Alexei Popyrin capped off a dream week in Montreal by beating Andrey Rublev 6-2, 6-4 in the final of the National Bank Open on Monday night. Popyrin pocketed the biggest title of his career–by a mile–after one hour and 29 minutes.
The 24-year-old Australian, whose previous triumphs were at the ATP 250 level (Singapore 2021, Umag 2023), was nothing short of incredible at the Montreal Masters. He posted three top-10 wins and five in the top 20 (also Ben Shelton, Grigor Dimitrov, Hubert Hurkacz, and Sebastian Korda).
Popyrin saved three match points against Dimitrov and came back from a set and a break down to defeat Hurkacz. The world No. 62 played five total sets on Sunday alone, upsetting Hurkacz in three and Korda in straights. Despite the grueling effort, he managed to overpower Rublev from start to finish.
“It means the world, for all the hard work I’ve put in over the years, all the sacrifices I have made,” Popyrin commented. “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.”
“It’s a very positive and really good week,” Rublev reflected. “(It was a) 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 [worse]…and it was (the) first round.
“Here it was a final, (with) 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.”
Rublev is now 2-4 lifetime in Masters 1000 finals, with wins in Monte-Carlo (2023) and Madrid (2024). Popyrin improved to 3-0 all time in ATP title matches.
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nice one, Pop
Did you apologize for doubting/insulting him?
What a great story
When you get something that wrong and hold a low-risk consensus view, you should have to do a little bit more than say “Nice one, pop” for redemption.
“while holding a low-risk consensus view.”
You’re initial post of “bold” (as in bold statement you dont know what you’re talking about) was defamatory, so when they get it right, you should say “wow, I got that wrong”. Not give credit to player to side with them and the public and move on from it and then do the same thing again.