Alexei Popyrin vs Hubert Hurkacz Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP National Bank Open

Prediction published on 11/08/2024, 06:41  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 11/08/2024 at 06:42 in Tennis Predictions

Fourth seed Hubert Hurkacz is up against unseeded Alexei Popyrin in the Rogers Cup quarter final. The winner will face either unseeded Sebastian Korda or second seed Alexander Zverev in the last four. Which will qualify? Read our match prediction.

The surprise quarter-finalist is Alexei Popyrin from Australia. He's attempting to reach his second ATP Tour semi-final of the year. The other was in February in the Doha hard-court tournament. Two of the wins that took him that far were over players ranked outside the top 100. It’s been a tougher route to this Montreal quarter-final.

The Australian has beaten Tomas Machac, 11th seed Ben Shelton and ninth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov. He had a tough time against the Bulgarian as Popyrin lost the first set. He fought back brilliantly to win the next two 

Those wins have taken him up to 49th in the live rankings but that’s still 11 places below his career high. If he wants to go higher, he'll have to beat Hurkacz for the first time ever. Three previous meetings (all on hard courts) have been won by Hurkacz.

He didn't just win those three matches but the Australian lost them all in straight sets. Hubert Hurkacz is playing his first tournament since Wimbledon. The world number six (but down a place in the live rankings) last played a hard court tournament in Miami in March.

This is his fourth ATP Tour quarter-final on hard courts in 2024. He's only won one of the previous three and that was in Marseille. To reach the last eight in Montreal, Hurkacz has beaten Thanasi Kokkinakis and Arthur Rinderknech.

It's not been easy though and he had to come from behind to win both matches. We tip him to get a win over Popyrin.