diff --git a/PROJECT.md b/PROJECT.md
index ffefc17..153a180 100644
--- a/PROJECT.md
+++ b/PROJECT.md
@@ -870,6 +870,25 @@ after the first serve does not happen from behind the groundline"*.
   tennis branch. Serving from mid-court where the last rally left you read as a bug because it was
   one. Verified: second serve from z 24.3, x mirrored to the ad side.
 
+**FIFTEENTH PASS — the opponent shows up, and the death loop dies.** Oliver: *"still very weak and
+slow opponent. it also spawns at places where it is impossible to react to my serve. so i win like
+always. in the cases i dont win there is a bug. when trying to serve after i got hurt i get hurt
+again and again until i die"*.
+- **THE DEATH LOOP was `G.serveNum`.** Tennis's `pointTo` is the only thing that ever reset it — and
+  the match bypasses pointTo entirely. So the first fault of the match armed "second serve"
+  PERMANENTLY: every missed serve after it was a double fault -> a point -> blood -> repeat to
+  death, which is exactly the spiral a just-hurt, rattled player serves into. `matchReady()` (the
+  match's own point boundary) resets it now, and a regression pins it.
+- **The receiver starts every point ON ITS MARK.** It was spawning at a random x and standing
+  wherever the last rally abandoned it — an opponent that cannot reach the serve is not weak, it is
+  absent, and every ace against it was hollow. `matchReady` drops it onto the exact receiver
+  position the tennis branch computes for O (deuce/ad mirrored with the server).
+- **The base opponent is a player now**: `matchSpeedBase` 1.4 (the duel's 2.8 m/s lumber was tuned
+  for ONE sudden-death point, not a game) and `matchFlub` 0.08 (the duel's 0.2 gives away a fifth of
+  all returns — an opponent that beats itself). Measured with the same autopilot that previously won
+  seven straight games: **it now loses the match** (2-3, then blooded out in game two). That may
+  even be too hot — `matchSpeedBase`/`matchFlub` are the two dials, and Oliver's thumb is the judge.
+
 **Open, and every one of them is Oliver's call after he plays it:**
 1. ~~**A ball that carries through the lane can complete two steps at once.**~~ Largely CLOSED by
    the slice removal (seventh pass) — a cut ball picking its own next victim was the main way this
diff --git a/index.html b/index.html
index f837e08..974b25e 100644
--- a/index.html
+++ b/index.html
@@ -400,6 +400,6 @@
     </div>
   </div>
 </div>
-<script type="module" src="src/main.js?v=166"></script>
+<script type="module" src="src/main.js?v=167"></script>
 </body>
 </html>
diff --git a/src/beats.js b/src/beats.js
index 67bd691..b1c3b89 100644
--- a/src/beats.js
+++ b/src/beats.js
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 // input <-> gameplay: the imported bindings are only touched inside functions, never at load.)
 
 import { TUNE, UI, bossArt, COURT, HOME } from './config.js';
-import { G, P, ball, score, setupPoint, sendBoy } from './state.js';
+import { G, P, O, ball, score, setupPoint, sendBoy } from './state.js';
 import { voice, zombieDuck, aww } from './audio.js';
 import { zombies, pellets, extras, shots, spawnRacketZombie, spawnChapterBoss, spawnZombie, explode, killPlayer } from './zombies.js';
 import { cheer, aside, endBurst, deliverTin, showModal, logSwing, advancePoint, scoreKey } from './gameplay.js';
@@ -227,7 +227,7 @@ export function startMatch() {
   G.boy = null;
   score.pts = [0, 0];
   matchOpponent();
-  ball.active = false; setupPoint();
+  matchReady();
   zombieDuck(true);
   voice('play_resume', 0.2);
   if (!G.seen.match) {
@@ -238,6 +238,22 @@ export function startMatch() {
   return true;
 }
 
+// Every point starts like a real one: the server behind his line (setupPoint's tennis branch) and
+// THE RECEIVER ON ITS MARK — the zombie is dropped onto the receiver position the tennis branch
+// just computed for O, instead of standing wherever the last rally abandoned it. Oliver: "it spawns
+// at places where it is impossible to react to my serve. so i win like always." An opponent that
+// cannot reach the serve is not weak, it is absent.
+// ...and G.serveNum resets HERE, because the match bypasses tennis's pointTo (the only other place
+// that resets it). Without this, the first fault of the match armed 'second serve' PERMANENTLY:
+// every missed serve after it was a double fault, a point, and blood — the death loop Oliver hit.
+function matchReady() {
+  ball.active = false;
+  G.serveNum = 1;
+  setupPoint();
+  const rz = zombies.find(z => z.variant === 'r');
+  if (rz) { rz.x = O.x; rz.z = 1.0; rz.pose = 'idle'; rz.swingT = -1; rz.swingCool = 0.3; }
+}
+
 function matchOpponent() {
   spawnRacketZombie();
   const zb = zombies.find(z => z.variant === 'r');
@@ -279,7 +295,7 @@ function matchPoint(side) {
   if (over) return side === 'P' ? matchGameWon(zb, true) : matchGameLost();
   voice(scoreKey(), 0.4);
   if (side === 'P') cheer(0.8, 0.3);
-  ball.active = false; setupPoint();                 // next point, same opponent
+  matchReady();                                     // next point, same opponent, both on their marks
 }
 
 function matchGameWon(zb, banked = false) {
@@ -294,9 +310,9 @@ function matchGameWon(zb, banked = false) {
   voice('game_player', 0.3); cheer(2.4, 0.6);
   G.card = { title: 'GAME.', sub1: 'NEXT OPPONENT', color: UI.pick, t: 2.2 };
   d.opp++;
-  matchOpponent();                                   // fresh body, more hp, its own intro beat
+  matchOpponent();                                   // fresh body, its own intro beat
   d.ending = false;
-  ball.active = false; setupPoint();
+  matchReady();
   G.phase = 'over'; G.overT = 2.2;
 }
 
@@ -304,7 +320,7 @@ function matchGameLost() {
   // Reachable only through deuce (four straight points is exactly your hp) — the body keeps its
   // wounds, the scoreboard banks their game, and the match simply plays on.
   voice('game_opponent', 0.3); aww(1);
-  ball.active = false; setupPoint();
+  matchReady();
   G.phase = 'over'; G.overT = 1.8;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/config.js b/src/config.js
index ba95234..2f41a56 100644
--- a/src/config.js
+++ b/src/config.js
@@ -386,8 +386,13 @@ export const TUNE = {
   matchPlayerHp: 8, // your pool for the MATCH — richer than the gore mode's 4, because a real game
                     // has rallies you deserve to lose without the run ending ("the player is too
                     // weak in this mode"). Their point still costs 1; matchHeal is how you last
-  matchSpeedPer: 0.12, // racketAI speed grows this much per opponent felled...
-  matchFlubKeep: 0.82, // ...and its whiff chance keeps only this much — the ladder now that hp is flat
+  matchSpeedBase: 1.4, // racketAI speed multiplier for opponent ONE — the duel's 2.8 m/s lumber was
+                       // tuned for a single sudden-death point and read as "very weak and slow"
+                       // across a whole game (~3.9 m/s now, rising per rung)
+  matchSpeedPer: 0.12, // ...growing this much per opponent felled
+  matchFlub: 0.08,     // the match's own whiff base — the duel's 0.2 gives away a fifth of all
+                       // returns, which across a game is an opponent that beats itself
+  matchFlubKeep: 0.82, // ...and it keeps only this much per rung — the ladder now that hp is flat
   matchHeal: 2,     // hp back for a game won (the duel's healPerDuel rate)
   // The timing windows, DRAWN (the match's whole ask: "what is the possible tap window, what is the
   // sweet spot"). Numbers shared with the mechanics they visualise, so the picture cannot lie:
diff --git a/src/gameplay.js b/src/gameplay.js
index 63c86fb..10ef51d 100644
--- a/src/gameplay.js
+++ b/src/gameplay.js
@@ -950,8 +950,10 @@ function racketAI(rz, dt) {
   const dx = ball.x - rz.x, dz = tz - rz.z, d = Math.hypot(dx, dz);
   if (d > 0.15) {
     // THE MATCH LADDER ESCALATES HERE, not in hp: with regicide gone the pool is pure scoreboard,
-    // so a harder opponent is a FASTER one that flubs less — the same knobs, scaled per body felled.
-    const spd = TUNE.racketSpeed * (G.match ? 1 + (G.match.opp - 1) * TUNE.matchSpeedPer : 1);
+    // so a harder opponent is a FASTER one that flubs less. The BASE is boosted too — the duel's
+    // 2.8 m/s lumber was tuned for one sudden-death point against a fresh player, and across a
+    // whole game it read as "very weak and slow": opponent one already moves at matchSpeedBase.
+    const spd = TUNE.racketSpeed * (G.match ? TUNE.matchSpeedBase + (G.match.opp - 1) * TUNE.matchSpeedPer : 1);
     const step = Math.min(spd * dt, d);
     rz.dist = (rz.dist || 0) + step; // ground covered — his walk cycle steps off this, not the clock
     rz.x += dx / d * step; rz.z += dz / d * step; rz.runT += dt;
@@ -961,7 +963,9 @@ function racketAI(rz, dt) {
   if (rz.swingCool <= 0 && rz.swingT < 0
       && Math.hypot(ball.x - rz.x, (ball.z - rz.z) * 0.8) < TUNE.aiReach
       && ball.y < CONTACT.maxY && ball.y > CONTACT.minY) {
-    const flub = TUNE.racketFlub * (G.match ? Math.pow(TUNE.matchFlubKeep, G.match.opp - 1) : 1);
+    // ...and the match has its OWN flub base: the duel's 0.2 hands a fifth of all returns away,
+    // which across a game is an opponent that beats itself.
+    const flub = G.match ? TUNE.matchFlub * Math.pow(TUNE.matchFlubKeep, G.match.opp - 1) : TUNE.racketFlub;
     if (Math.random() < flub) rz.swingCool = 0.5; // whiff — it hesitates (rarer per rung of the ladder)
     else { rz.swingT = TUNE.swingWindup + TUNE.swingWindow / 2; trySwing(rz, true, TUNE.racketQMax); rz.swingT = -1; rz.swingCool = 0.3; }
   }
diff --git a/test.js b/test.js
index 790ef21..c6ce2a5 100644
--- a/test.js
+++ b/test.js
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ globalThis.ResizeObserver = class { observe() {} disconnect() {} };
 globalThis.getComputedStyle = () => ({ paddingTop: '0' });
 
 // ---- game modules (real code) ----------------------------------------------
-const { G, P, score, ball, setupPoint } = await import('./src/state.js');
+const { G, P, O, score, ball, setupPoint } = await import('./src/state.js');
 const { update, forceZombies, splatPoint, restartRun, flickTarget } = await import('./src/gameplay.js');
 const { startDuel, resolveInterlude, startBossFight, endBossFight, startDrill: _startDrill, endDrill, startMatch: _startMatch, endMatch } = await import('./src/beats.js');
 // the drill's first-sight modal freezes the world (that is what modals do) — dismiss it the way a
@@ -557,11 +557,36 @@ test('a match ball never wounds the body: the score is the only way through', ()
   assert.equal(zb.hp, zb.hpMax, 'and unwounded — "killing by smashing" is out of the match');
 });
 
+test('THE DEATH LOOP: a fault before a lost point must not arm second-serve forever', () => {
+  // The match bypasses tennis's pointTo — the only thing that ever reset G.serveNum — so the first
+  // fault of the match made EVERY later missed serve a double fault: a point, blood, and repeat
+  // until dead. Oliver hit it: "when trying to serve after i got hurt i get hurt again and again
+  // until i die".
+  startMatch();
+  G.serveNum = 2;                       // a fault has burned the first serve
+  resolveInterlude('O');                // the point is lost (double fault, passing shot, whatever)
+  assert.equal(G.serveNum, 1, 'the NEXT point starts on a first serve');
+  resolveInterlude('P');
+  assert.equal(G.serveNum, 1, '...whoever won it');
+});
+
+test('every point starts with the receiver on its mark', () => {
+  startMatch();
+  const rz = oppOf();
+  rz.x = 6; rz.z = 12;                  // stranded mid-court by the last rally
+  resolveInterlude('P');
+  assert.ok(Math.abs(rz.x) < 3 && rz.z <= 1.5,
+    'reset to the receiver spot, not wherever the rally left it: x=' + rz.x.toFixed(1) + ' z=' + rz.z.toFixed(1));
+  assert.equal(rz.x, O.x, 'on the exact mark the tennis branch computed for the receiver');
+});
+
 test('the ladder escalates in speed and reliability, not in hp', () => {
   // pure arithmetic on the knobs racketAI reads — pinned so a future tuning pass cannot silently
   // flatten the ladder again
+  assert.ok(TUNE.matchSpeedBase > 1, 'opponent one is already quicker than the duel lumber');
   assert.ok(TUNE.matchSpeedPer > 0, 'each opponent is faster');
-  assert.ok(TUNE.matchFlubKeep < 1, 'and whiffs less');
+  assert.ok(TUNE.matchFlub < TUNE.racketFlub, 'the match whiffs less than the duel from the start');
+  assert.ok(TUNE.matchFlubKeep < 1, 'and less again per rung');
 });
 
 test('a game won heals, so a clean player can go the distance', () => {