On-fire Alexei Popyrin has now won five of his last six matches against Top 10 players

Alexei Popyrin has given Top 10 players trouble for years—he beat his first one in 2019—but this year he’s taken it to a whole new level.

With a nail-biting 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (4) victory over No. 5-ranked Daniil Medvedev at the Rolex Paris Masters on Wednesday, Popyrin has now won five of his last six matches against Top 10 players.

The stretch began in Montreal in August, where he took out three Top 10 players in the last four rounds en route to his first Masters 1000 title. He then recorded the biggest win of his career over a No. 2-ranked Novak Djokovic at the US Open, and now another Top 10 win in Paris.

POPYRIN VS TOP 10 PLAYERS SINCE AUGUST (5-1):
d. No. 10 Dimitrov in ’24 Canada 3rd Rd, 4-6, 7-6, 6-3
d. No. 6 Hurkacz in ’24 Canada QFs, 3-6, 7-6, 7-5
d. No. 8 Rublev in ’24 Canada F, 6-2, 6-4
d. No. 2 Djokovic in ’24 US Open 3rd Rd, 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4
l. to No. 10 Dimitrov in ’24 Shanghai 3rd Rd, 7-6, 6-2
d. No. 5 Medvedev in ’24 Paris 2nd Rd, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6

Popyrin now has 11 career wins over Top 10 players, which includes three against Top 5 players—before his wins over Djokovic at the US Open and now Medvedev in Paris, he got another Top 5 win in Paris in 2021, defeating then-No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round.

There were plenty of momentum swings in Paris on Wednesday, including right away in the first set, where Medvedev originally led by a break at 3-1 before Popyrin rallied to take the opening frame.

Then, after Medvedev ran away with the second set, it looked like Popyrin would run away with the third set, as he stormed out to a 4-1 lead—Medvedev broke back and caught up to 4-all, and even brought up four break points in the next game that would have given him a chance to serve for the match, but Popyrin held, then the two continued to hold until they found themselves in the tie-break.

There was one last mini-swing, though, as Popyrin watched a 4-1 lead in the breaker evaporate to 4-all, but the Australian won the next three points in a row to finally seal the victory.

Awaiting the No. 24-ranked Popyrin in the third round will be No. 21-ranked Karen Khachanov, who ended the six-match winning streak of Basel champion Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, 6-7 (12), 6-1, 6-4.

Khachanov leads Popyrin in their head-to-head, 3-1.