Sebastian Korda and Alexei Popyrin fought their way through long, exhausting quarterfinals on Sunday and secured their place in the semifinals this evening at the ATP Montreal Masters.
The biggest victim of the day was number two seed Alexander Zverev, who lost in the delayed quarterfinals to Korda 7:6 (7/5), 1:6 and 6:4.
The former German Olympic champion failed to hold his serve in the first set and missed a chance to win when he lost serve to his American opponent at 4:4 in the deciding set.
Australian Popyrin secured his second consecutive ranking with his 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-5 comeback against one of the game’s best servers, Hubert Hurkacz.
It took almost three hours to win, and his semi-final against Korda was scheduled for the evening session.
Zverev, champion in Canada in 2017, missed his chance for his 50th win of the season.
With rain this week and the US Open pre-season program delayed due to rain, the winners were forced to compete twice a day in the hope of completing the event as planned on Monday because of the Paris Olympics.
Fifth-seeded Andrey Rublev and Italian Matteo Arnaldi were scheduled for the first semifinal of the day.
Popyrin had fended off three match points in the third round by defeating tenth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov before dispatching Hurkacz of the tournament.
“I’m really happy, but a little bit tired,” Popyrin said after his victory with 11 aces. “I have another match in about two hours.”
Korda defeated Popyrin in their only previous ATP meeting two years ago in Kazakhstan.
Korda is on a career-best winning streak of eight straight matches, and his victory over Zverev after more than two hours was only his second against a top-five opponent.
He will be taking part in a Masters semi-final for the second time in his career.
“This means a lot to me. It’s been a tough year,” said last weekend’s ATP winner in Washington.
“I’ve put in a lot of work and I’m happy with the results. I’m having fun on the court and trying to play aggressive tennis.”
The son of a former ATP champion from the 1990s, he advanced with minimal effort. His first-round opponent retired and he managed a walkover in the third round when Casper Ruud fell ill.
“I wish I could have played more games. But I feel good and that’s the most important thing,” Korda said.
“I want to play as many games as possible,” he added after recording his 30th win of the season.
Hurkacz had not lost to an Australian since 2021 in Madrid. The Pole played this week less than a month after undergoing knee surgery in July, when doctors told him his season was over.
A late break for Popyrin paved the way for the surprise.
“I’m really happy, but a little bit tired,” Popyrin said after his victory with 11 aces. “I have another match in about two hours.”
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