Resilient Popyrin beats Rublev in straight sets to win NBO men's title

MONTREAL — Australia’s Alexei Popyrin, the No. 62-ranked player in the world, capped off a dream week at the National Bank Open in Montreal by defeating fifth-seeded Andrey Rublev of Russia 6-2, 6-4 Monday night to win the biggest singles title of his career.

Popyrin was imperial on serve and impervious on defence. Rather than appear overwhelmed by the occasion and the stakes, the 25-year-old competed as though he had done it all before.

He hadn’t, of course. Popyrin had two lower-level ATP Tour titles on his resumé coming into a week in which he faced five top-20 players in a row — and defeated all of them.

First came No. 11 seed Ben Shelton in the second round, then No. 7 seed Grigor Dimitrov, a contest in which he saved three match points. In the quarterfinals came No. 4 seed Hubert Hurkacz, who was up a set and a break in the second before Popyrin came back to win 7-5 in the third set.

Then American Sebastian Korda, who won the tournament in Washington, D.C. last week and was on a nine-match winning streak, in the semifinals late Sunday night.

And finally Rublev, who was looking for his third career ATP Masters 1000 title, his first on hard courts. But he had no answers against a player with whom he often trains at their mutual home base in Monte Carlo.

“I played a really, really high level of tennis, which I believed that I could play my whole life. But to put it into five matches in a row against — I mean, six matches in a row against really high quality opponents is something else,” Popyrin said.

Once it was over, Popyrin put his hands to his face and let the tears flow.

“What just happened!” was what he wrote on the camera lens. And he had a tough time answering that question, although an inadvertent expletive slipped out that had the Montreal crowd laughing.

Popyrin won the first seven points of the match and from there, the hill was just too steep to climb for Rublev, who moves from No. 8 to No. 6 in the rankings with a week that included a win over world No. 1 Jannik Sinner.

Popyrin will rise in the rankings from No. 62 to No. 23.

“I wanted to put a statement in the first game, and I think I did that, which I think rattled him a little bit, which was part of the game plan. I just continued from there,” Popyrin said.

Popyrin is much taller than Rublev, and he serves much harder. But both of their games rely on a combustible forehand that sets the tone, and a weaker backhand they try, positionally, to hit as rarely as possible.

But Popyrin has a little more nuance to his game. He uses his backhand slice effectively to defend, and to also change the pace. On Monday, he also used the drop shot effectively.

His forehand was hit with consistent depth and power. And it made Rublev’s trademark howitzer look almost tame in comparison.

Rublev’s shots were, for the most part, far too short in the court. But above all, the Russian’s biggest problem on the night was his serve.

He managed just 44 per cent of first serves — just 38 per cent in the first set. And even when he did make a first serve, Popyrin seemed to have all the time in the world to run around and rip forehands return winners on it.

And the Aussie hit twice as many winners: 31 to Rublev’s 16.

Rublev is less than two years older than Popyrin. But he has been a fixture in the top 10 of the ATP Tour rankings for the last four years.

Popyrin is a former junior star who won the boys’ singles title at the French Open in 2017.

“You kind of think, OK, you're bound to succeed. You're bound to go to the top quickly. I saw Canadians do it; (Denis) Shapovalov, Felix (Auger-Aliassime),” he said. “For me it didn't really come that way. I was a little bit later than all of them.”

And physically, he had to grow into a long, lanky physique and develop the strength to stay healthy, week in and week out.

As with Rublev, whose on-court emotions have often held back his career progress, Popyrin had been known more for his temper on the court than his game.

On Monday night, he was cool, calm and collected.

Rublev wasn’t as serene. But he’s happy with his progress on that front.

“Even today, because if we go back even one month ago — or even compare my match against (Popyrin) at Monte Carlo (in April) when I was losing, I was behaving 10 times (worse) — and it was the first round,” he said.

“Here, it was a final. Much more pressure. Yes, I still showed a bit emotions today, but compared to 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.”