TORONTO — Alexei Popyrin remains in the hunt for a second straight National Bank Open crown.
The Australian battled back from a set down to defeat No. 5 seed Holger Rune of Denmark 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 and secure a spot in the quarterfinals at the Canadian men's tennis championship on Saturday.
Popyrin, who is seeded 18th in Toronto and entered the event 26th overall in the ATP Tour's overall rankings, won last year's tournament in Montreal for a third career victory.
Rune — the world No. 9 — went up 3-2 after Popyrin double-faulted and fought off three break points to take the first set at Sobeys Stadium.
Poised to turn 26 on Tuesday, the six-foot-five Popyrin pushed back in the second, twice breaking his 22-year-old opponent, who won the Barcelona Open on clay back in April.
Popyrin then broke Rune to go up 3-1 in the third set before serving out for the match to secure his comeback.
Alex Michelsen of the United States also reached the quarters with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over countryman Learner Tien at the ATP Masters 1000 event. The No. 26 seed continued to roll after also ousting the third-seeded Lorenzo Musetti of Italy earlier this week.
Karen Khachanov — the No. 11 seed from Russia — picked up a fourth-round victory of his own Saturday, topping No. 8 Casper Ruud of Norway 6-4, 7-5.
Germany's Alexander Zverev, the tournament's No. 1 seed, faced No. 14 Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina in the late match on the York University campus in northwest Toronto. Popyrin will meet the winner of that match in the quarters.
Canadian wild cards Cleeve Harper of Calgary and Liam Draxl of Newmarket, Ont. — the last Canadians standing in Toronto after a disappointing singles showing — were ousted 7-5, 7-6 (3) by Guido Andreozzi of Argentina and Sander Arends of the Netherlands in second-round doubles play.
Top-ranked Jannik Sinner of Italy, No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, No. 5 Jack Draper of Britain and No. 6 Novak Djokovic of Serbia all skipped the US$9.19-million hardcourt event expanded to a 96-player field for 2025.
The tournament runs through Thursday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 2, 2025.
Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press
