Chapter 59: The Finals Begin!

The next day arrived—the day of the finals!

Before the match began, Jiang Hong walked out onto the tennis court.

Unlike the previous stop in Shanghai, the tournament committee had not brought in children to act as stand-fillers in the audience. The seats in the stands looked sparse and scattered. There were probably fewer than a hundred people present, consisting mostly of avid tennis fans and tournament officials.

Jiang Hong had already reviewed the dossier on his opponent. Coming from South Korea, his opponent was currently ranked 472nd in the world and was the top seed for the Guangzhou leg. Born in 1979, he was already 28 years old. Previously, he had mainly competed in ATP Challenger tournaments, with a career-high ranking in the 300s. However, as age caught up with him and injuries piled up, he had been reduced to playing in ITF circuit events.

His name was Park Jun-hyuk. With his hair dyed blonde and wearing a stud earring, he certainly possessed a rather unconventional, non-mainstream look.

Following Paradorn Srichaphan's injury, Lee Hyung-tzu was likely the strongest tennis player in Asia, having ushered in a career-best season this year by climbing to a personal-high ranking of 36th.

As for the man standing before him, Jiang Hong had no impression of him whatsoever. He would likely knock around the ITF Futures circuit for a while longer before quietly retiring into obscurity.

Since tournaments held domestically mostly attracted Asian competitors, players from Japan and South Korea made up a large portion of the draw. Although Park Jun-hyuk looked somewhat eccentric, as a veteran, his demeanor on the court was remarkably steady. There was not a trace of contempt in his eyes; instead, he looked thoroughly cautious. After all, Jiang Hong had already claimed one 10K title and fought his way to the finals of a 25K event—he clearly possessed genuine strength.

When it came time for the referee to toss the coin, luck did not side with Jiang Hong this time, and his opponent won the right to serve.

While seizing the first service game was important, that rule generally applied only to evenly matched opponents. Jiang Hong had already studied his opponent's gameplay, and Park Jun-hyuk's serve wasn't overwhelmingly ferocious. Still, if one were to be broken on the very first service game, it would inevitably pile on psychological pressure.

After exchanging a few casual hits to warm up, the two players returned to their respective baselines at the referee's command to begin the match.

Park Jun-hyuk's opening serve was impressive, carrying great velocity—the ball speed must have hovered around 180 kilometers per hour. The moment Jiang Hong made contact, he realized something was different. Not only was the ball hurtling toward him at high speed, but it was also loaded with heavy outside slice.

True to form, anyone capable of surviving on the professional circuit for so many years was no fool.

Jiang Hong widened his swing angle, his racket completely wrapping around the tennis ball. The ball landed just inside the baseline, bounced high, and sailed deep past the rear line!

"So fierce?"

Park Jun-hyuk looked slightly surprised. To be honest, this particular trick of his was designed to catch opponents off guard. When his forehand and backhand failed to improve and his speed began to wane, he had no choice but to obsessively refine his serve. He never expected his signature weapon to be countered so easily.

"Love-fifteen!"

The moment the referee announced the score, a thunderous roar of cheers erupted from the stands.

"Awesome, little Jiang!"
"You truly live up to our expectations!"
"That return was simply gorgeous!"

Hearing the commotion from the stands, Jiang Hong turned his head in surprise. There, he spotted a dozen or so people holding up a red banner.

"Forging the glory of the internet cafe, little Jiang is duty-bound!"

Jiang Hong finally connected the dots—so they were fans from the online forum! He never imagined they would track him down here to watch his match.

However, this was merely a minor interlude, and Jiang Hong quickly refocused his attention entirely on the match.

Park Jun-hyuk moved over to the deuce court and prepared to serve again. Unfazed by the previous setback, he elected to hit the exact same serve as before.

Yet Jiang Hong was well-prepared; he had already started moving before the ball was even struck! As the ball landed, Jiang Hong smoothly unleashed a straight-drive shot.

The tennis ball hurtled directly toward Park Jun-hyuk's forehand side. Generally, a forehand return was relatively easy to execute, but anticipating that Jiang Hong would target his open court, Park Jun-hyuk had cheated by moving early, inadvertently leaving a gaping vacancy right in his own forehand zone!

Spotting the direction of the return, Park Jun-hyuk scrambled to reverse his momentum, straining his arm as he swept his racket upward in a desperate arc. The tennis ball traced a high parabola through the air, clearing the net.

Because Park Jun-hyuk's return had been forced, though the trajectory was high, the landing spot was agonizingly shallow. Such high, looping lobs traveled slowly, buying the hitter precious time to recover their court position or even launch a counter-offensive.

A flash crossed Jiang Hong's eyes. *"Let's take a gamble!"*

Once this type of ball bounced, the rebound would be deep, exerting immense pressure on the opponent's positioning.

*tap-tap-tap!*

Suddenly, Jiang Hong dashed forward toward the net! Refusing to let the ball bounce, he directly opted for an aerial volley.

*Crack!*

He swung his racket, driving the ball straight into the open left court.

Park Jun-hyuk, who had just managed to recover his stance, never expected Jiang Hong to be so audacious. Executing an aerial volley off a high defensive lob was extraordinarily difficult; the slightest miscalculation would send the ball flying wide of the sidelines.

To be frank, Jiang Hong harbored no absolute certainty in his heart. But yielding to an opponent's pressure and allowing himself to be suppressed was simply not Jiang Hong's style. He was willing to gamble on this single shot!

*Smack!*

With a crisp report, the tennis ball slammed into the turf!

"Good, fifteen-thirty!"

Jiang Hong's return had landed squarely on the sideline!

"Great shot!"
"That was so cool! Watching matches on TV before was never this thrilling!"
"My heart was in my throat just now—little Jiang is far too daring with his gambles!"

The members of Jiang Hong's fan support group were utterly astounded by that return. Although they had watched no shortage of tennis matches in the past, actually watching live and experiencing the visceral thrill of supporting a player in person was an entirely different sensation.

That aerial volley massively boosted their morale. When the referee called out the score, Jiang Hong clenched his fist tightly!

People's joys and sorrows are never shared. Meanwhile, Park Jun-hyuk stared in disbelief as this "lucky shot" stuck precisely to the line. If it had deviated by even a fraction of an inch, the point would have been his!

Park Jun-hyuk slashed his racket through the air a few times, venting the frustration churning inside him.

At the referee's signal, the match resumed. Park Jun-hyuk tossed the ball high into the air once more, stepping forward aggressively.

*Bang!*

This particular serve lacked any spin; it was as plain and orthodox as a tennis ball could get! Yet the velocity was terrifying, likely touching the 200 kilometer-per-hour mark!

Jiang Hong's immediate reaction upon receiving the ball was simply: *Heavy!*

Because his initial prediction had been wrong, there was no time left to adjust. In the end, he failed to control the direction of his return, and the ball sailed out past the baseline.

"Out, fifteen-forty!"

Park Jun-hyuk seemed to release all the pent-up frustration in his chest.

"Ahhhh!"

He suddenly jerked his head back and let out a roar.

Jiang Hong shook his wrists casually, paying it no mind—it was just a single point, after all!

"What's he howling about? So he won a point, nothing to gloat over!"
"That ball was seriously fast though. I wonder if little Jiang can handle it."
"He should be fine, right?"

Having finished venting, Park Jun-hyuk prepared for his fourth serve. He seemed to have found the key to dealing with Jiang Hong, choosing to repeat the brutal, flat serve from before.

However, while such flat serves traveled at blinding speeds, they came with a fatal flaw—a high error rate!

His first serve caught the net. His second serve managed to clear the net, but sailed directly out of bounds!

Clearly, Park Jun-hyuk was not a genuine heavy-hitter; he had likely only managed to unleash that blistering high-speed serve earlier driven by a surge of pure anger.