Rublev beats Humbert to keep semi-final hopes alive at UTS London
The Russian was trailing in the first and second quarters but bounced back to win 3-0
Andrey Rublev, UTS London 2024
Russia’s Andrey ‘Rublo’ Rublev kept his chances of a semi-final berth at UTS London by Builder.ai alive with a 3-0 win over Ugo ‘The Commander’ Humbert on Saturday.
With this result, all four players in Group A still have a shot of making the Final Four.
Humbert builds early lead in first and second quarter
On Saturday, it was Humbert who got off to a fast start, winning eight of the first 10 points to lead 8-2. From there, Rublev fought back to win nine of the next 10 and lead 11-9. The Frenchman then used his Bonus Card successfully which helped him build a 13-11 lead. However, Rublo put his Bonus Card into play and won it to go up 14-13 and win the first quarter 15-13.
In the second quarter, it was once again Humbert who built an early lead, going up 6-3. The Russian once again fought back and cut the deficit down to 12-11 in Humbert’s favour. Rublo then used his Bonus Card successfully once again and clinched the second quarter on a net cord winner 15-13.
Rublev wins without losing a quarter
In the third quarter, Rublev was the one who raced to an early 9-3 lead only to see The Commander fight his way back to 12-12 with the use of a Bonus Card. The Russian then used his own Bonus Card successfully to lead 15-12 as the clock neared eight minutes. Needing to reach16, Humbert saved three set points to make it 15-15 but an error handed the victory to Rublev 16-15 in the quarter and a 3-0 result.
