Montreal (AFP) – Alexei Popyrin profited from the mental fragility of Andrey Rublev on Monday as the Australian won the biggest title of his career at the ATP Montreal Masters. World number 62 Popyrin beat sixth-ranked Rublev 6-2, 6-4 in 90 minutes in the US Open tuneup, denying the Russian a second Masters crown this season after winning at Madrid.
“One of the best matches I’ve played in my life,” Popyrin said of the victory. “It’s not the way I played in that final that makes me most proud. It’s more the way I played all week.” Popyrin is the first Australian to win a Masters 1000 title since Lleyton Hewitt in 2003 at Indian Wells. The only other Aussie to reach a Canadian final was Patrick Rafter in 2001, who lost to Romanian Andrei Pavel.
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Popyrin, who turned 25 last week, is the fourth from his nation to win at this level, following Rafter (1998 Toronto, 1998 Cincinnati), Mark Philippoussis (1999 Indian Wells) and Hewitt (2002-2003 Indian Wells). “This means so much, it means the world,” an emotional Popyrin said. “All the hard work we’ve put in over the last couple of years has paid off.”
Popyrin, who beat five top-20 opponents during his run to Canadian glory, said he never felt much pressure. “I felt pretty calm. I love to play matches like this. There is no point in being nervous or afraid of the opportunity,” he said. “I wanted to impose myself in the first game and I think I managed to do that. It disturbed him a little bit, which was part of the game plan. I kept going in that way.”
Rublev, who has boiled over several times this season on court and confessed to dealing with mental stress, got off to a poor start and took out his frustrations early through screaming, kicking a towel container and generally breaking down in tight moments. His form in knocking out world number one Jannik Sinner in the quarter-finals was barely visible as he ran into an inspired Popyrin.
But Rublev said that from a month ago his head is “clear” and his mental attitude is improving. “A month ago I was (mis)behaving much more. I showed emotions today but compared to other matches I did a better job,” said Rublev, who was disqualified from Dubai in February for angrily confronting a linesman. “I would call this a very positive and very good week. It was a big step forward. I’m proud I was able to play really good mentally all week.”
The Australian started the final on a tear, winning seven of the opening eight points as Rublev’s fragile temper began to fray. Popyrin drove home his superiority with a double break as the seed double-faulted for a second time within minutes to lose serve. Rublev annulled a set point in the six-minute seventh game to hold to 2-5. But Popyrin calmly finished off the opening set on his third chance, sending a sizzler down the line past Rublev to clinch a set where he twice saved double break points against his serve.
In the second set, Popyrin again began with a break as Rublev called for the doctor after the third game and was given tablets, presumably for the stomach problems which have plagued the locker room throughout last week. Popyrin dropped his first service game as Rublev levelled for 3-all only to give it away a game later. Popyrin won on his third match point with an unreachable winner.
Popyrin did have one small regret in victory. “This is one of the few weeks where my girlfriend isn’t traveling with me…and I win the tournament,” he said. “I hope she comes to New York now.”
© 2024 AFP
