Ultimate Tennis Showdown pulls out every trick in the book on Day 1

The all-new Ultimate Tennis Showdown began yesterday and featured some incredible tennis while pulling out every trick from its bag in the process.

After much speculation and a rain delay to spoil the opening matches, Patrick Mouratoglou’s Ultimate Tennis Showdown finally began its inaugural day yesterday afternoon (CEST, or Central European Summer Time).

The day started with Alexei Popyrin, dubbed “The Sniper”, became the first-ever winner of the UTShowdown with a 3-1 sets win (13-9, 9-12, 15-12, 14-12) over “The Underdog”, Elliot Benchetrit. Both players opted to use the ‘-1 serve’ and ‘steal a serve’ UTS cards during their match.

The second match of the day saw “The Artist”, Dustin Brown, and “The Hammer” Matteo Berrettini, validate their nicknames. Berrettini came out with a 3 sets to 1 victory, including a 22-5 thrid set which saw The Hammer hit 12 of his 19 total winners there in the 10-minute set win.

The third match saw the first use of the much-anticipated sudden death format between “The Torero” Feliciano Lopez and “The French Flair Lucas Pouille. The pair played four close sets, with Lopez taking the first two 17-13 and 13-12 before Pouille’s French Flair mounted a comeback in the final two sets (13-9, 12-11) to force a sudden death tiebreak. Lopez ultimately took the match by winning two consecutive points in the sudden death and taking the final set 2-0.

In arguably the best match of the day, “The Virtuoso” Richard Gasquet and “The Wall” David Goffin also were forced into sudden death in their match. After the four sets were split, with Gasquet taking the first and third sets 13-11 and 12-11, and Goffin winning the other two 14-12, 15-10, Gasquet prevailed in the sudden death as he took two points in a row and the match. The two were evenly matched the entire way through, with Gasquet’s 8 unforced errors and 1 double fault proved to be the difference-maker in comparison to Goffin’s 10 and 3, respectively.

Stefanos Tsitsipas lived up to his “Greek God” name by trouncing Benoit Paire (“The Rebel”) 24-4 and 22-6 in the match’s first two sets before Paire bounced back and made it close. The Rebel squeaked out a 14-13 third set win to force the important final set, which Tsitsipas ultimately won 15-9. 8 of Paire’s unforced errors came in the first two sets, and it was Tsitsipas’ average of 9.25 winners per set that decided the match.

Leaders after Day 1

With their incredible showings on Day 1, Tsitsipas leads the way (due to point difference) and his qualified for the semifinals, alongside Berrettini.

Ppopyrin holds the 3rd spot, followed by Lopez in 4th (narrowly edging 5th-place Gasquet in points). David Goffin is the only player who lost yesterday that is qualified. 3rd-6th place all qualify for the quarterfinal playoff to determine the last two members of the semifinals.

https://twitter.com/UTShowdown/status/1272295783858135040

A look ahead to Day 2

Match 1: “The French Flair (Lucas Pouille) (0-1, 2-3) vs “The Underdog” Elliot Benchetrit (0-1, 1-3)

Pouille and Benchetrit both look to secure a victory in hopes that Popyrin, Lopez, and Gasquet all slip up enough for them to sneak into the quarterfinal playoff. Pouille holds the advantage in the tournament with a win here, given that his 2-3 set record is better than Benchitrit’s 1-3 record.

Match 2: “The Artist” (Dustin Brown) (0-1, 1-3) vs “The Rebel” (Benoit Paire) (0-1, 1-3)

Brown and Paire sit at the bottom of the tournament standings due to their point difference. Paire is effectively out of the running for the quarterfinals unless he can put on a performance similar to Tsitsipas from yesterday and hope that the top players falter under pressure. Brown’s odds are slightly better but he, like Benchitrit, is on the outside looking in.

Match 3: “The Wall” (David Goffin) (0-1, 2-3) vs “The Hammer” (Matteo Berrettini) (1-0, 3-1)

Berrettini is locked into the semifinals for now, but if Goffin puts together a very strong performance, he could take Berrettini’s place in the semifinals while The Hammer is forced to play in the quarterfinal playoff. With the level of his play being as high as it is so far, it’s expected the Berrettini will stay locked at that second semifinal spot if not much changes in Day 2.

Match 4: “The Torero” Feliciano Lopez (1-0, 3-2) vs “The Sniper” Alexei Popyrin (1-0, 3-1)

The match is key in determining the second semifinal spot. The pair are sitting 4th and 3rd in the standings currently and are looking for a solid performance to boost them up into the semifinals with a Berrettini struggle on Day 2. Look for this match to start close and end close, possibly in a sudden-death showdown.

Match 5: “The Greek God” (Stefanos Tsitsipas) (1-0, 3-1) vs “The Virtuoso” (Richard Gasquet) (1-0, 3-2)

Tsitsipas is looking very hot coming into his Day 2 match as the favorite to win the tournament. He’s all but locked into the semifinals, and even with a loss, he’ll likely finish in the top two given his dominant performance over Paire yesterday.

Matches begin at 4:00 PM CEST with Pouille and Benchitrit.