Alexei Popyrin has surged into the third round at a gloomy Roland-Garros for the first time as he continues to defy his underwhelming record at the claycourt major.
The 25th-seeded Australian had lost six consecutive matches on Paris’ red dirt before this year, but his 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 win over Chilean Alejandro Tabilo on Wednesday delivered him a round-of-32 berth without dropping a set.
Alexei Popyrin plays a forehand against Alejandro Tabilo of Chile.Credit: Getty Images
There is suddenly a huge opportunity for Popyrin to make a deep run in the French capital after No.7 seed and dual runner-up Casper Ruud’s shock 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-0 defeat to Nuno Borges, who is Popyrin’s unlikely next opponent.
But Ajla Tomljanovic was unable to make it two Australian winners on the day, losing 6-3, 6-3 to fourth-seeded Italian Jasmine Paolini, last year’s women’s singles finalist who just claimed the Rome Masters title.
Tomljanovic, who ousted teenage countrywoman Maya Joint in the first round, briefly threatened to make a match of it when she rallied from double-break down in the second set to be a point away from four-all, only for Paolini to steady and complete her win.
Ajla Tomljanovic looks on before serving against Italy’s Jasmine Paolini.Credit: Getty Images
Patience, or lack thereof, has been the story of Popyrin’s career.
Blessed with a slender, athletic six-foot-five frame – a physical profile that earned him the “human coathanger” moniker among Australian peers – Popyrin quickly figured out as a tennis prodigy that blasting winners was his ticket to stardom.
Harnessing those gifts in the right way is the ongoing challenge, but he increasingly struck the right balance across a career-best past two years that propelled him to the verge of the world’s top 20.
Locked in a tight second-round battle with Tabilo, and having thrown away a hard-earned break of serve a few games earlier, the best version of Popyrin made an appearance.
Popyrin was already up a set – a 7-5 dogfight across 52 minutes – but Tabilo arguably had the momentum as he served for a 4-3 second-set lead. At 30-all, Popyrin engaged in some baseline warfare with his left-handed rival.
Alejandro Tabilo of Chile plays a backhand.Credit: Getty Images
There was nothing passive about how the Australian approached the point, but he combined measured power, depth, margin and just the right amount of patience to work the Chilean over then pound one of his favoured inside-out forehands past him.
On the next point, it was Tabilo who blinked first to hand over another break that Popyrin soon translated into a two-set advantage and eventually a straight-sets win in two hours, 19 minutes over a dangerous opponent.
The 25-year-old rifled eight aces and 37 winners in total, including a wonderfully executed backhand cross-court pass to seal victory. Even more impressive was Popyrin committed only 26 unforced errors.
Alexei Popyrin is defending more than half his ranking points in the second half of this year.Credit: Getty Images
Commentating for Channel Nine, Thanasi Kokkinakis – Popyrin’s five-set conqueror in the first round at Roland-Garros last year – hailed his fellow Australian’s performance as “probably the most focused I’ve seen him for three straight sets”.
Popyrin, who won the Roland-Garros boys’ singles title eight years ago, has put behind his baffling poor record at the grand slam to now reach at least the third round at all four majors.
Ruud’s loss to Borges has presented Popyrin with a great opportunity to match his best grand slam result from last year’s US Open, where he stunned Novak Djokovic in four sets to make the round of 16.
Ruud, one of the world’s best claycourters, revealed afterwards that he had dealt with a knee issue throughout the claycourt season.
“It’s hopefully nothing too serious. For the last couple of weeks [since Monte-Carlo] I’ve been struggling a little bit with knee pain on and off,” Ruud said.
“That’s why I decided to pull out of Geneva after Rome, do my best, and heal to [try and] be ready here … I decided to push through it doing some anti-inflammatory pills and painkillers to try to get rid of it, which has helped to a certain degree, but not enough.”
This is a pivotal result for Popyrin, who is defending more than half his ranking points in the second half of this year, including his monumental Montreal Masters 1000 title.
He was a junior peer of Australia’s top-ranked player Alex de Minaur and they both spent time honing their talents abroad growing up, but he has largely lived in his tenacious countryman’s shadow.
Even if that remains the case, Popyrin is making a strong case to be Australian tennis’ Robin as the “Special Ks”, Nick Kyrgios and Kokkinakis, again nurse injuries that sidelined them from Roland-Garros.
Popyrin is guaranteed to also be seeded at Wimbledon, which will greatly aid his hopes of again advancing to the third round there. Djokovic stopped him at the All England Club last year before Popyrin reversed his fortunes a few months later in New York.
De Minaur, Adam Walton and Daria Kasatkina will try to emulate Popyrin’s effort when they play their second-round matches on Thursday, against Alex Bublik, 16th-seeded Andrey Rublev and Leolia Jeanjean, respectively.
Watch all the action from Roland-Garros live & on-demand on Stan Sport, with two courts in 4K. Coverage of select matches free-to-air on 9GemHD and streaming on 9Now.
