Go big or go home, Popyrin powers to Montreal title

Australian Alexei Popyrin completed one of the most unlikely ATP Masters 1000 title runs in recent memory Monday night when he stunned World No. 6 Andrey Rublev in the Montreal final on the back of 18 forehand winners.

Coming into the Omnium Banque Nationale présenté par Rogers as the World No. 62 and after playing the Paris Olympics on clay, the 25-year-old Australian claimed three Top 10 wins and snapped the eight-match winning streak of Washington champion Sebastian Korda en route to the title. He also took down World No. 14 Ben Shelton in the second round.

"It means the world, for all the hard work I've put in over the years, all the sacrifices I have made," said Popyrin, who is the first Australian Masters 1000 winner since Lleyton Hewitt won Indian Wells 21 years ago in 2003.

"Not just me, but my family, my girlfriend, my team, everybody around me. They have sacrificed their whole lives for me and for me to win this for them is just amazing."

Fully buying into a Big-Man Tennis approach behind his booming serve, aggressive assault of Rublev’s second serve and massive forehand blows, Popyrin broke Rublev to love in the opening game of the match and never looked back as he charged to a 6-2, 6-4 win.

Surging to a career-high No. 23 in the PIF ATP Rankings after reprising his win over Rublev in this year’s Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, Popyrin saved all four break points he faced in the first set. In the second set he showed composure after dropping serve for 3-all to immediately break Rublev by dancing around a second serve and thundering two huge forehands.

By improving to 2-1 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Rublev, Popyrin maintained his perfect record in ATP Tour finals, adding to trophies he won in Singapore in 2021 and Umag in 2023.

Popyrin saved three match points to upset World No. 10 Grigor Dimitrov in the third round. He then defeated No. 6 Hubert Hurkacz in the quarter-finals before upending Korda in the semi-finals. He is the second-lowest-ranked champion in tournament history, behind only Sweden’s Mikael Pernfors, who was No. 95 when he won in 1993.

He is the first player to record five Top 20 wins at an event since Novak Djokovic at the 2022 Nitto ATP Finals, and first to do so since Holger Rune’s run to the 2022 Rolex Paris Masters title.

Popyrin redlined his game in the opening set when he clubbed 10 forehand winners to one for Rublev, known for having one of the most feared forehands in the game. Making 72 per cent of first serves in the opener was also a critical part of Popyrin’s success as he won 18/21 first serves but just 1/8 on second serve.

Lowest-ranked ATP Masters 1000 champions

Popyrin broke Rublev in the opening game of the second set and as victory neared continued to show conviction in his high-risk, high reward strategy.

Popyrin won’t be afforded much time to celebrate the greatest moment in his career. A first-round meeting at the Cincinnati Open with Gael Monfils awaits, with the winner to face second seed Carlos Alcaraz.

Masters 1000 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐈𝐎𝐍 has a nice ring to it 🏆@AlexeiPopyrin99 claims the biggest title of his career with a 6-2 6-4 victory over Rublev. ✨@OBNmontreal | #OBN24 pic.twitter.com/8j2g0xGCnc

— ATP Tour (@atptour) August 13, 2024

Popyrin dropped just six points on his first serve and served 10 aces for the match according to Infosys ATP Stats. He came to the net sparingly, but found success on seven of nine approaches.

Rublev, who the week before reached the semi-finals in Washington, improved to seventh place in the PIF ATP Live Race to Turin, as he seeks to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for the fifth consecutive year. The 26-year-old was looking to claim a second Masters 1000 title of the season after he won Madrid during the clay swing.

“It's a very positive and really good week,” Rublev said of his run to the final. “Really big step forward I think, and I feel proud of myself that I was able to be really good all the week mentally.

“Even today because if we took me back a couple of months ago or even one month ago or even compare my match against him at Monte-Carlo when I was losing, I was behaving 10 times more, and it was first round.

“Here it was a final. Much more pressure. Yes, I still showed a bit emotions today, but compare the matches when I was losing the same way, I think I did much better job. That's why I had a little chance in the second set, but it was just not my time I guess.”