Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 476 Aiming for the Centenary Australian Open!

From the first round to the semi-finals, Chen Ran, who was in hot form, did not lose a single set and swept all his opponents 3-0.

It was only in the quarter-finals that Swiss superstar Wawrinka caused some trouble for Chen Ran in two sets.

Looking at the entire professional tennis world, he obviously has the momentum to choose anyone else.

At the same time, after Chen Ran reached the Australian Open final again, his world ranking returned to the first place.

He does have the capital to give up the European indoor season and selectively withdraw from the year-end.

"For example, many tennis players do not like to participate in clay court competitions. Chen Ran's unwillingness to play indoor competitions is also his personal choice. We have nothing to force him to do. After all, all losses in points and bonuses will be borne by him personally."

Whether it is ATP or some sports media, they all commented like this.

"Too bad, this guy's outstanding performance will make the world's No. 1 ranking meaningless!"

"Chen Ran has never been a model player. It is foreseeable that one day when he loses the world number one ranking again, people will ridicule the new world number one. Don't be proud, that position was just given to you by Chen Ran."

"What happened to Federer obviously speaks for itself. I think if he had the choice, he would probably rather be third than second."

The two sides fighting in the Australian Open final are Chen Ran and Safin.

If Safin wins, his world ranking will surpass Federer and become the second in the world; if Safin loses, he will also be ranked third.

The Tsar is finally back!
He finally returned to the top 3 ranks.

So far, Safin and Chen Ran have a record of 1 win and 5 losses.

In addition to defeating Chen Ran once in the Masters, the Russian has not been able to win a single victory in other Grand Slams, Olympic Games, 500 races, and 250 races.

And what about Chen Ran?

Not only did he maintain the record of winning all championships in all competitions held in China, he also never lost in all finals.

Chen Ran lost in the semi-finals and the quarter-finals, but he has never lost in the finals.

What a terrible record!

Although Safin is back at the top, many people are still optimistic that Chen Ran will win the championship.

The only suspense is that he will win the game in a few sets.

Win the title without losing a set?
Although this is nothing new, the last time it happened was a very long time ago.

Swedish star Bjorn Borg once did this at the French Open in 1980.

In his previous life, Federer had won the Grand Slam twice without losing a set, and Nadal had won it four times. Of course, this was at his favorite French Open.

Now, this achievement is also placed in front of Chen Ran, and it does seem very tempting.

"Winning the Centenary Australian Open without losing a set?"

Chen Ran could feel his blood starting to boil.

Under the spotlight, the final began, but Chen Ran walked into the event very easily carrying the racket.

Safin, the talented tennis player known as the Russian Czar, admires this person very much from Chen Ran's perspective, although this guy has a bit of a bad temper and likes to smash his racket at every turn.

Today's final should have been the last glory of this guy's career.

In the professional tennis world, there has always been a saying of "lucky man with a Grand Slam".

People would think that those players who only have one Grand Slam just got it by luck.

If you want to refute this statement, you can only prove yourself with actions and rely on your strength to win the second Grand Slam, so that you can stop Yoyo's mouth.

Zhang Depei is a "lucky man in a Grand Slam", so is Roddick, and Safin is also in this category. He really wants to get rid of this label.

Today's weather is a bit sultry, and coupled with the fiery atmosphere of the stadium, Chen Ran and Safin have a lot of sweat on their foreheads even before the game starts.

Fortunately, both of them are players who have experienced strong winds and waves, so their preparation and warm-up were not affected at all.

At the beginning, the two sides seemed a little tense and did not choose to exert force rashly.

In the first 6 rounds of the game, the two sides tied at 3-3.

The turning point came in the eighth inning.

Chen Ran took advantage of Safin's first serve error and decisively seized the opportunity, showing a master-level tactical layout and scoring several points in a row.

This also caused a sudden increase in the pressure on Safin's side.

If he wants to keep serve, he must improve the success rate of his first serve. Once it becomes his second serve, his scoring rate will be too low.

Soon, with Chen Ran's unexpected ball, he successfully broke Safin's serve in the eighth game and opened the score to two games.

5 is better than 3!

Then there was his service winner.

At this time, Chen Ran began to choose to raise the gears, scoring 4 points in a row, giving Safin a "love game", and won the first set 6-3.

Take it easy, calm and calm.

Chen Ran continued his heroic form, leaving Safin no opportunity to counterattack.

During the break, the Chinese audience at the scene waved national flags, sang and danced with great joy. Chen Ran, who was sitting on the chair, was also drinking water calmly, looking very calm.

Safin beside him directly covered his head with a towel, his expression gloomy.

Damn it, he was completely suppressed by the opponent from beginning to end.

This scene is not even comparable to the Olympic finals.

Safin clenched his fists hard, and the veins on his skin were visible to the naked eye.

He was very unwilling.

As a top-level player, Safin went all the way and eliminated all the good players, but in the end, he became a stepping stone for Chen Ran.

This has happened more than once and is obviously unacceptable to him.

With some irritability in his heart, Safin re-entered the court and started the second set.

Five minutes later, the audience also sighed.

Someone even shouted: "Marat, show the same state as when you eliminated Federer and Hewitt!"

The serve was broken at the start!

What is even more surprising is that when Safin was leading 40 to 15, Chen Ran scored 4 consecutive points to break serve.

"Ah……"

What was rare was that Safin rarely smashed the racket, but put his hands on his hips and smiled bitterly.

He was completely speechless about his performance today.

Whether it was the bottom line or the net, he was completely at a disadvantage and was completely suppressed by Chen Ran.

An unprecedented feeling of helplessness began to emerge in Safin's heart.

This is all terrible.

In the blink of an eye, Chen Ran had broken serve twice, gained a 5-2 lead, and once again had a service winning game.

It was only at this moment that Safin finally regained some form of the game and launched a fierce attack in the desperate situation. For the first time, the score fell into a stalemate in Chen Ran's serve.

After the first 40 draw, the two sides experienced as many as five draws.

In the end, Safin, who was fighting back, unfortunately missed two break points, allowing Chen Ran to successfully hold serve at the third point.

6 is better than 2!

In the second set, the score gap seemed to be wider than in the first set.

But in the final stage, the two sides still fought very frequently.

The audience at the scene finally became a little more excited.

Safin was broken by Chen Ran in two service games, and even though he knew there was no hope of victory, he still launched a fierce counterattack in the opponent's service winning game.

Confrontation between the two sides has clearly taken shape.

Both sides are top players, and sometimes the stronger the suppression, the fiercer the opponent's rebound.

Should there be some suspense in the third set?

Indeed, the third set became exciting.

Safin, who has put down all his baggage, seems to have given up his hunger for the championship and is just enjoying the final.

After all, the last time he reached a Grand Slam final was three years ago.

Three years of separation is indeed too long.

When Safin began to enter the game with the mentality of enjoying the final, he began to perform well.

He repeatedly hit magic balls that amazed audiences around the world, and finally broke Chen Ran in the third set.

After the mutual breaks, both sides became cautious and did not give the other side a chance to break serve again.

In the third set, it came to a tie-break.

In the tie-break, the fierce battle between the two sides was still extremely anxious.

The scores of the two sides continued to rise alternately, from 5 to 5 all the way to 11 to 11, which also made the audience at the Central Court continue to applaud.

boom!
At the critical moment, after the two sides experienced a confrontation that lasted for more than 20 shots, Chen Ran seized the opportunity and finally resolved the battle with an extremely difficult high-pressure ball.

13 is better than 11!

Chen Ran won three consecutive sets and swept Safin.

He also achieved a new achievement, winning the final championship in a Grand Slam tournament without losing a set.

……

(End of this chapter)