Alexei Popyrin declared his victory at the Canadian Open “means the world” after he defeated Andrey Rublev in straight sets to claim his maiden ATP 1000 title. (More Tennis News)
Popyrin won 6-2 6-4 to become the first player to win the Canadian Open title in their first main draw appearance in 17 years. The last player to do so ꦆwas 24-time Grand Slam singles winner Novak Djokovic in 2003.
The 25-year-old defied the odds to beat favourite and world number six Rublev in his third defeat of a top-10 opponent in Mo🅰ntreal.
For the current world number 62, it was a sign 🗹that all the effort had been worth it.
"It means the world, for all the hard work I've put in over the years, all the𝐆 sacrifices I have made," said Poꦛpyrin.
"Not just me, but my family, my girlfriend, my team, everybody around me. They🅰 have sacrificed their whole lives for me and for me 🏅to win this for them is just amazing."
The victory also makes Popyrin the first Australiওan to win a Masters 1000 since Lleyton Hewitt won Indian Wells in 20🌃03.
He became the fourthꩵ-lowest ranked ATP Masters 1000 champion, just two weeks after being defeaꦿted by Alexander Zverev on clay courts in the round of 16 in the Olympics men’s singles.
Popyrin fared better against Rublev, who remained optimistic about h𓂃is perfo🧜rmance despite the upset.
“It's a very posit🥃ive and really good week. [It’s a] really big step forward, and I feel proud of myself that I was able to be really good all the week mentally,” reflected Rublev.
“If we compare my match against him at Monte-Carlo when I was losing✱, I was behaving 10 times more, and it was fi🌠rst round.
“Here it was a final. Much more pressure. Yes, I still showed a bit emotions today, but compare ܫthe matches when I was losing the same way, I think I did much better job.
“That's why I had a little chance in the second set,﷽ but it was just not my time I guess.”
