Pavlyuchenkova, Zverev each win UTS2 in sudden death

There will be lots of "where we left off" discussion in the coming weeks, as the pro tours make their returns. Some things are hard to forget, like Sofia Kenin's three-set win over Garbine Muguruza in the Australian Open final. Other happenings may have faded over time. For example, do you remember the other six quarterfinalists of that Australian Open?

Besides the finalists, the big names were Ashleigh Barty, Petra Kvitova and Simona Halep. There was also Ons Jabeur's remarkable and historic run to the last eight, and there was Anett Kontaveit—who, in a faster format, may have won the Aussie Open.

The other quarterfinalist? Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. It’s hard to believe the hard-hitting Russian is only 29, but she continues to be a player no one wants to face. In Melbourne, Pavlyuchenkova ousted No. 2 seed Karolina Pliskova in two tiebreakers, then topped former champion Angelique Kerber in three sets. She hit her ceiling in losing to Muguruza—Pavlyuchenkova is 0-6 in Grand Slam quarterfinals—but that doesn’t make her any less of a threat.

In case you’d forgotten about Pavlyuchenkova, the Ultimate Tennis Showdown 2 served as another reminder of her abilities. With a sudden-death victory over Alize Cornet, Pavlyuchenkova became the first women’s champion of UTS.

“I love winning no matter what it is.” said Pavlyuchenkova. “It’s just nice.”

After claiming the first two quarters against Cornet, Pavlyuchenkova was seemingly in control of the contest. But she felt otherwise.

“I was winning, but to be honest I wasn’t happy with the way I was, since the start,” she said. “I found myself very sluggish. My body language—I wasn’t as active as I [could] be. So I think that’s why I lost the next two quarters.”

If you think of each quarter of play as a set, UTS offers both women and man a de facto best-of-five. (Alexander Zverev, who we'll get to in a minute, pointed this out in his post-match interview.) So for as down as Pavlyuchenkova may have felt—if she wasn’t happy after winning the first two quarters, what was she feeling after losing the third and fourth?—all she needed to do was win two consecutive points in sudden death to claim the crown.

But first, she needed to save a championship point. With Cornet winning the first point of the overtime, Pavlyuchenkova’s backhand was put to the test, and it held up beautifully, from the baseline and at net.

With one point secured, Pavlyuchenkova won the second after a short rally and a Cornet error:

“So much nerves…even watching the guys play sudden death is like, oh my God,” said Pavlyuchenkova, who practiced the format before the match. “Practice is not the same. You don’t have this tension in the practice.”

As it turned out, Pavlyuchenkova would watch another sudden-death—the men’s championship, between Alexander Zverev and Felix Auger-Aliassime, also went the distance:

Trailing Auger-Aliassime two quarters to one, Zverev dominated the fourth quarter, 18-8, and had little trouble in the match's most pivotal moment.

"In this format, you can come back from any score," said Zverev. "There's always a way to come back, especially with the cards."