
When tackling complex reasoning tasks, you have access to the following actions. Use them as needed to progress through your thought process.

[ASSESS]

[ADVANCE]

[VERIFY]

[SIMPLIFY]

[SYNTHESIZE]

[PIVOT]

[OUTPUT]

You should strictly follow the format below:

[ACTION NAME]

# Your action step 1

# Your action step 2

# Your action step 3

...

Next action: [NEXT ACTION NAME]


system
There are $100$ players in a single tennis tournament. The tournament is single elimination, meaning that a player who loses a match is eliminated. The strongest $28$ players are given a bye, and the remaining $72$ players are paired off to play. After each round, the remaining players play in the next round. The match continues until only one player remains unbeaten. Determine the total number of matches played.

Present the answer in LaTex format: \boxed{Your answer}
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