On Monday, Madisonville-North Hopkins boys tennis player Mingping Zheng put on quite a show in the No. 5 singles slot, losing an epic match to Raheem Milner of Christian County, 8-9 (7-9). The sixth game of the match was a microcosm of the match itself, going to eight deuces and lasting 22 points before Zheng broke through on his sixth breakpoint to go up, 4-2. Here’s the play-by-play:

Milner serve
Milner wins point (failed return of serve) 0-0
Milner (failed service return) 15-0
Zheng (underhand winner) 30-0
Zheng (overhand smash into net) 30-15
*Milner (failed service return) 30-30
*Zheng (shot just inside center mark) 40-30
Milner (no details on shot) DEUCE
*Zheng (winner hit net and over) ADV. MILNER
Milner (forehand into net) DEUCE
Zheng (volleyed into net) ADV. MILNER
**Zheng (double fault) DEUCE
*Milner (cross-court forehand winner at net) ADV. ZHENG
Zheng (shot wide) DEUCE
*Milner (down-the-line winner) ADV. ZHENG
Zheng (at net, hit shot long) DEUCE
Milner (failed service return) ADV. ZHENG
Zheng (forehand over Milner’s head) DEUCE
Milner (forehand goes out) ADV. ZHENG
*Zheng (cross-ourt forehand winner) DEUCE
Milner (backhand into net) ADV. ZHENG
*Zheng (pushed shot too much) DEUCE
**Zheng (double fault) ADV. ZHENG

Yes, this game ended anticlimactically, on a double fault. (The asterisks above indicate service faults.) Milner’s serve gave him problems throughout, as Zheng got a break in the 16th game with a double fault that set up the tiebreaker. (Milner had five double faults to Zheng’s two.) Milner faulted three times in the tiebreaker, but avoided double faulting, and actually went on to win all three of those points, the last of which set up matchpoint, which he converted on.