Chapter 178: Lose First and Win Later
After a mixed doubles semi-final with many twists and turns, Ye Hao had to rush to the fourth round of the men's singles. The quarter-final was also a tough one, as the opponent was Oh Sang-yun from South Korea, who was ranked higher in the world than his teammate Yoo Seung-min, who was ranked ninth, while the former was ranked sixth. Although the world ranking may not be a very accurate reflection of the true strength of the athletes, it is at least a recognition.
Therefore, for this men's singles match, Ye Hao didn't dare to be careless, every singles match is a life-and-death battle, and if you lose, you won't have a chance to start over.
For this game, Wu Shangyin's mentality was very low, he knew that his strength was inferior to Ye Hao, so he put himself in the position of a challenger at the beginning and decided to let go.
After the start of the game, Wu Shangyin really followed the established tactics, and played very relaxed as soon as he came up, and the quality of the forehand and backhand arc balls was very high, occupying a certain advantage in the game.
On the third ball, Ye Hao served, and Wu Shangyin directly shook a board after receiving the ball, which was sudden and deceptive. The sudden pick completely disrupted Ye Hao's rhythm and made him scramble. As a result, Wu Shangyin seized the opportunity, and then volleyed a board vigorously, and successfully scored, and the game score became a 2:1 lead.
On the sixth ball, Wu Shangyin served, Ye Hao wanted to receive the serve and grab it, but after he successfully pulled the ball, Wu Shangyin, who had prepared early, immediately pulled a board back and threw the ball back the way it came. This return ball made Ye Hao's sideways action become useless, and he was attacked by the opponent again, and Ye Hao continued to fall behind 2:4.
In this way, in the first game between the two sides, Wu Shangyin played more actively, but Ye Hao was a little constrained. Therefore, the final result was that Wu Shangyin successfully won the first game 11:7, and the total score was 1:0 to take the lead.
In the second game, Wu Shangyin's state was still bursting, but Ye Hao was slow to find the rhythm of attacking. Time passed minute by minute, and the situation on the field was once again unfavorable to Ye Hao.
From a 2:2 tie, to a small score of 5:7, and then to a 7:10 opponent to get the game point, Ye Hao once again faced the danger of losing, and the next ball was served by Wu Shangyin.
Wu Shangyin served, chased the ball in the middle position, and Ye Hao carefully pulled a board and returned the ball to the net. Wu Shangyin then made a strong arc ball and attacked Ye Hao's backhand.
Although Ye Hao's hand felt cold at this time, he still waved his big arm without hesitation, and pulled back with a force, temporarily solving the crisis. Subsequently, Wu Shangyin was unforgiving, and continued to pull the ball sideways with a forehand to press Ye Hao's backhand. Ye Hao had to step back, and continued to pull back with his backhand to defend.
After three consecutive rounds, Ye Hao gradually relied on his backhand to turn the situation around and fight evenly with his opponent. After Wu Shangyin's forehand pulled the ball vigorously on the fourth beat, Ye Hao suddenly changed his posture, turned sideways in advance, and also pulled the ball quickly with his forehand, and went straight to the opponent's left backhand position after the table tennis ball changed the line.
Ye Hao's sudden counterattack made Wu Shangyin unprepared, so he was suddenly shot, and the posture that he was about to continue to attack sideways became a joke. With a score of 8:10, the crisis of the first game point was successfully resolved by Ye Hao, but there were still two game points waiting for him later.
Wu Shangyin was not knocked down by the defeat of this ball, he took a deep breath, and secretly determined in his heart that he must break through on Ye Hao's serve below and win the second game.
Ye Hao began to serve, the forehand in the direction of the middle of the downspin short ball, Wu Shangyin did not choose to hit hard, after a light cut, the ball returned to the opponent's table. However, the other party did not choose to attack, but it does not mean that Ye Hao will do the same.
Ye Hao stood on tiptoe with his right foot, raised his left foot lightly, waved his left arm with a racket, and with a quick pick-up, the table tennis ball went straight to Wu Shangyin's body. This sudden eruption was like a spark thrown into gasoline, and the raging fire ignited, completely incinerating Wu Shangyin!
At 9:10, Ye Hao broke Wu Shangyin's second game point. At this time, Wu Shangyin's face became gloomy, and there was only one of the three game points left in a row, and if he didn't seize the opportunity, the leading advantage would disappear.
Ye Hao continued to serve, and Wu Shangyin chose to receive the serve this time. However, Wu Shangyin's choice had already been guessed by Ye Hao, so this rush was undoubtedly prevented.
Ye Hao reversed the situation little by little through the transition of two rounds, and then he rushed and blew the horn of the counterattack. After three beats, Ye Hao attacked successfully, the score was equalized, and none of the opponent's three game points were cashed in.
The loss of these three goals made Wu Shangyin's morale fall to the freezing point, and in the subsequent game, he lost his previous hot state and became tepid. Ye Hao seized the opportunity and won two more goals in a row, winning the second game with a wave of 5:0 ** reversal, and the total score was tied at 1:1.
In the third game, Ye Hao made persistent efforts, full of firepower, easily won 11:6, completed the overtake in the total score, and led Wu Shangyin 2:1.
In the fourth game, Wu Shangyin was completely subdued by Ye Hao, and once again obediently swallowed a game of failure, 11:4, Ye Hao won again.
In the fifth game, Wu Shangyin, who was trying to regain his strength, started fighting tactics in the opening stage, but his awakening came too late. Ye Hao has returned to his peak condition, and it has become impossible to "steal" victory from him again. At 11:6, Ye Haobing won the final victory of the game without bloodshed and advanced to the quarterfinals of the men's singles.
At the same time, the Chinese table tennis team and Ye Hao advanced to the quarterfinals together with Wang Liqin, Ma Lin, Ma Long, Wang Hao, and most of the top eight were occupied by national table tennis. In addition to these five, Yoo Seungmin, Pol and Samsonov divided the remaining three places. It can be seen from the list of the top eight that the biggest opponents of national table tennis now are the two, Liu Chengmin and Pol.
However, what Ye Hao needs to care about most now is not the men's singles competition, because the final of the mixed doubles will start first. Their opponents were Wang Liqin/Guo Yue, who killed the defending champions, and they won the mixed doubles championship at the World Table Tennis Championships in Ye Hao's previous life.
Therefore, this final is a bloody battle for the temporary multinational combination of Ye Hao/Xu Xiaoyuan, and Ye Hao is not at all sure whether he can successfully break through. This is the first time in his career, and it shows how terrible this game is.