Lin Yan's voice came through the loudspeaker above Hall 2, carrying an indescribable sense of emotion.
"I really didn't expect Medvedev to lose so badly."
He glanced down at the statistics in his hand, the hesitation in his voice still lingering, as if asking, "Am I seeing things wrong?"
"Six to two, six to one. Throughout the match, Medvedev only held his serve three times. His first serve percentage was only 52%, and he committed a staggering 23 unforced errors. This was his worst match at the Master this year."
The live chat is going crazy with comments.
[I thought it was a close match, why can't the world's fifth-ranked player beat Cheng Che?]
Medvedev was playing terribly today, making so many mistakes.
[It's not that he's in bad form, it's that Cheng Che is playing exceptionally well. Didn't you see his serve return? Medvedev's first serve percentage was reduced to below 50%, all thanks to Cheng Che's steals.]
[But it's still a bit outrageous that the world's fifth-ranked player was swept away in two sets.]
[ With Cheng Che in this form, he really has a chance at the Champion ]
[Don't give me that milk, don't give me that milk, there's still Khachanov!]
Qin Lie stood at the entrance of the players' tunnel, watching Cheng Che walk back from the field, unable to suppress his smile.
He went up to Cheng Che and patted him heavily on the shoulder.
"You played exceptionally well today," Qin Lie said. " Medvedev is this year's US Open runner-up, and you beat him like this."
Cheng Che smiled faintly.
He offered no explanation.
He can't very well say that Medvedev's poor performance today was largely due to his good looks being suppressed to the extreme.
He was stunned for a moment when he first saw Medvedev.
That Russia was 1.98 meters tall, with an excellent physique, but his face... Cheng Che found it hard to describe.
The arrangement of his facial features had an inexplicable awkwardness, and coupled with his expressionless face during the competition, he looked like a dried-up stone.
The effect of " Attractiveness Suppression " was maximized on him.
The lower the other person's appearance, the stronger the suppression; the effect is even stronger on the same sex.
Medvedev was his rival, a man of the same sex, and far less handsome than him.
All three conditions are met.
With the added aura of Champion, the Russia played timidly from the very first game.
His first serve percentage dropped from 58% in the first set to 46% in the second set, and he made more and more unforced errors.
As for Cheng Che himself, his shooting touch remained at 90 points today.
With one side gaining an advantage and the other losing an advantage, the match turned into a crushing defeat.
Lin Yan's voice came through the radio again, his tone calmer than before, but still carrying an uncontrollable sense of emotion.
Congratulations to Cheng Che for defeating the tournament's third seed, world number five Medvedev, 6-2, 6-1 to advance to the semifinals. He will face world number four Khachanov in the semifinals. This is the first time Cheng Che has reached the Master semifinals in his career.
Cheng Che and Qin Lie walked together toward the locker room.
The two were accompanied by three Wilson staff members: one carrying his tennis bag, one handing him a water bottle, and another holding a towel, ready to offer it to him at any moment.
Ever since Cheng Che became the spokesperson for Wilson, the Wilson Xia Country branch has treated him like a treasure.
They arranged the hotel, paid for all the food and drinks, and now they've even assigned several staff members as assistants to accompany us from the stadium to the hotel.
Cheng Che wasn't used to it at first, but Qin Lie said, "With your current status, you deserve this treatment," so he let them be.
Once in the changing room, Cheng Che changed his clothes, picked up his bag, and walked out.
A black van was parked at the entrance. Qin Lie opened the door, and Cheng Che got in.
Then he saw Su Miaoyin.
She sat in the back row and changed her clothes.
Today I wore a light yellow short-sleeved shirt, white shorts, my hair was tied in a bun, and I wore canvas shoes.
She smiled when she saw Cheng Che come up.
"Congratulations."
"Thank you." Cheng Che sat down next to her.
The car started and drove towards the hotel.
Su Miaoyin glanced at him, then suddenly wrinkled her nose and moved a little closer.
Did you wear perfume?
Cheng Che was taken aback.
Then he realized it must be a [ Strange Fragrance ].
"No," he said.
Qin Lie glanced at him in the rearview mirror and smiled. " Cheng Che's grown up, he's gotten vain now?"
"I can't have a natural body odor," Cheng Che said with a smile.
Qin Lie burst into laughter, almost turning the steering wheel off course.
"Do you think you're the Fragrant Concubine?"
Cheng Che shook his head speechlessly.
Su Miaoyin smiled and didn't press the matter further.
But when she got closer, she did smell a very faint scent.
Like a blend of cedar and mint, it's clean and refreshing, not too strong, but very soothing.
She leaned back in her seat, moving a little closer to him, without moving away.
The car got on the road.
Cheng Che took out his phone and browsed the internet.
Sure enough, discussions about his chances of winning the championship have spread like wildfire.
Some say he has an 80% chance of winning, because he won all four of his matches in this Master tournament in straight sets, showing an exceptionally good form.
Some say 50%, because his semi-final opponent Khachanov, is ranked fourth in the world and has much more experience than him.
"The world's fourth-ranked Russia star Khachanov, is still around. How can he win the championship?"
" Asia tennis mainly plays on hard courts, while Khachanov excels on grass, so he might not be a match for Cheng Che."
"Don't open the champagne at the halfway point, there are still two games left."
Cheng Che flipped through a few pages and put his phone away.
Su Miaoyin leaned closer, her eyes shining.
"Why don't you take tomorrow off?"
"Um."
"Well..." Su Miaoyin paused, "Should we go to Disneyland?"
Cheng Che was taken aback.
Disneyland.
He's never been there in his life.
When he was a child, his family was not well-off. His parents were busy running a breakfast shop, so they never took him to Disneyland, or even the amusement park in Spring City.
Later, when I went to high school, I was busy studying.
Later, with the system in place, I was busy training, competing, and making money.
He turned to look at Qin Lie excitedly.
Qin Lie saw his gaze in the rearview mirror and smiled helplessly.
"You can go. But don't do any strenuous activities; it wouldn't be good if you got injured."
Cheng Che nodded.
He wasn't worried about getting hurt.
He has Self-Healing Instinct; minor injuries heals instantly, and even serious injuries can be completely healed in a short time.
Can you really get injured riding a roller coaster?
Then he took out his phone and started searching for Disneyland travel guides.
"What are you searching for?" Su Miaoyin asked, leaning closer.
"Let's see what projects are available." Cheng Che's fingers swiped quickly across the screen. " TRON Lightcycle Power Run, that looks good. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, that's also okay. And Pirates of the Caribbean..."
"Didn't you say you'd never been?" Su Miaoyin looked at him and a smile crept onto her lips.
"We only search places we haven't been to before," Cheng Che said without looking up. "We can't just stand there like idiots when we get there."
Su Miaoyin didn't reply, but simply leaned back in her seat, looking at his profile.
The car drove through a section of road with sparse streetlights, and the interior of the car darkened, with only his phone screen lit up.
The screen light shone on his face; his eyes were fixed on the screen, and the corners of his mouth were constantly turned up.
She felt that Cheng Che at this moment was a completely different person from the one on the court.
On the court, he is sharp, calm, and invincible.
The person sitting next to her, searching for Disneyland travel guides, was just an eighteen-year-old boy who had never been to an amusement park before.
"What time do we open tomorrow?" Cheng Che suddenly looked up and asked.
"8:30."
"Shall we leave at seven?"
Su Miaoyin paused for a moment, then laughed. "Why are you in such a hurry?"
"If you go late, you'll have to wait in line," Cheng Che said matter-of-factly. "It's all in the guidebook; the popular rides have lines that take over an hour. Going early means you can do more."
Su Miaoyin laughed when she saw his serious expression.
After she finished laughing, she nodded. "Okay, seven o'clock. Don't be late."
I'm never late.
The car turned onto the street where the hotel was located.
Cheng Che put his phone away and leaned back in his chair.
The streetlights outside the window receded one by one. He stared out the window for a while, then suddenly remembered something.
Qin Lie.
"Um?"
Do you have fireworks at Disneyland?
Qin Lie glanced at him in the rearview mirror. "Yes. 8:30 PM."
Cheng Che nodded.
He didn't speak again, but his fingers tapped lightly on his knees, a little faster than usual.