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SCMP Sport

Nick Kyrgios and Zhang Zhizhen will be among a host of stars heading to Hong Kong in October for an Ultimate Tennis Showdown event, organisers have announced.
The novel multi-leg league, which features an abbreviated form of the sport, will be making its Asian debut when the city hosts a stop on October 14 to 15 at Kai Tak Arena.
Born to a Malaysian mother, Australian player Kyrgios said he was excited to be part of the first such event on the continent.
“I’m super-excited about being part of UTS Hong Kong,” Kyrgios said. “UTS is such a blast to play in. It’s pretty wild for us and for the fans, and I love it.
“I’m also really proud of my Malaysian heritage and I’ve always loved playing in Asia, so to be able to play UTS in a great city like Hong Kong is going to be really, really special.”
But the 2022 Wimbledon finalist will not be the only big name on show in the city.
Chinese rising star Zhang will also be there, along with Kyrgios’ countryman Alex de Minaur, the 2024 UTS Grand Final London winner, and Andrey Rublev, who won the Hong Kong Open in 2024.
UTS is a more fast-paced version of regular tennis with matches made up of four eight-minute quarters, with the first player to win three quarters declared the winner.
Should a match finish at 2-2, it goes to sudden death. There is no second serve, while players have bonus cards which can be used once per quarter and can receive unlimited coaching from the sidelines.
UTS Hong Kong joins a series of tennis events set to take place in the city in the coming months, with a WTA 125 tournament from September 30 to October 5 and a WTA 250 from October 27 to November 2.
On the men’s side, the Bank of China Hong Kong Tennis Open will return from December 30 to January 5.
Ticket information, alongside the rest of the UTS line-up, will be released in due course.


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Sport

Tennis

Novel tennis event with faster-paced matches making Asian debut in October at the city’s Kai Tak Arena


Novel tennis event with faster-paced matches making Asian debut in October at the city’s Kai Tak Arena.


WTA (Women's Tennis Association)

Kyrgios, Zhang to lead star-studded Ultimate Tennis Showdown in Hong Kong

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Novel tennis event with faster-paced matches making Asian debut in October at the city’s Kai Tak Arena

Novel tennis event with faster-paced matches making Asian debut in October at the city’s Kai Tak Arena