Ultimate Tennis Showdown Round-Up and Saturday schedule: Rublev and Ruud shine on first day

The opening day of the Ultimate Tennis Showdown featured the quarterfinals, where four players earned wins and will return to court on Saturday—followed by the final later the same day. This is the first time the tournament is held on clay courts, this time in Nîmes, France.

Friday drew a record 8,000 fans, who came to watch stars such as Andrey Rublev, Ben Shelton, and French favourites Gaël Monfils and Ugo Humbert. The small exhibition event is held over two days this time, leading up to the Monte Carlo Masters, which starts on Monday, 7 April.

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Rublev powers past Shelton

Score: 18–11, 20–7, 11–14, 19–7

Rublev (No. 9) came out on top in a tightly contested match against Ben Shelton (No. 14). The Russian—winner of titles like Monte Carlo and Madrid—looked right at home on the clay surface, making him the clear favourite over the American, who is typically more comfortable on hard courts.

Still, Shelton has been adapting well to clay, having won the ATP 250 Men’s Clay Court Championship a year ago.

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De Minaur silences French crowd, sweeps Humbert

Score: 15–14, 13–12, 17–9

Alex De Minaur (No. 01) had a smoother path, beating home player Ugo Humbert (No. 2) in straight sets. In UTS, sets are played on time, not points. De Minaur also faced a loud French crowd and delivered an impressive 97% first serve rate (in UTS, there's only one serve—miss it, and you lose the point).

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Ruud dominates Popyrin

Score: 17–13, 20–6, 16–10

Casper Ruud is another player who is always dangerous on clay. A two-time finalist at Roland Garros, he has won 11 titles on the surface, including the ATP 500 Barcelona Open in 2024. The Norwegian had no issues dispatching Australian Alexei Popyrin in straight sets and has already shown he is eager to make an impact during the clay-court season. When Ruud finds his rhythm, he is capable of beating anyone on this surface. With Rafael Nadal absent and Novak Djokovic looking uncertain this year, Ruud no doubt feels capable of achieving something significant in this part of the season.

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Machac beats crowd favourite Monfils

Score: 16–10, 8–19, 19–7, 18–10

Tomas Machac bounced back from his unfortunate Miami Open retirement—where he withdrew before facing Jakub Mensik in the round of 16.

Now back on court in Nîmes for his first clay match of the year, the Czech took on Gaël Monfils, a fan favourite and regular at UTS events. Despite the loud French support, Machac came through with an impressive performance in the marquee match of the evening.

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Saturday’s Schedule (local time):

• 12:00 PM – Shelton vs Popyrin

• 1:00 PM – De Minaur vs Machac

• 2:00 PM – Ruud vs Rublev

• 3:00 PM – Monfils vs Humbert

• 4:15 PM – Final

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