STO 2021 Champion Alexei Popyrin : This 1st ATP Tour title victory is for my Family!
(By Dillon Lim)
The second grand final scheduled for play on Day 7 at the Singapore Tennis Open is the coveted Men’s Singles battle. 250 lucky fans gathered to catch the ATP 250 event, in the final match of the inaugural edition of the STO at the OCBC Arena. It sees 4th seed Alexander Bublik from Kazakhstan going up against unseeded Australian, Alexei Popyrin. 23 year old Bublik is the favourite, but he's yet to win after 3 losses in previous ATP Finals appearances. As for Popyrin, today's final in Singapore is his very first and he's looking to take home the prize money of US$25,000.
Popyrin got off to a strong start, holding to love. Bublik followed suit by holding his serve easily as well to level things at 1-1 in no time. Another quick fire hold to love sent the Australian ahead 2-1. A missed volley into the net from Popyrin after an exciting rally, followed by an ace from Bublik, leveled the match at 2-2. The Kazakh shouted “Come on!”, after he hit a stunning passing shot at 30-30 the next game to set up break point.
Bublik drew first blood when an unforced error from his opponent gave him the break to lead 3-2. The Australian fought back immediately to lead 15-30 by hitting two winners and striking huge groundstrokes. However, the 4th seed used his big serve to get himself out of trouble and consolidate the break. After both players served out two love games to bring the score to 5-3, in favour of the Kazakh, Popyrin had to serve to stay in the set. Another love game from the young Australian meant that Bublik had to serve for the first set at 5-4. Big serves and relentless hitting from the 4th seed gave the Kazakh the first set 6-4 in just 29 minutes. It was a set of high quality tennis from both players. There were big serves and groundstrokes from the 2 NextGen tennis stars, and they both won 83% of points behind their first serves. but it was Bublik that prevailed in an exciting set of tennis.
Popyrin gathered himself and started the 2nd set strong with a hold to love. He continued the strong start and swung freely to hit huge returns. A double fault from Bublik on deuce gave the Australian a look at break point for the first time in the match. And the 4th seed missed a drop shot to hand Popyrin the break, as the latter roared to pump himself up. Ranked #117 before the Final, he fired aces and winners to hold to love and raced ahead 3-0 in the set. Popyrin carried on swinging and with a missed drop shot and unforced errors from Bublik, the former took the double break on his third break point. The Australian cruised to a 5-0 lead after holding serve in another love game in under a minute. With the Kazakh appearing to conserve energy for the decider by hitting much slower serves, Popyrin capitalized and closed the second set 6-0 in just 22 minutes. He won 100% of points behind both his first and second serve, with a first serve percentage of 83% and converting 3/5 break points.
The Australian carried on the momentum into the 3rd set by holding his serve to love in the first game. His opponent though, turned on his focus and equalized quickly for 1-1 with a beautiful drop shot. After winning his fifth consecutive service game to love, Popyrin moved ahead 2-1. Both players look dialed in at this point. The Australian almost hit the shot of the match and possibly the tournament, when he narrowly missed a tweener lob over his opponent. Bublik then held serve for 2-2 despite looking visibly frustrated and agitated. A stunning forehand winner from Popyrin closed his 7th straight game and 10th game on his serve without dropping a point.
The next game saw Bublik shouting in frustration and Popyrin found the net on two of his break points. On the third break point, the 4th seed showed his fearlessness and fired a 217km/h second serve to save it. Two consecutive double faults followed to give Popyrin the break on his 4th break point for a 4-2 lead. With everything from power to touch working for the Australian, he held easily to move one game away from capturing his first ever ATP Tour title. But to his disbelief, Bublik faced yet another shot from his opponent which clipped the line and shook his head. Shortly after hitting a return winner, Popyrin got his first look at a match point. A double fault from the Kazakh gave the title to the young Australian. After 1 hour and 24 minutes, Popyrin came out on top with a brilliant display, 4-6, 6-0, 6-2. The newly crowned champion fired 11 aces, won 94% of points behind his first serve, 76% behind his second and converted 5/10 break points en route to victory.
Alexei Popyrin captures his first ever ATP title in Singapore and his career ranking rises from 117 to a new high of 82 on the Tour standings. After the match, Bublik said "Singapore did a great job in organising this event in such a short time. And I thank everyone who was involved. As for Alexei, Congratulations...1st Final and 1st title win. You can only get better from here. And I wish you a great season ahead and hope to see you again in another final!".
21 year old Popyrin in his speech said, "I will always remember Singapore for this historic moment in my life. This title is dedicated to my family for all of the sacrifices they made, to get me (here) to this point of my career. To my Physio (Francois) who doubled up as my Coach this week, Thanks very much as well to you and my team overall. To "Sascha", you played so well the whole week, "killing" your opponents all the way, so much so that I was scared after watching you in yesterday's semi-final. Meanwhile once again, Thank You Singapore for keeping us all safe and putting on a great tournament in just under 1 month!"
(Edited by Raj Kumar)
Dillon Lim is in his final year of university. He enjoys playing tennis and has been in love with the game since he was a kid. The 23 year old used to play competitively for Raffles Institution and was in the junior national training squad before leaving to study in the UK. And he still plays for his current university. Off the court, Dillon enjoys watching tennis matches and always keeps up with the very latest tournaments.
For encore (repeat) match streaming weblinks, and more stories from the Singapore Tennis Open 2021, visit hub.tennis
For the latest Singapore Tennis Open updates on the go, follow us on Telegram
Related Articles
Related Topics
Related Events & Programmes
Related Articles
Related Topics
Related Articles
View AllRelated Topics
[BlogPost 164749641842 NSG 2024 Netball: Senior Div Girls League 3 Preliminary Round 2, BlogPost 163985727414 Beyond the Field: Exciting Sports Careers for Non-Athletes, BlogPost 164438712123 NSG 2024 Badminton: Senior Div Girls Quarter-Finals, BlogPost 164238055490 Evergreen Aleksandar Duric Still Making Headlines at 53, BlogPost 164170080646 NSG 2024 Rope Skipping: Junior Div Girls Freestyle Team Finals, BlogPost 162884973666 Move and Rest Better With Data From Your Own Body, BlogPost 163393049482 Life Comes Full Circle For Serangoon Garden Secondary School's Fahrish Khan, BlogPost 163258797651 Making Golf a Sport for All, BlogPost 162512222328 NSG 2024 Sepaktakraw: Senior Div Yuhua Primary School vs Qihua Primary School, BlogPost 162233592997 Gritty Lions Suffer Loss to China, BlogPost 162089384371 On Your Mark, Get Ready, Go Running, BlogPost 161670652697 Lions' Excellent Showing Against China, BlogPost 161435270031 Ogura Optimistic for Exciting Clash against China, BlogPost 161127614758 The Future of Basketball in Singapore: Why 3x3 is Here to Stay, BlogPost 161033673012 The Active Lifestyler's Guide to the New ActiveSG Delta Sport Centre, BlogPost 161128356680 Grand New Champions Crowned at WTT Singapore Smash 2024, BlogPost 160844835218 NSG 2024 Table Tennis: C Div Boys Pool Round, BlogPost 160210745115 NSG 2024 Basketball: Senior Div Girls Tampines Primary School vs Frontier Primary School, BlogPost 159881180544 Whirlwind Return to Women's Football, BlogPost 159633541417 Singapore Smash to Elevate a New Legacy, BlogPost 158983580420 NSG 2024 Rugby: B Div Damai Secondary School vs Peirce Secondary School, BlogPost 159003960202 SFA Fiesta: Kicking off 2024 to a Roaring Start, BlogPost 158830735126 NSG 2024 Football: B Div Girls Preliminary Round Meridian Secondary School VS Bowen Secondary School, BlogPost 158536989718 Team Nila Volunteers Recognized At Awards Ceremony, BlogPost 158270107806 NSG 2024 Hockey: B Div Boys Preliminary Round Raffles Institution VS St. Hilda Secondary School, BlogPost 157966862615 NSG 2024 Floorball: B Division Preliminary Rounds Kick Off!, BlogPost 157562433712 What Is Safe Sport?, BlogPost 157559446197 Sengkang Secondary: Cultivating Well-Rounded Footballers, BlogPost 157368261167 New National Training Centre for Cricket at West Coast Ground, BlogPost 155340164987 Active Ageing with Joey Bonifacio, BlogPost 155930815517 Inaugural Singapore Youth League kicks off from 24th February 2024, BlogPost 155340164727 Bukit Canberra : the Coolest Spot in the North, BlogPost 155368905255 How Padang Fandi Inspired Ayden to Chase his Dream, BlogPost 154755572826 Ageing Backwards with Elizabeth Cheang, BlogPost 154094657315 Running For Fitness, BlogPost 153318636178 Excitement Builds for FIBA 3x3 Asia Cup 2024, BlogPost 153198644247 World's Top Four Confirmed for 2024 HSBC Women's World Championship, BlogPost 149413941770 Cultivating Your Kids’ Interest in the Outdoors, BlogPost 149413941163 Making Sport More Appealing for Our Kids, BlogPost 149412549409 Solo Or Team Sport – Choosing the Best for Your Child, BlogPost 151197478798 Former Lions Stalwart Baihakki Khaizan Sheds Light on New Accreditation to Elevate Grassroots Football and Youth Development, BlogPost 80703591291 New Year, Fitter You! Here are the top 3 workouts for the New Year, BlogPost 81171151456 7 Reasons Why Sports are Great for Children’s Mental Health, BlogPost 80542065330 17 Best Yoga Classes & Studios in Singapore [+ Rating & Prices], BlogPost 149404351798 From Brush to Lens: A Student's Journey in the World of Art and Sports Photography, BlogPost 149402825063 The Benefits of Active Parenting, BlogPost 149397832009 Sweden Claim 9th Straight Gold at the Women's World Floorball Championship, BlogPost 149397831449 Lion City Sailors Win 2023 Singapore Cup, BlogPost 148511324266 Pitch Perfect with Jonathan Teo, BlogPost 148511724402 Seniors: Increase your flexibility bit by bit with these stretches]