At this stage, there were no longer multiple matches running in parallel. Every match drew the attention of countless viewers and was broadcast live across multiple platforms.
The first match was Wolf versus Pike.
Before the match, everyone had thought it would be a one-sided affair. Wolf had truly been in dreadful form over the past two years, while Pike had been in consistently excellent shape ever since his rise at last year's Oman Open. At this Hong Kong Open, he had swept his way through every round, crushing his opponents on his way to the semifinals.
The England head coach had dared to openly stand up Rohlskov because both he and Pike had serious ambitions for the Hong Kong Open title.
They did not believe Wang Chao, who had defeated Bayer, was automatically invincible.
That also faintly revealed Pike's true thoughts: he did not think he was inferior to Bayer.
Pike had kept a relatively low profile during yesterday's discussions because his tactical execution really had not been very good, and because it had been Bayer who faced Wang Chao in the quarterfinals.
But the strength of one's tactical execution was not necessarily tied to the strength of one's fighting ability.
Last year, when Sun Tianlong had been in superb form, Pike had forcibly snatched two games from him. That was the source of all his confidence.
Hadn't Lin Zijun become famous overnight by taking a game off Sun Tianlong? He was still praised as a super-genius to this day.
But I took one more game than he did.
Why should Bayer, who had been crushed by Sun Tianlong twenty-seven times, be automatically regarded as the ceiling of European table tennis players?
Pike entered this match brimming with confidence, wanting to give Wolf, Germany's number two figure, a brutal