By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Sunday August 11, 2024
Alexei Popyrin and Andrey Rublev will meet for the title in Montreal on Monday.
Photo Source: TTV
After his 7-6(0), 6-3 victory over Sebastian Korda in Sunday’s semifinal – his second win of the day – Alexei Popyrin signed the camera with four words that have defined his steady rise this season.
“Hard work pays off.”
The talented Aussie, who earned multiple Top-10 wins in the same event for the first time this week in Montreal, has never shied away from testing his limits. Today he busted through them and reached his maiden Masters final with wins over fourth-seeded Hubert Hurkacz and Korda to set a Monday final with fifth-seeded Andrey Rublev at the National Bank Open in Montreal.
"It means the world. It's an amazing achievement for myself to be honest, and sometimes you have to pat yourself on the back," said the Aussie. "I'll do that tonight but tomorrow it's all hands on deck and back to work."
Popyrin edged Hurkacz 3-6 7-6(5) 7-5 in a tense battle, before snapping Korda’s eight-match winning streak with a defiant effort that saw him battle back from a break down in the opening set before rattling through a perfect tiebreak.
The 25-year-old made his lone break stand up in the second set as he finished off the American in 92 minutes.
Popyrin, who saved three match points in his third-round win over Grigor Dimitrov, has split two previous meetings with Rublev. He defeated the Russian this spring at Monte-Carlo, 6-4, 6-4.
Rublev powered past Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi on Sunday, 6-4, 6-2. The Russian is now the only ATP player to have reached multiple Masters 1000 finals in 2024. Rublev advanced to his sixth Masters 1000 final by taking five of the final six games against Arnaldi, who was playing his first semifinal at this level.
Sinner defeated Jannik Sinner for his second win over a reigning World No.1 on Saturday night in Montreal.
“With Jannik I had nothing to lose,” Rublev said. “I know the only one way maybe I will have chance to beat him is to play one way, and I had no other choice.
“So if I wanted to win the match, yeah, I was kind of forced to play that way. Today is different because I have more pressure. It looks like I have more chances to win. Even Matteo is really a great player, and last time he beat me.”