Chapter 224: The Strongest Dark Horse

(It's been a few days.,I'm sorry to you here.,I want to send a single chapter to ask for leave.,But I don't know how to send it.,It's really stupid.。 Last time was the Spring Festival holiday, this time it was the May Day holiday, generally on holidays, a middle-aged man like Xiaozi Fan who has two dolls less than three years old, really can't find time to update. It can only be said that taking a baby is much more tiring than working. I'm going to try to do as much as I can to make up for the shortfall. Sorry again! )

Just as Pan Xiqi was fighting on three fronts in singles and doubles and making great progress all the way, the men's singles field of this year's US Open broke out the first big upset. In the second round of the men's singles three-quarters zone, the fourth seed, German talent Zverev Jr., was eliminated by a dark horse from Croatia.

The Croatian player, who is ranked only 61st in the world, is named Bona. Churic, who is only half a year older than Zverev Jr., has been playing senior tennis for several years, but has not yet achieved too impressive results. It was at the ATP World Tour 250 Hassan II Grand Prix in April this year that he won his first career title. Compared to his opponent Zverev, it is definitely not the same as a whisper.

Born in 1997 as a tennis supernova, the German player Aleksandr has just turned 20 years old. Zverev has already ushered in an early breakthrough in his career. At the beginning of 17 years, Zverev Jr. has already shown his amazing upward momentum. In addition to losing to natto in five sets at the Australian Open at the beginning of the year, he actually won five championship titles in the next five titles.

Among them, the most shocking performances were his performances at the Rome Masters and the Rogers Cup. In the final battle, facing Xiao De and Cow among the Big Four, he actually swept in two sets, and it can be said that he stepped on these two tennis superstars to win the first two Masters titles of his career.

You know, winning two Masters titles in the same year, in the past ten years, no player outside the Big Four has ever done it. Coupled with his excessively young age, after the Rogers Cup, countless tennis media people are raising their arms and shouting: "A new star who broke the monopoly of the Big Four has finally appeared!" ”

Therefore, before the start of the US Open, Zverev Jr. was rightfully regarded as the third favorite after cows and natto. Especially because of Murray's divine assist, Cow Natto was placed in the top half, which made Zverev, who was alone in the bottom half, the best choice to break through to the final.

And the reason why he is called Zverev Jr. is naturally because there is also a big Zverev in the tennis world. And this big Zvi is none other than our little Zvi's own brother. The difference between the two brothers is a full ten years, and the achievements in tennis are as huge as the age gap.

Having been in tennis for more than a decade, Zvi can only be considered a good professional, but he is still far from being excellent. Although he has always been able to maintain his world ranking within the top 50, he has even entered the top 30 at the highest. But the upper limit of his brother's talent seems to have come to an end, and he has entered the late stage of his career and no longer has much hope for his original dream, but just wants to play his final few seasons in good health.

In this way, Zverev Jr., with the long-awaited expectations, started his last Grand Slam journey of the 2017 season. In the first round, facing the little-known Brazilian player, he lived up to expectations and swept his opponent 3:0.

However, although the score looked easy, anyone who watched his first round would never say it was an easy match. For some reason, Zverev Jr. seemed to be slow to get into the game, making a lot of mistakes in the game. The first set was extremely anxious, and in the end, Zverev Jr. only won in the tie-break with a thrilling score of 11-9.

In the last two sets, Zvi's form didn't seem to improve as he won the first set. He struggled and only relied on the large hard power gap between the two sides, and finally won the victory with a close score of 7:5 and 6:4.

After the first round, in the face of questions from reporters about his poor form, Zvi did not seem very worried. The first round of a Grand Slam is always the hardest to beat, and the words that I will be going to be better and better will easily silence the reporters. Clearly, everyone thinks that the No. 4 seed's first-round performance will help him go further.

However, no one could have imagined that when Zvi Jr. met the little-known Čurić in the second round, he would be in big trouble. Compared with the first round, Zvi's form has not improved significantly, and he is still playing without a beat. However, this time he met an opponent who was in high spirits, so it was not so easy to get through again.

In the first set, Zvi won 6-3 with the advantage of one more break, but the second three sets changed dramatically. Čurić, who was completely playing at the level, was simply full of firepower in the face of Zvi, who was not in shape, and actually had the upper hand in the offensive battle between the two sides. Zvi, who was plagued by mistakes, became more and more conservative, and in the end he was forced to take the initiative to defend.

7:5, 7:6, 7:6, three consecutive sets of seven, although desperately resisted, but Xiao Zvi still helplessly ate the bitter fruit of poor state. Seeing Churic celebrate wildly on the ground after the reversal, Zverev Jr. can only lick his wounds alone, and strive to make a comeback next year.

With Zverev Jr. out, there was a strange phenomenon in Pansiczy's one-eighth community, that is, the remaining four players, none of whom were seeded. This also means that the quarterfinals of this year's US Open will be produced from these four.

And Churic, with the feat of eliminating the No. 4 seed, is naturally regarded as the strongest contender for this quarter-final, or the only favorite. Not to mention, the next thing he met was the qualifier Pan Xiqi, which can be regarded as a direct submission to the top 16.

Although Pancic, as a qualifier, was still alive in the draw after two rounds, many people were surprised. But that's not enough to see him as a big dark horse. Because he only defeated the young seed Anderson and the out-of-fashion world top 10 Baghdatis. The level of these two people is simply heaven and earth compared to the little Zvi who is in the sky.

On the other hand, Čurić can pull down the favorite, although the opponent is not in good shape, but this is not something that ordinary players can do. In particular, his forehand attack, which is already known for his attack, has made countless tennis commentators admire. Therefore, so far, the outside media has recognized it as the strongest dark horse in the men's singles of this US Open.

For the third round of the match between the two, foreign media also predicted that Čurić would win easily. In their opinion, the Chinese players who swept the advance in the first two rounds by a huge margin are almost at the end of the road to the US Open.