Alexei Popyrin of Sydney, Australia continues to have remarkable success at the National Bank Open in Canada. One year after winning the title in Montreal, Popyrin found great success in Toronto on Thursday night/Friday morning, as he defeated Daniil Medvedev of Russia 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 in the third round.
Popyrin won 84% of his first serve points. He also broke Medvedev, the 2021 United States Open champion, three times. This was Popyrin’s second win in six meetings against Medvedev. Popyrin previously beat Medvedev 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 in the second round of the Paris Indoor in 2024.
Next up for Popyrin is the fifth seed Holger Rune of Denmark in the fourth round on Saturday. Rune beat Popyrin in their only prior appearance. That came in the fourth round of Rome in 2023, where Rune won 6-4, 5-7, 6-4. Like Popyrin, Rune has won one ATP Masters 1000 series title in his career. That came at the 2022 Paris Indoor, where he beat Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the final, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.
When Popyrin won the 2024 National Bank Open in Montreal, he beat three top seven seeded players in Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, Hubert Hurkacz of Poland, and Andrey Rublev of Russia.
Popyrin is one of three Australians left in the main draw in men’s singles in Toronto. Alex de Minaur of Sydney has also qualified for the fourth round and will play the winner of fellow Australian Aleksandar Vukic of Sydney and American Frances Tiafoe. Vukic had a second round upset on Wednesday as he knocked out the 31st seed and 2022 Wimbledon semifinalist, Cameron Norrie of Great Britain, 6-3, 6-7, 6-3.
