Holger Rune has booked his spot in the Final Four at the UTS Grand Final, defeating veteran Gael Monfils 17-9, 15-14, 9-19, 16-13 in an entertaining match on day two in London.
With the win, Rune sets a first meeting against Andrey Rublev who topped Group A and is on a seven-match winning streak. For The Viking, it’s his first time winning back-to-back UTS matches, and his debut in the Final Four stage.
It was a miracle to see La Monf in this match at all, with the Frenchman withdrawing from his clash against Jack Draper courtesy of a knee injury.
There were no concerns about La Monf’s knee early in this match, however, with the 37-year-old blasting a plethora of winners to open the first quarter and race out to a 4-1 lead.
Despite his encouraging start, The Viking went about his work and made it a tight quarter, with the exchange in the balance at 8-8. That is, until Rune began to edge ahead, skillfully playing his UTS card to enter quarter-point at 16-9 and winning on his first opportunity.
Monfils again began quarter two well, ripping winners from both wings. This time, it was combined with some poor decision making by Rune, who left a ball that dropped in and attempted an underarm serve. The Frenchman capitalised, racing out to a heavy 10-1 lead.
By winning his own UTS card, Rune closed the gap, and the failure of Monfils to play his own card meant quarter-point came around at 14-11. Incredibly, The Viking saved all three quarter-points to force a deciding point at 14-14, which he won.
La Monf assured fans that he would compete, and he certainly did that in the third quarter.
The Frenchman took advantage of Rune becoming slightly tighter as victory approached, putting together one of his best quarters to win 19-9 and take the match to a fourth stanza.
Fans were even lucky enough to be treated to a steamy mid-match dance by Monfils’ coach, who stole the show for several minutes with a saucy rendition of Magic Mike.
In the fourth quarter, the Dane’s focus paid off, with Rune going on to close out the match clinically, winning the final quarter 16-13.
Chapters:
0:06 - First quarter
03:09 - Second quarter
04:57 - Third quarter
07:47 - Fourth quarter
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