Alexei Popyrin has his first ATP 1000 title.
The 25-year-old Australian secured his first ATP Masters 1000 title by upsetting world No. 6 Andrey Rublev 6-2, 6-4 in the men’s final of the National Bank Open on Monday in Montreal.
Prior to the win, Popyrin had two championships at the 250 level, but was still looking for his breakthrough at the top level.
Despite it also being his first ever appearance in an ATP 1000 final, the moment didn’t look too big for Popyrin.
He blitzed Rublev right from the start of the match, visibly frustrating the No. 6 ranked player in the world en route to a 6-2 win in the opening set.
He carried that momentum right into the second set, breaking Rublev in the opening game then holding serve to take a 2-0 lead.
Rublev was able to break Popyrin for the first time in the middle of the second set to level the score at three games apiece but then was broken right back in his next service game to go down 4-3.
After the huge shift in momentum, highlighted by a huge scream of frustration by Rublev, Popyrin would go on to take the win in straight sets and improve to 2-1 against the Russian in his career.
Popyrin needed three sets to rally past Grigor Dimitrov in the round of 16 and Hubert Hurkacz in the quarterfinals. He beat Sebastian Korda 7-6(0), 6-3 in the semis to reach the final.
