Rune sweeps past Rublev in fiery encounter to reach the final of UTS London
Holger “The Viking” Rune is into his first ever UTS tour final, beating Andrey “Rublo” Rublev in a volatile semi-final encounter at the UTS Grand Final
Holger “The Viking” Rune has knocked Andrey “Rublo” Rublev out of the UTS Grand Final, beating the Russian 3-0 in a tempestuous semi-final to reach the UTS tour’s showpiece match.
The Viking took the first quarter by 20 points to 10, with Rublo struggling to find his rhythm early on and looking out of sorts for much of the contest.
Rublo made a vast improvement in the second quarter, fighting his way to an 11-11 next-point-wins climax. But the end of the quarter was marred by the umpire appearing to miss Rublo’s signal for a three-point card – a decision which incensed the 26-year-old.
Rublo then missed his serve but was bizarrely allowed to retake it, leading to a point The Viking won to take the second quarter and move 2-0 up.
“This is a s**t-show”, were Rune’s last words in the change-of-quarter interview, while Rublo revealed he was considering not returning for the third quarter.
While clearly still seething from his missed three-point card opportunity, Rublo did return to the court to finish the match, pushing The Viking in a closely-fought final quarter.
It wasn’t to be, however, as the Dane made the perfect use of his own three-point card right at the end of the match to surge ahead and ultimately out of reach of the Russian.
As a result, The Viking, who had struggled with the blistering pace of UTS matches at the start of the weekend, is now into the UTS tour’s showpiece match where he will face either Jack “The Power” Draper or Casper “The Iceman” Ruud.
