The Aussie pair took down a couple of top-10 seeds to reach the last eight in Monaco.
De Minaur, Popyrin reach Monte-Carlo Masters quarters
Australian duo Alex de Minaur and Alexei Popyrin both advanced to the quarterfinals of the Monte-Carlo Masters on Thursday, beating No.9 seed Daniil Medvedev and No.4 seed Casper Ruud respectively.
For de Minaur, it is his second-straight appearance in the last eight in Monaco, while for Popyrin, he is through to the quarterfinals of an ATP Masters 1000 event for just the third time in his career.
Tennis betting sites had de Minaur as a strong favorite to prevail over Medvedev and he did not disappoint, racing past his Russian opponent 6-2, 6-2 in just an hour and 12 minutes.
“We’ve played each other many times and played each other on basically every surface,” the world No.10 said after breaking serve in seven of eight return games against Medvedev.
“I tried to draw a lot on our last match at Roland Garros (in 2024) and see what worked for me.
“I thought I executed really well, I was smart and tactically played the right way today.
“It’s taken me a while in my career, but I finally understand what I need to do to be effective on this surface.
“I can be dangerous on this surface, so I’m very happy to play here and start off the clay swing with some good matches.”
Popyrin’s victory was far less expected, however, with Nags.bet pricing the Australian No.2 as a +250 underdog heading into his clash against defending finalist Ruud.
But the 25-year-old dug deep and played some of his best tennis in months, striking 48 winners to 45 unforced errors and saving two match points as he won the last four games in a row to edge out Ruud 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 in just shy of three hours.
Earlier in the day, fifth seed Jack Draper was upset by Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, with the Brit losing in three tight sets.
Seventh seed Andrey Rublev was also sent on his way, defeated in straight sets by No.12 seed Arthur Fils, who has now made the last eight in all three ATP Masters 1000 events this year.
Title favorites Carlos Alcaraz and Stefanos Tsitsipas were untroubled, both advancing to the quarterfinals with routine straight-sets wins.
Leading bookmakers price Alcaraz at -125 to win the tournament now, with Tsitsipas back on +400.
De Minaur is on the third line at +900 with Nags.bet, while Popyrin remains a long shot at +2800.
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