Alexei Popyrin stuns Medvedev in Toronto boil-over
In-form Australian Alexei Popyrin kicked his title defence into high gear at the National Bank Open in Toronto, upsetting 10th seed Daniil Medvedev 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 in a battle of former champions at the Canadian ATP Masters 1000.
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Popyrin, who won his maiden Masters 1000 title last year in his tournament main-draw debut in Montreal, is now through to the last 16 in Toronto. By beating 2021 champ Daniil Medvedev, Popyrin earned his fourth Top 20 win of the season, with the previous three coming en route to the quarter-finals at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters.
A perfect 8-0 in Canada, Popyrin sealed the win just before 1 am to book a Saturday showdown with fifth seed Holger Rune.
"I felt like I should have won that first set," said Popyrin, who led Medvedev 4-2 after an aggressive start. "I was in the driver's seat, I felt like I was really comfortable out there, and then something happened — the same thing that happened earlier this season when I played him [in Rome]. I kind of let go and I started feeling my shots a little bit. When that happens, when you play a fast pace against him, he starts feeling the ball a little bit more.
"I had to revert back to the main tactics that we had, which was more focused on serving, coming into the net and not giving him the same rhythm. I think that worked today."
Popyrin led by an early break in all three sets, breaking in the opening game of sets two and three. After dropping serve to surrender the first set, Popyrin broke serve in the opening game of sets two and three. he saved all six break points he faced for the remainder of the two-hour, 30-minute match. The Aussie saved nine of 11 break points overall, while Medvedev saved nine of 12.
"It just shows that when I hit my spots I feel like I can hold, no matter what the score is," said Popyrin, who escaped 0/40 midway through the second set and 15/40 in the third. "Hopefully I can continue serving like this, hitting my spots like this, and hopefully I can just raise the percentage [61 per cent on first serve] a little bit higher."
Having risen to a career-high ATP Ranking of 21 in June after reaching the Roland Garros fourth round, Popyrin entered Toronto at World No. 26.
