On May 21, 2014, after a short adjustment of one day, the U.S. Championship resumed and the individual competitions were fully launched. The men's singles and women's singles started on the same day.
As mentioned above, because all NCAA regular seasons are team competitions, the particularity of the competition rules and the objective existence of league divisions have led to direct results:
National rankings are often difficult to reflect the true strength of players. Ranked first and ranked 64th, the gap exists, but it is definitely not as significant as imagined.
Moreover, NCAA players are still young, and with the emphasis on learning, they do not have enough game experience. Naturally, the characteristics of young players' unstable performance and obvious fluctuations in status are further highlighted and amplified in the intensive schedule of the National Championship.
After experiencing the fierce competition in the team competition, it is very likely that physical strength and energy will decline.
It is precisely because of this that individual competitions are often prone to "upsets", which is the case every year.
This year is no exception.
On the first day of the men's singles competition, there were many upsets. Just like the Siberian cold wave sweeping through Athens, you can feel the chill in the hot summer.
The No. 1 seed, Linz of Baylor University, was eliminated in two sets. He suffered an upset loss to No. 3 singles player Andrew Adams of the University of South Carolina. He only got four games in the game, and he lost a little bit. None, even Adams himself couldn't believe his victory.
The second seed, Thompson of the University of California, Los Angeles, clearly felt exhausted when facing Roberto Cid of the University of South Florida. He made frequent mistakes at critical moments, and ended up losing both sets. He was defeated by a disadvantage of breaking serve.
From here, you can feel that the final match between the team competition and the Forbidden City was exhausting for both sides. The score seemed to be UCLA sweeping the opponent "4:0", but including Gao Wen's game Inside, in fact, there is suspense in every game.
Thompson is indeed powerless——
The same goes for USC.
Hanfmann and Saramento, who tried their best in the final, also lost in individual games.
Hanfmann still had a tough style of play. He fought three tie-breaks and lost two. The small score in the tie-break of the final set was "5:7", and he lost to his opponent by a hair's breadth.
Saramento could clearly feel that their mind and energy could no longer keep up. The whole game was like sleepwalking, and their defensive quality seriously collapsed. It was difficult to form a confrontation in the game. They lost to Duke University with two "6:1" games. The little-known opponent ended all competitions in his university.
Regret, it is regret after all, but this is the cruelest and most realistic part of competitive sports. Not all "goodbyes" can leave a beautiful behind.
The last game of Saramento's tennis career was ugly and embarrassing; however, Saramento had no regrets, because in the team competition, he had given everything he had without reservation. That moment of brilliance is what defines his existence.
But is it more than just the two teams in the team finals? The impact of the entire team competition spread across the board.
The fifth seed, Felipe-Soares of Texas Tech University; the sixth seed, Alex Domyan of the University of Virginia; the seventh seed, Tim Kopinski of the University of Illinois Tim Kopinski); No. 11 seed Jared Hiltzik of the University of Illinois -
All lose!
completely annihilated!
No one survived!
It is very, very worth mentioning that the fourth seed, Mitchell Frank of the University of Virginia, faced off against Mackenzie McDonald of UCLA in the first round. This was also a focus match in the first round.
Macdonald performed extremely well, and finally defeated the strong enemy with a final score of "6:2" and "7:5" and entered the second round!
MacDonald also successfully joined the "Dark Horse of Resistance" lineup on the first day of the game, breaking out and moving forward together, blowing the horn to disrupt the draw of the event.
incredible!
Unbelievable!
Incredible!
In fact, including the Big Four in men’s tennis and the legendary superstar Serena Williams in women’s tennis, they have all said on different occasions:
The first round of any tournament is the most difficult, especially a Grand Slam.
Because in the first round of games, players often need to re-adapt to a new venue, weather, atmosphere and opponents, and more or less need to challenge their state. Once they encounter an impactful opponent, the game can easily become deadlocked.
Moreover, Grand Slams and top events have qualifying rounds, and low-ranked players need to pass three or two rounds of qualifying to win a spot in the main draw. Although the ranking of qualifying players is relatively low, they have already played three rounds and have fully adapted to the venue, so they can have a slight advantage.
It is precisely because of this that upsets often occur in the first round.
Naturally, the same situation may arise in the individual competitions of the United States Championship.
In the first round of the U.S. Championship every year, upsets are very common, and people have long been accustomed to it. But even so, upsets like this year are really rare. Almost every seed dropped in a single turn, as if all the seeded players were lost overnight. It's normal to not play ball if everything is in sync.
So much so that ESPN reported it on the front page of its official website, witnessing the important historical moment when the harsh winter descended on Athens in May.
After the first round, only five of the top 16 seeds advanced. Among them, only one of the top 8 seeds successfully passed the test——
No. 3 seed, Marcos Giron of UCLA.
It's the Bruins again!
Throughout the entire process of winning the team competition, Gawain was a well-deserved shining star. MacDonald's accumulated experience and Thompson's high morale also attracted a lot of attention. However, what about Geelong?
Giron, once known as the "Little Prince", seems to have disappeared.
UCLA made history by winning both the men's and women's team championships, but in the headlines, the name of the proud son Giron could not be seen. In a daze, the forgetful people had long forgotten that when the season started , Thompson and Gillon are known as the Bruins' twin stars.
And now?
But no one remembers that the Bruins' No. 2 player is also top-notch.
Until the individual competitions started in full swing.
All the top seeds fell one after another, and the top eight seeds were almost bloodbathed. Only Geelong became the only surviving seed, advanced to the second round with a strong performance, and retained the last trace of dignity of the seeded players. This made the audience and players suddenly realize - —
Heck, the Bruins still have such a master hidden in them!
etc!
Geelong won; McDonald also won... Individual competitions should not also become a stage for UCLA to shine alone... right?
Thompson lost, should I say "fortunately"? No matter what, at least the Bruins finally lost one of their four singles players.
So, what about Gawain?
