.
From "3:0" to "3:3", and then to "4:4", the score fell into a stalemate again, the suspense of victory was completely tight, and no one could tell until the last moment.
Ninth game.
At "30:15", Gao Wen, who was running wildly and extending his upper body to save the ball, returned the ball with his backhand and hit the net. This time he was unable to withstand the power of Tsonga's forehand, but after completing the shot, Gao Wen slowed down.
He bent down, rubbed his abdominal muscles with his left hand, and finally stopped where he was.