Tokyo Preliminary - St. Rudolph arc

Ep#	Title	Original airdate	English airdate
27	"Karupin's Adventure" "Karupin's Adventure // Karupin no Bōken" (カルピンの冒険)	April 17, 2002	March 26, 2007
Ryoma accidentally packs his cat's Karupin favorite toy in his tennis bag, so Karupin follows him to school and explores the grounds. When Ryoma finds out his cat is on campus, he rushes to find him, worried about what may become of him. After finding out that Ryoma has been relentlessly searching for his cat, the other members help him in his search, eventually helping him find Karupin.
28	"A New Regular Appears!?" "Shin Regyurā Arawaru!?" (新レギュラー現る!?)	April 24, 2002	April 9, 2007
When Ryoma oversleeps before the match, Horiō Satoshi, another freshman, is forced to impersonate Ryoma, but he gets challenged by another player when the latter hears him bragging about his supposed skills. Luckily for Horio, Ryoma arrives just in time to bail him out. Meanwhile, Hajime Mizuki, the manager of St. Rudolph's tennis team, tells Akiyama, Seigaku's next opponent in the tournament, how to target the Seigaku players' weak spots.
29	"Momo and Viper" "Momo to Mamushi" (桃とマムシ)	May 1, 2002	April 23, 2007
The next tournament starts, and the Seigaku team is informed of their positions. Momoshiro and Kaido are unexpectedly paired up to play doubles 2 against St. Rudolph's Atsushi Kisarazu and Shinya Yanagisawa even though the two have been rivals since they were freshmen. Ironically, however, though they argue with each other, they appear to be a compatible team, who can play on each other's strengths and weaknesses.
30	"Mizuki's Scenario" "Mizuki no Shinario" (観月のシナリオ)	May 8, 2002	April 30, 2007
Though Momoshiro and Kaido are a compatible team, they constantly butt heads in the court, resulting in them struggling as the opponents also know their strengths and weaknesses as well. However, the last-ditch appearance of Kaido's latest technique, the Boomerang Snake, throws Mizuki's carefully laid plans in disarray since he believed that Kaido was unable to perform the technique at will. This also motivates Momoshiro to evolve as well.
31	"The Moon Volley" "Mūnborē" (ムーンボレー)	May 15, 2002	May 7, 2007
Momoshiro knocks out the St. Rudolph player Yanagisawa when his Dunk Smash accidentally hits the player, thus Seigaku wins doubles 2 by default. Eiji and Oishi, the famed Golden Pair, takes to the courts against St. Rudolph's Kaneda Ichirō and its captain, Yoshirō Akazawa. In the match, Mizuki's information helps the St. Rudolph pair tire out Eiji, which is when Oishi reveals his famed technique, the Moon Volley, which can land directly on the baseline.
32	"Mortal Blow: Eiji's Feigned Sleep Attack" "Super Move! Eiji's Pretend to Sleep Attack!? // Hissatsu! Eiji no Neta Furi Kōgeki!?" (必殺!英二の寝たフリ攻撃!?)	May 22, 2002	May 14, 2007
Oishi and Eiji use a new formation that makes use of their exceptional teamwork, but when Eiji runs out of energy, he resorts to regaining his stamina by standing still on the court. In order to give Eiji time to regain his strength, Oishi plays against both the St. Rudolph players by himself. Just when the other pair was about to win, Eiji recovers at match point and saves the ball just in time, thanking his teammate for covering for him.
33	"The Tiebreak" "Taiburēku" (タイブレーク)	May 29, 2002	May 21, 2007
Eiji recovers, and the "Golden Pair" take it to a tiebreaker. However, just when they have a run of three straight points, Eiji starts to lose his stamina again. St. Rudolph fights back and wins the match, but Akazawa accepts that they were lucky, while Mizuki starts to lose confidence in his data and predictions. In the next match, in which Ryoma is pitted against Yūta Fuji, the latter demonstrates his Twist Spin shot against Ryoma.
34	"Twist Spin Shot" "Tsuisutosupinshotto" (ツイストスピンショット)	June 5, 2002	May 29, 2007
Ryoma faces Yuta Fuji, Shusuke's younger brother and also the one rumored to be the lefty-killer, the player who specializes in defeating left-handed opponents. He quickly runs into trouble due to the opponent's tricky Rising shot, which is able to confuse Ryoma due to the ball's unusual motion, but eventually finds a way to counter it. As the match goes, Yuta's reasons for transferring to St. Rudolph from Seigaku is revealed. To prove his worth, Yuta performs his Twist Spin shot.
35	"Drive B" "Doraibu B" (ドライブB)	June 12, 2002	June 4, 2007
With his Rising shot and Twist Spin shot, Yuta is able to dominate the match, but Ryoma continues to find a way to counter the combination. After he advises Yuta to not use his Twist Spin shot anymore, Ryoma unveils his new move, Drive B, a technique that bounces in a B shape, to counter Yuta's technique. With it, Ryoma is able to win the match. The ruthlessness of Mizuki is revealed as he is shown to be the one who taught Yuta the Twist Spin shot, despite knowing that it can cause major damage to the user's arm.
36	"Big Brother, Shusuke Fuji" "Big Brother, Syusuke Fuji // Ani, Fuji Syusuke" (兄, 不二周助)	June 19, 2002	June 11, 2007
Angered by Mizuki's treatment of his younger brother, Fuji decides to teach him a lesson about tennis on the courts. Though Mizuki is confident in the data he has collected on Fuji, which seemingly goes according to his plan at first, the match ends with his complete defeat; Fuji had lost the first five games on purpose. Meanwhile, Fudomine unexpectedly defeats Hyotei Academy three games to zero.