American Sebastian Korda picked up a rare win over a top-five foe on Sunday, pulling off a 7-6 (5), 1-6, 6-4 upset of No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev of Germany in the quarterfinals of the National Bank Open in Montreal.
Korda collected seven aces, 19 winners and took advantage of 11 double faults from Zverev, who entered Sunday sitting fourth in the PIF ATP Rankings. It was just Korda’s second win in 14 matches against top-five competition.
“It means a lot. It’s been a tough year before the U.S. hard-court swing,” Korda said. “I’ve just put in a lot of work, and I’m so happy with the results right now. I’m just really enjoying my time on court. Having fun, trying to play aggressive, keep doing my thing, and hope for the best.”
With the victory, Korda now owns an eight-match winning streak at the tour level. He took home a title at the Mubadala Citi DC Open last week before heading to Montreal.
Up next for Korda is Australian Alexei Popyrin, who continued to play spoiler by rallying for a 3-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5 victory over No. 4 seed Hubert Hurkacz of Poland on Sunday.
On Saturday, Popyrin ousted Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, the seventh seed. He also sank No. 11 seed Ben Shelton of the United States in the second round.
Hurkacz saved 18 of 21 break points against Popyrin and seemingly had the Australian on the ropes after he went up 3-1 in the second set. But Popyrin stayed composed and eventually forced a tiebreaker, where he never trailed.
Popyrin faced more adversity in the third set, though, falling behind 5-4. However, he buckled down to win the final three games of the match to set up the meeting with Korda.
Korda and Popyrin were scheduled to play later Sunday for a spot in the final, and a semifinal match between No. 5 seed Andrey Rublev of Russia and Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi was also on the schedule.
–Field Level Media
