Double duty! Popyrin dispatches Korda for maiden Masters final in Montreal

Australian Alexei Popyrin advanced to the final of the Montreal Masters by winning against American Sebastian Korda 7-6, 6-3 at Stade IGA on Sunday night.

Both men had played their quarter-finals earlier in the day and gone to three sets, with the Montreal scheduling impacted by persistent rain throughout the week. However, it was Popyrin who showed greater endurance, pulling away from the in-form Korda to book a spot in his first-ever Masters 1000 final.

“It means the world, you can put it that way,” Popyrin said after the match.

“It’s an amazing feeling, an amazing achievement for myself to be honest,” he continued.

“Sometimes you have to pat yourself on the back. I think I’ll do that tonight.

“But tomorrow it’s all hands on deck and back to work.”

Popyrin breaks deadlock in emphatic fashion

The first set between Popyrin and Korda was a classic arm-wrestle, with four breaks of serve leading to an eventual tie-break.

It was Korda – the favourite coming into this semi-final – who drew first blood. The American came out firing and broke Popyrin’s serve on the third time of asking at 1-1.

He held serve to extend his lead to 3-1, but the Australian soon fought back, holding and breaking to level the match at 3-3. Each then held their next two games, before Korda broke at 5-5 to serve for the set.

Twice the American came within two points of claiming the set, but Popyrin dug deep and broke back, forcing a tiebreak.

It was here that the 24-year-old upped his level immensely. Popyrin would win the tiebreak 7-0, before powering on to win 13 of 15 points from 5-6, 40-40 in the first set to go ahead by a set and a break.

There was no looking back, as Popyrin didn’t face a single break point in the second set, claiming another break in the final game of the match to win 7-6 (0), 6-3.

Popyrin, ranked No 62, will face Russian Andrey Rublev, the No 5 seed, next.

The Australian beat Tomas Machac (6-3, 6-4), American Ben Shelton, the No 11 seed (6-4, 7-6 (4)), Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, the No 7 seed (4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3) and Pole Hubert Hurkacz, the No 4 seed (3-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5) in the previous rounds of the Rogers Cup.

Earlier in the tournament, Korda, ranked No 18, won against Canadian wildcard Vasek Pospisil (2-1 ret.), No 9 seed Taylor Fritz (6-4, 7-6 (4)), Norwegian Casper Ruud, the No 6 seed (W/O) and German Alexander Zverev, the second seed (7-6 (5), 1-6, 6-4).

Montreal Masters 1000, other semi-final result (Stade IGA, hard, USD 6.795.555):

• Andrey Rublev beat Matteo Arnaldi: 6-4, 6-2