Last year Alexei Popyrin was playing in his first Cincinnati Open main draw and he reached the quarterfinals. This year, he played for the first time at the National Bank Open, ATP Montreal, and he goes all the way to win the title. What an incredible run as an underdog in every match he played. Popyrin defied the odds too many times in this tournament. He saved three match points vs. Grigor Dimitrov, came from down a set and a break vs. Hubert Hurkacz, and beat Sebastian Korda too before the final. He beat so many quality players this week. And so mentally strong. Five top 20 wins in one week, including three top 10.
Popyrin owned the final. Andrey Rublev with 16 ATP titles and 2 Masters to his name was the more nervous and anxiety-ridden player. Popyrin showed maturity and composure well beyond his age and tennis background. He showed up in a big way in the biggest match of his career. His serve and forehand were on fire. He was doing to Rublev what he does to so many players. Popyrin hit 31 winners and 10 unforced errors, which is as good as it can get. Later when he spoke you can hear he is a very grounded young man. This is a great result for tennis and hopefully, it’s a breakout performance and he continues to step up.
Popyrin Becomes First Aussie to Win a Masters 1000 in 21 Years
The drought is finally over for Australian tennis. Alexei Popyrin becomes the first Aussie to win a Masters 1000 tournament since Lleyton Hewitt in 2003 Indian Wells. Alex de Minaur reached the final here last year but fell short to Jannik Sinner. Popyrin has reached a new career high of #23 and guarantees himself a seed at the US Open, which would certainly help him avoid a top player in the first 2 rounds. His tough scheduling where he only plays the biggest events he can has paid off! Now he can play big events at will. This was Popyrin’s third ATP title and is yet to lose in a final.
Popyrin always looked like he belonged against top players, but rarely won. But things changed in Montreal. He displayed great rally tolerance and more tennis IQ. He also had some bad luck drawing Novak Djokovic early at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, pushing him to a close 4-setter both times so I guess these high-level matches have helped him improve his game. We have seen glimpses of this before from him but not like this for an entire tournament.
Popyrin was mentally composed all week and clutch on most of the big points. His coach, Xavier Malisse and his on-court coaching were also impressive. He stayed very calm and was a very positive presence throughout the week. Popyrin is still fairly young so it’s going to be interesting to follow his results in the next months and seasons.
Main Photo Credit: David Kirouac-USA TODAY Sports
