Alexi Popyrin is hoping his fairy tale run at the Canadian Masters will have a happy ending on Monday when he faces Andrey Rublev for the trophy.
The 25-year-old Australian has stunned the draw by claiming four consecutive wins over top 20 players Ben Shelton, Grigor Dimitrov, Hubert Hurkacz and last week’s Citi Open champion Seb Korda. Until this week, he hadn’t defeated more than one top 20 player in the same tournament. Against Dimitrov, he saved three match points and also saved four break points during the final set of his clash against Hurkacz.
“It’s probably the best week of my career so far,” Popyrin said after beating Korda.
“I think it’s just the quality of opponents that I’ve beat is the reason why. Not just that I’m in the final of a Masters, but just the quality of opponents and the way I’ve been playing I think it’s just showing that all my hard work is paying off.”
Popyrin has only played in two Tour-level finals before which were both at 250 events in Singapore 2021 and Croatia 2023. He has reached the third round at every Grand Slam except for the French Open, as well as the Paris Olympics which took place just before Montreal.
The run has elevated Popyrin to a ranking high of No.30 in the world and puts him in a strong position to be seeded for the US Open later this month. Should he win the Canadian Open, he will become the first Australian to claim a Masters title since Lleyton Hewitt in 2003. Furthermore, he will rise further up the rankings to 23rd.
Standing in his way of the title is the more experienced Andrey Rublev who already has two masters titles to his name.
“I’ve played him this year in Monte Carlo. I won there, and then he beat me the last time we played on hard court.” Popyrin said of his rivalry with the Russian.
“So I know he’s an unbelievable player. He’s one of the best players in the world. So I know it’s not going to be easy.
“We had a fun little practice session before the week started. I think it was two hours we were in the heat battling it out. I saw the way he was playing, and he is playing some unbelievable tennis. It’s definitely not going to be easy out there.”
Rublev’s route to the final has seen him drop one set in four matches played, which was in the quarter-finals against world No.1 Jannik Sinner. In the semi-finals, he beat Matteo Arnaldi 6-4, 6-2.
