Holger Rune started his 2024 Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS) campaign with a hard-fought win over Dominic Thiem.
The Ultimate Tennis Showdown is back, and the first tournament of the 2024 is taking place in Oslo, Norway. After Andrey "Rublo" Rublev bested Benoit "The Rebel" Paire, another two men entered the tennis arena.
Holger "The Viking" Rune took on Dominic "Thieminho" Thiem, with both players having experience with the competition from the past. Rune recently competed at the 2023 UTS Grand Final in London, while the Austrian played at the event a few years ago.
The first quarter of the match was quite one-sided, as the Danish player was much better, and managed to use his "next points counts x3" card well, while his opponent couldn't do the same thing, resulting in a comfortable 16-8 win for Rune.
However, the tables turned in the second quarter, when Thiem fought hard, showing his skillset, and getting a boost from one rally that looked like it would never end, until the Austrian decided it, and eventually the second quarter too, winning it 14-11.
In the third quarter, it was the Danish player once again who came out on top, as he played the crucial points better, and as a result, he was able to win the quarter 13-10, ensuring himself at least a sudden death shootout.
And that would be needed, as once again, Thiem got his revenge in the fourth quarter. The 2020 US Open winner won the quarter 13-11, sending the match into the fifth quarter.
Ultimately, the match had to be decided in a sudden death. Thiem had a chance to win the match when he had a match point, but after he didn't use it, Rune applied the pressure and forced the Austrian to miss a volley, allowing the Dane to win the match 16-8, 11-14, 13-10, 11-13, 2-1.
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