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Alexei Popyrin rides blazing tie-break vs. Sebastian Korda to reach Montreal final | ATP Tour


Popyrin rides blazing tie-break vs. Korda to reach Montreal final

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

August 12, 2024

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Alexei Popyrin advances to his first ATP Masters 1000 final in Montreal.
By ATP Staff

Alexei Popyrin turned near disaster into unexpected triumph to snap Sebastian Korda‘s eight-match winning streak and charge into his first ATP Masters 1000 final in Montreal Sunday night.

After coming within two points of defeat earlier in the day during a tense three-set quarter-final win over Hubert Hurkacz, the Australian survived a roller-coaster opening set against Korda before rolling over the American to claim a 7-6(0), 6-3 win.



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

“It was a topsy-turvy first set with some breaks here and there. I had some points at 5-4 but played some sloppy points and didn’t convert. I just stayed mentally strong and I knew exactly what I was going to do on my next break point if I got an opportunity. “

 

Popyrin, who turned 25 last Monday, won 83 per cent of points on his booming first serve and mercilessly attacked the second serve of Korda, who won just 38 per cent of second-serve points.

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

Popyrin let slip two set points on Korda’s serve at 5-4 in the first set and when he was broken from 40/15 in the following game, the newly minted Washington champion seemed to have all the momentum. But Popyrin immediately broke back to force a tie-break, in which he blanked 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.

 



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