In another well-filled Quake Live ZOTAC Duel Cup, the 76th edition featured perhaps less of the sub-top players but there was definitely a plentitude of some of the world's elite players, making it all the way to the final moments of the Sunday cup.
Sebastian "
Spart1e" Siira, has definitely been in better shape as of late and has started using these ZOTAC Duel Cup events as good practice for him, as he has managed to take out a number of top European players and even winning a couple of the cups, mostly facing Kévin "
strenx" Baéza. Today was another turn for him to keep up his positive streak in these cups and he would be looking to do well and get far.
One of the more special stories is the fact that Shane "
rapha" Hendrixson is back in Europe, as he will partake in the Italian Ultimate Gaming Championship and will use these last days in order to recover from his long flight and try to take in as many last-minute updates about his upcoming opponents as possible. The American was quickly met with tough opposition, as he needed to take out Belarus' second-best player, Vitaliy "
Amai" Boris. He managed to do so with relative ease, but was now faced with the aforementioned Swede.
Sebastian Siira had just taken out Pelle "
fazz" Söderman in a difficult yet convincing way, establishing himself as the number one Swede again. The match between The SK-Gaming player and the Fnatic number two went to the wire, needing all three maps, but the surprise of the tournament did occur. Shane Hendrixson found himself knocked out of the tournament by the Swede and will need to have some last-minute adjustments to his game plan, if he wishes to really shine in Italy in a couple of days.
On the other side of the Bracket, Serious-Gaming's Belarusian talent, Alexei "
Cypher" Yanushevsky managed to find his way crossing that of Marcel "
k1llsen" Paul's. The match-up between both would be of the brain versus brawn type, although Alexei Yanushevsky probably has more of the latter, than Marcel Paul of the first. Unfortunately the match-up never happened, as the German received a default loss.
With a sad end to what could have been an exciting match-up, the young star shrugged and would try to break Sebastian Siira's ZOTAC Duel Cup run. The match was probably one of the closest Grand Finals of all recent ZOTAC Duel Cups, especially in 2011. The match continiously switched and even when maps seemed to be in the bag, especially Sebastian Siira managed to claw back important frags and turn the map into game-on situations again. Eventually, the sheer will power of the young Swede managed to get him the match and another win, with the Belarusian probably seeking revenge in a LAN environment soon.
Final Standings:
Sebastian "Spart1e" Siira - €100
Alexei "Cypher" Yanushevsky
Marcel "k1llsen" Paul // 
Shane "rapha" Hendrixson
Related
ZOTAC Duel Cup #76 - Bracket
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