MONTREAL, Aug 13, (Agencies): Australia’s Alexei Popyrin, the No. 62-ranked player in the world, defeated fifth-seeded Andrey Rublev of Russia 6-2, 6-4 at the National Bank Open on Monday night to win the biggest singles title of his career.

Popyrin had two lower-level ATP Tour titles on his resume coming into a week in which he faced five top-20 players in a row - and defeated all of them.
First came No. 11 seed Ben Shelton in the second round, then No. 7 seed Grigor Dimitrov, in a contest in which he saved three match points. In the quarterfinals came No. 4 seed Hubert Hurkacz, who was up a set and a break in the second before Popyrin came back to win 7-5 in the third set.

Then American Sebastian Korda, who won the tournament in Washington, D.C., last week and was on a nine-match winning streak, was in the semifinals late Sunday night.
And finally, Rublev, who was looking for his third career ATP Masters 1000 title, his first on hard courts. But he had no answers against a player with whom he often trains at their mutual home base in Monte Carlo.

Once it was over, Popyrin put his hands to his face and let the tears flow.
Popyrin won the first seven points of the match and from there, the hill was just too steep to climb for Rublev, who moved from No. 8 to No. 6 in the rankings with a week that included a win over world No. 1 Jannik Sinner.

Popyrin will rise in the rankings from No. 62 to No. 23.
As with Rublev, whose on-court emotions have often held back his career progress, Popyrin had been known more for his temper on the court than his game.
On Monday night, he was cool, calm and collected.
Rublev wasn’t as serene. But he’s happy with his progress on that front.

Meanwhile, world No. 6 American Jessica Pegula defended her Canadian Open singles tennis title in Toronto with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 victory over her compatriot Amanda Anisimova on Monday evening.
The 30-year-old native of Buffalo, New York captured her sixth career WTA singles title and third in a WTA 1000 event. All three have come on hard court, with wins in Montreal last year and Guadalajara in 2022.
With the win, Pegula earned 523,485 U.S. dollars and 1,000 WTA ranking points to become the first woman since Martina Hingis (1999-2000) to win consecutive Canadian Opens.

She holds an incredible 17-2 record in the annual tournament alternating between Toronto and Montreal each year. Last year, Pegula defeated Russian Liudmila Samsonova and reached the semi-finals in 2021 and 2022.

After an early exit in the Paris Olympics with a second-round loss to Elina Svitolina, Pegula regained her form in Toronto as the No. 3 seed. She cruised through to the finals without dropping a set.
In the finals, Pegula capitalized on nine double faults from her opponent, including four in the deciding set to clinch the win.

Runner-up Anisimova, who entered the tournament as No. 132, had a more challenging road to the finals, defeating four top-20 ranked opponents, including No. 3 Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets in the quarterfinals.
With her first-ever WTA 1000 finals appearance, the 22-year-old earned 650 ranking points to climb 83 spots to No. 49. In January, the former world No. 21 returned to the court in January at the Australian Open following an eight-month absence due to burnout and mental health concerns.