- Australia’s Alexei Popyrin upset Andrey Rublev in the Montreal Masters final.
- He became the first Australian since Lleyton Hewitt in 2003 to win a Masters 1000 title.
- Meanwhile, Jessica Pegula defeated Amanda Anisimova in an all-American final to win the WTA Toronto Masters.
- For more tennis news, go to News24 Sport’s dedicated section.
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.
READ | Tennis star Rafael Nadal out of US Open
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.
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.
The Aussie sent 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.”
Pegula beats Anisimova for second WTA Canada title in a row
Meanwhile on the women’s side, Jessica Pegula defeated Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 in an all-American final on Monday to win the WTA Toronto Masters, becoming the event’s first back-to-back champion since 2000.
Sixth-ranked Pegula captured her sixth career WTA title and second of the year after Berlin in June to become the first consecutive winner in Canada since Martina Hingis in 1999-2000.
“Crazy. I can’t believe it. I wanted it so bad,” a tearful Pegula said. “Getting emotional thinking about it. I’m so happy to take the title here. It’s awesome. I’m just flooded with emotions.
“It has been an up-and-down year but these are happy tears. I’m so happy.”
Pegula said she was happy to have won the Canadian crown in both of the event’s alternating home cities, Montreal and Toronto, which is near her own hometown of Buffalo, New York.
Her grandparents, one from Toronto and the other from Montreal, were in the audience.
“One in each city so that’s one for each of you,” Pegula said.
Pegula improved to 3-0 in her career rivalry with Anisimova, taking her second victory of the year after April at Charleston.
Pegula broke Anisimova to begin the match and again to claim the first set after 27 minutes when Anisimova double faulted.
In the second set, Anisimova smacked a forehand winner to break Pegula for a 2-1 lead and Pegula double faulted away a break to give Anisimova a 5-2 edge on the way to a third set.
After dropping her first set of the week, Pegula broke for a 2-0 lead on an Anisimova double fault and took a 4-0 edge when Anisimova netted a forehand to surrender another break.
Anisimova, who won only three points in the first four games of the final set, sent a forehand long to drop the match on Pegula’s serve after 87 minutes.
“I know everyone’s talking about my record and all this stuff, but it’s nice to be able to get through the week and to back it up,” Pegula said. “Just super excited, I mean, an honour, really.”
At 132nd in the world, Anisimova became the lowest-ranked finalist at the Canadian tournament in 40 years.
Anisimova dispatched four top-20 rivals this week to reach her fourth career WTA final, but could not claim a third title after Bogota in 2019 and Melbourne in 2022.
Anisimova took a nine-month mental health break from tennis last year and fell to 373rd in the world rankings at the start of the year, but ensured a return to the top 50 with her runner-up finish.
“I put the work in, I kept my head down and I tried to come back to the sport with more of a relaxed feeling,” Anisimova said Monday.
“Trying to enjoy each day as it comes and not being so serious about everything, because I think that takes away the joy from a lot of things. I think with that kind of approach to my everyday life, I think that’s helped me a lot.”