Virtus.pro advance in Road to Rio - CIS

Virtus.pro came from behind to top Nemiga Gaming in quarterfinal play on Wednesday in the ESL One: Road to Rio - Commonwealth of Independent States event. Virtus.pro finished pool play with a 3-2 record after losing the opening map, Mirage, 16-10. But they rebounded to take a narrow 19-17 triumph on Inferno, followed by a 16-6 win on Vertigo.

Nemiga, also 3-2 in pool play, now can finish the 12-team tournament in no better than fifth place. Virtus.pro advanced to a semifinal match against Team Spirit on Thursday.

Also in action Thursday will be Winstrike Team and Syman Gaming, who meet in another quarterfinal. The winner advances to play Hard Legion Esports. All three of those teams finished 3-2, but Hard Legion won Group B on tiebreakers to directly advance to the semifinals. The ESL One: Rio Major, a $2 million Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event, originally was scheduled to be held May 11-24 in Rio de Janeiro, but was pushed back to Nov. 9-22 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The CIS champion will receive 350 Pro Tour points and $15,000 of the $50,000 prize pool. The runner-up will receive 200 Pro Tour points and $10,000. Prize pool:

1st: $15,000 2nd: $10,000

3rd: $6,000 4th: $5,000

5th: $4,500 6th: $3,500

7th-8th: $2,000, Gambit Youngsters and Natus Vincere 9th-10th: forZe and ESPADA

11th-12th: Team Unique, pro100