Ruud cruises while Fritz sets all-UTS clash with Draper at Olympics
UTS players lit up the courts of Roland-Garros in the first round of Olympics tennis action, with several blockbuster clashes over the weekend in Paris.
Taylor “The Hotshot” Fritz, finalist at the 2023 Los Angeles UTS event, took on Alexander “The Bublik Enemy” Bublik in an all-UTS affair.
The American was far too good, however, racing past Bublik 6-4, 6-4 to book his spot in the second round.
There, he will come up against another UTS player in the form of 2023 London Grand Final champion Jack “The Power” Draper. The Brit was too good for former world No 4 Kei Nishikori in his opening match, winning 6-1, 6-4 over the veteran.
Draper and Fritz have never met in UTS, but have shared their two previous meetings on the ATP Tour.
The Illusionist overcomes La Monf
In other action at the Olympics on Sunday, Lorenzo “The Illusionist” Musetti showed great durability to defeat Gael “La Monf” Monfils in straight sets.
Musetti had previously lost a three-hour-long final of the Umag Open less than 24 hours earlier, catching a flight from Croatia to Paris in time for his clash against Monfils.
However, it was La Monf who ran out of gas, with the 37-year-old falling 6-1, 6-4 in front of his home crowd.
Casper “The Iceman” Ruud, Daniil “The Chessmaster” Medvedev and Jan-Lennard “The Thunder” Struff all had more successful opening matches, racing past Taro Daniel, Rinky Hijikata and Francisco Cabral in straight sets to make the second round.
Stefanos “El Greco” Tsitsipas, who makes his UTS return in New York this August, had a tougher time advancing at the Olympics. He faced world No 87 Zizou Bergs, and escaped in three sets, winning 7-6(6), 1-6, 6-1 on Sunday.
Alex “The Demon” de Minaur was due to play on Sunday as well, but was forced to withdraw from the singles event due to an ongoing hip issue that he suffered at Wimbledon.