Alexei Popyrin breaks Aussie dry spell with ATP Montreal title

MONTREAL – Alexei Popyrin profited from the mental fragility of Andrey Rublev on Aug 12, as the Australian won the biggest title of his career at the ATP Montreal Masters.

The world No. 62 beat the sixth-ranked Rublev 6-2, 6-4 in 90 minutes in the US Open tune-up event, 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. “But it’s not the way I played in that final that makes me most proud. It’s more the way I played all week.”

The 25-year-old 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.

Popyrin is also the fourth Australian 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,” the emotional winner added. “All the hard work we’ve put in over the last couple of years has paid off.”

Popyrin, who beat five top-20 opponents – including three top-10 players – 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,” 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 No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the quarter-finals was barely visible as he ran into an inspired Popyrin. But he 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.”

Popyrin started the final on a tear, winning seven of the opening eight points as Rublev’s fragile temper began to fray.

The Australian drove home his superiority with a double break as his opponent 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.

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 3-3 only to give it away a game later. The former 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 when my girlfriend isn’t travelling with me... and I win the tournament,” he said. “I hope she comes to New York now.” AFP, REUTERS