Alexei Popyrin rode a fiery break vs. Sebastian Korda to reach the final in Montreal | ATP Tour

Popyrin rode a hot break against Korda to reach the final in Montreal

Australian comes from clay of Paris Olympics to reach Masters 1000 final on hard court in Canada

August 12, 2024

Alexei Popyrin turned a near disaster into a surprise victory to defeat Sebastian Korda in eight straight and advance to his first ATP Masters 1000 final in Montreal on Sunday night.

After coming within two points of losing earlier in the day in a three-set quarter-final win over Hubert Hurkacz, the Australian survived a roller-coaster opening match against Korda before collapsing in the American to get 7-6 (0), 6-3 victory.

“It means the world… it’s an amazing achievement for me to be honest, sometimes you have to hold your own,” said Popyrin, who followed in the footsteps of Alex de Minaur, who reached the final. Toronto last year. “I’ll do that tonight but tomorrow it’s all hands on deck and I’m back to work.”

“It was a topsy-turvy start with breaks here and there. I had a point at 5-4 but I played some sloppy points and I turned around. I stayed mentally strong and I knew exactly what I was going to do on my next break point if I got the chance.”

Popyrin, who turned 25 last Monday, scored 83% in his booming debut and brutally attacked Korda’s second team, which scored just 38 points.

In Monday’s final, Popyrin will play 2024 Madrid champion Andrey Rublev, whom he defeated in the first round of Monte-Carlo earlier in the clay season.

Popyrin gave up two set points to serve Korda 5-4 in the first set and when he broke 40/15 in the next game, the newly crowned champion from Washington seemed to have all the momentum. But Popyrin stormed back to force a break, where he shut out Korda 7/0.

Popyrin arrived in Montreal for the hard-court Masters 1000 after winning two matches on clay at the Paris Olympics and had spent eight hours, 22 minutes on court this week en route to the semis.

Earlier in the day Popyrin got up a set and 1/3 down against Hurkacz, who scored two points in a straight quarter-final victory when the players were tied at 5/5 in the second-set tie-break. But the Australian hit 11 aces and won 75 percent of his first points to win 3-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5 despite converting just three of 20 break points.

Popyrin entered the match having never won a set against the Pole in their three Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings.

After climbing 32 places this week in the PIF ATP Live Rankings to a career high of No. 30, Popyrin will climb to No. 23 if he takes the title. Monday’s deadline begins at 7:30 pm EDT.