552 A Dream Come True (2/2)

Zhen Chen was forced into a corner. After losing a round, he finally used all of his potential and won the round, with the final score being seven to five.

That round gave Zhen Chen confidence. In the third round of the match, Zhen Chen had clearly become used to the match. He was no longer nervous and he showcased his true abilities, beating his opponent with a score of six to four.

The final score was two to one, with Zhen Chen advancing to the second round.

...

In the second round of the qualifier, Zhen Chen's opponent was a Frenchmen. He was also ranked above Zhen Chen.

However, Zhen Chen won easier this round easier than the first round. Two rounds with the score of 6 to 4 meant an overall score of two to zero.

Clearly, the French player was not good at playing on a hard court, which Zhen Chen was very adept at.

Among the four major tennis tournaments, the Wimbledon Open used a grass court, the French Open used a clay court, and the Australian and U.S. Opens used a hard court. The difference between the U.S. and the Australian Open was that the Australian Open used rubber, so the ball bounced slower. In the U.S. Open, they used cement floors with a special material on top of it, it was regarded as a fast hard court.

The tennis courts in China were basically all rubber courts. There were no grass or clay courts. However, the rubber courts in China mainly used acrylic materials of normal quality. Courts conscientiously constructed would have two layers of coarse rubber under a layer of fine-grained rubber. For courts that were hastily constructed, the surface hardness was pretty much the same as a cement floor.

Most tennis players in China, therefore, were more used to playing on hard courts. They could easily adapt to the Australian and U.S. Open. It was the French Open, because of the clay court, which was the most difficult.

...

It was the third round of the qualifier. Zhen Chen's opponent's world ranking was 119. For him, it was an extreme challenge.

Zhen Chen's opponent clearly did not take him seriously. Just a few months ago, in the Wimbledon Open, Zhen Chen wasn't even eligible to participate in the qualifier for the grand slam tournaments. For his opponent, Zhen Chen was only a passerby.

The 119-ranked player clearly did not realize that his real opponent was himself. His overconfidence was his biggest enemy!

Although Zhen Chen's world ranking only just passed the 200 mark, he had transformed himself. He wasn't that much weaker than his opponent. ”119” underestimated his opponent too much. As a result, he suffered defeat at the hands of Zhen Chen in the first round.

After losing the first round, his opponent was mentally imbalanced. He was anxious to try and take back a round but, in the end, it resulted in more unforced errors. Zhen Chen capitalized on these errors and scored points consecutively.

Zhen Chen, who was in the lead, gained momentum as he played. On the contrary, his opponent became more anxious by the second. In the end, the result was completely one-sided.

Another two to zero. Zhen Chen won the third round of the qualifier and obtained a spot in the main tournament of the U.S. Open!

Beside the court, Dai Li let out a sigh and said, ”I did not waste that 20,000 dollars!”

After that, Dai Li looked towards the court. He saw Jianguo Chen.

The current Jianguo Chen was laughing and crying at the same time…

The grand slam dream of two generations of people was finally realized!