Defending champ Alexei Popyrin upsets Daniil Medvedev in Toronto

Match Report

Defending champ Popyrin upsets Medvedev in Toronto

Aussie wins battle of former champs at the Canadian ATP Masters 1000

Peter Power/Tennis Canada Alexei Popyrin won his maiden ATP Tour last season in his tournament main-draw debut in Montreal. By ATP Staff

Alexei Popyrin kicked his title defence into high gear Thursday night at the National Bank Open presented by Rogers, upsetting 10th seed Daniil Medvedev 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 in a battle of former champions at the Canadian ATP Masters 1000.

Popyrin, who won his maiden Masters 1000 title last year in his tournament main-draw debut in Montreal, is now through to the last 16 in Toronto. By beating 2021 champ Daniil Medvedev and improving to 2-4 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series, Popyrin earned his fourth Top 20 win of the season, with the previous three coming en route to the quarter-finals at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters.

A perfect 8-0 in Canada, Popyrin sealed the win just before 1 a.m. to book a Saturday showdown with fifth seed Holger Rune.

Popyrin led Medvedev by an early break in all three sets, breaking in the opening game of sets two and three. After dropping serve to surrender the first set, he saved all six break points he faced for the remainder of the two-hour, 30-minute match. The Aussie saved nine of 11 break points overall, while Medvedev saved nine of 12, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

After rising to a career-high PIF ATP Ranking of No. 21 in June after reaching the Roland Garros fourth round, Popyrin entered Toronto at World No. 26.

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