By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Sunday July 30, 2023
Alexei Popyrin battled past Stan Wawrinka to earn his first title on clay in Umag.
Photo Source: TTV
Alexei Popyrin was on the brink during Sunday’s Umag final with Stan Wawrinka. Fatigued and cramping at 2-2 in the final set on a muggy evening at the notoriously balmy event, he soldiered on, never entertaining thoughts of retirement.
His mental toughness was rewarded in the form of a 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4 triumph over the 38-year-old Swiss legend – his first clay court title and second overall.
How did he get it over the finish line?
“No clue,” he said after the final. “All tournament I've been fighting out battles that I don't know how I won, and this one tops it off. I was done at two-all I felt it cramp, I felt it strain – I think it's pulled. I managed to dig deep.
"I don't know how I won it. I honestly don't know.”
Popyryin needed three hours and 16 minutes to come back against Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi in the semifinals on Saturday, and on Sunday it looked as if he had hit the wall in the final set.
He saw the trainer after the fifth game, but elected to continue.
“I said there's no point in quitting now,” he said.
Wawrinka, bidding for his first ATP title since 2017, will have to settle for his first trip to an ATP final in four years. Emotional at the scene of his first ATP title in 2006, he told the crowd what it meant to him as he broke down in tears.
"I won my first title here a long, long time ago,” Wawrinka said. “Always some great memories to come back."
“It's unbelievable,” Popyrin said of facing Wawrinka in the final. “To play somebody like Stan in a final you know, I grew up watching him, Roger, Rafa and Novak play, and to play him in a final and to beat him in a final, there are no words to describe how I feel–it's an unbelievable feeling.”
The 23-year-old Aussie, who broke critically for 5-4 in the final set, and served out the match to 15, had high praise for Wawrinka during the trophy ceremony.
"You're a legend of this sport,” the World No.90 told the Swiss. “For me to play a final against you it's an honor. I grew up rooting for you, and I rooted for you in every single Grand Slam final that you played. Honestly man, I love you and I love the love that you have for the sport."