After defeating Grigor Dimitrov in the previous round, Alexei Popyrin continued his strong run by beating Hubert Hurkacz to reach his first-ever Masters semi-final. Popyrin’s victory over Hurkacz is his equal-best win in terms of opponent ranking in completed matches to date.
Ranked No. 62 in the world, Popyrin expressed his happiness and fatigue after his two hour, 47-minute victory, knowing that he has another match in just two hours. His next opponent will be American Sebastian Korda, who also won a tough three-set match against No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev.
Popyrin rallies crowd to outlast Hurkacz
Popyrin took an early lead by breaking Hurkacz in the first game, but the Polish player fought back to win the first set 6-3. Despite falling behind, Popyrin rallied with the support of the crowd and managed to force a tie-break, eventually winning the set.
The third set was a tense battle with multiple break point opportunities for both players. Popyrin saved four break points and capitalized on his ninth to secure the victory, advancing to the semi-finals.
Prior to his win against Hurkacz, Popyrin had defeated Tomas Machac, Ben Shelton, and Grigor Dimitrov in earlier rounds. Hurkacz had also fought hard in previous matches, defeating Thanasi Kokkinakis and Arthur Rinderknech.
Other results from the Montreal Masters 1000 last 8 matches include Sebastian Korda’s victory over Alexander Zverev, Matteo Arnaldi’s win against Kei Nishikori, and Andrey Rublev’s defeat of Jannik Sinner.
