VALORANT Champions: Singapore's Paper Rex sweep FUT Esports to advance to semis

Singaporean VALORANT powerhouse Paper Rex has advanced to the upper bracket semifinals of the VALORANT Champions 2023 Playoffs after they soundly swept Turkey's FUT Esports, 2-0, in the upper bracket quarterfinals on Thursday (17 August).

Paper Rex entered the VALORANT Champions Playoffs as the top seed of Group A after sweeping through Latin America's KRÜ Esports and China's EDward Gaming in the Group Stage. Meanwhile, FUT finished as the second seed of Group B.

In their showdown in the upper bracket quarterfinals, Paper Rex scored a huge comeback win in game one before dominating FUT in game two to secure the series sweep.

FUT came out swinging to start the series and controlled the first half of game one in Ascent, 8-4, as the Defending side, even taking six-straight round wins from rounds 6 to 11. However, Paper Rex managed to rally after the side switch and win the first four rounds of the second half to tie up the score at 8-8.

While FUT claimed round 17, Paper Rex scored another four-straight rounds to take a commanding 12-9 lead by round 21. The Turkish squad looked to stop the bleeding by winning round 22, but their Singaporean opponents still won the next round to complete the 13-10 comeback win in game one.

Paper Rex's dynamic duelist duo of Russian import Ilya "something" Petrov and Singaporean star Wang "Jinggg" Jing Jie led the way in game one. Something finished with a stellar 24/13/4 KDA while Jinggg put up 21/15/2, with both players also recording four first kills apiece.

Paper Rex carried their momentum from game one over to game two in Pearl, winning 10-straight rounds out of the gate before finishing the half up 11-1 as the Attacking side. FUT showed signs of life in the second half and winning three-straight from rounds 14 to 16. However, Paper Rex could not be denied as they completed the series sweep on round 17 to claim Pearl with a dominant 13-4 showing.

Khalish "d4v41" Rusyaidee and Jason "f0rsakeN" Susanto were the stars of game two, notching 20/9/11 and 17/10/3 respectively. Something also showed out with a 15/9/1 KDA, including a game-high six first kills.

With their victory over FUT, Paper Rex now advance to the upper bracket semifinals, where they will face VALORANT Champions 2022 winners LOUD on Sunday (20 August). The Singaporean squad have also guaranteed themselves at least a Top 6 finish and US$85,000 in winnings.

The VALORANT Champions 2023 Playoffs is split into two phases, the first taking place from 16 to 20 August while the final leg of the tournament will be hosted from 24 to 26 August.

The teams will be fighting for the right to be crowned as this year's VALORANT world champions as well as the lion's share of US$1 million out of the tournament's US$2.25 million prize pool.

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