Monte-Carlo Masters: Popyrin stuns defending champion Rublev to reach last 16

Alexei Popyrin produced the upset of the Monte-Carlo Masters so far, knocking out defending champion Andrey Rublev 6-4, 6-4 to reach the last 16 and send the sixth seed crashing out in his opening match.

Rublev, who won his maiden Masters 1000 trophy at the Monte-Carlo Country Club last year, looked under-par for large parts of the contest as he was comprehensively beaten by the increasingly dangerous Popyrin.

This loss marks the continuation of a concerning slump for the Russian, who has now lost three of his last four matches across all competitions, stemming from his controversial default in the semi-finals of Dubai.

It will also damage his ranking, as Rublev’s 1000 points for winning the title last year are set to drop off his points tally at the end of this week.

For Popyrin, this is another exceptional win in an impressive season for the burgeoning Australian, backing up his semi-final run in Doha in February and establishing him as an adept clay-courter.

He will play the winner of the match between Australian Alex De Minaur, the No 11 seed, and Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor next.

The Australian defeated French qualifier Corentin Moutet (3-6, 7-5, 6-2) in the previous round of the Monte-Carlo tournament.

Monte-Carlo Masters 1000, other second-round results (Monte-Carlo Country Club, clay, EUR 5.950.575, most recent results first):

• Miomir Kecmanovic vs. Grigor Dimitrov
• Holger Rune vs. Sumit Nagal
• Gael Monfils vs. Daniil Medvedev
• Alejandro Tabilo vs. Casper Ruud
• Sebastian Korda vs. Jannik Sinner
• Tomas Martin Etcheverry vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas
• Hubert Hurkacz vs. Roberto Bautista Agut
• Zhizhen Zhang vs. Ugo Humbert
• Karen Khachanov vs. Francisco Cerundolo: wednesday
• Lorenzo Sonego vs. Felix Auger-Aliassime: wednesday
• Alex De Minaur vs. Tallon Griekspoor: wednesday
• Lorenzo Musetti beat Arthur Fils: 6-3, 7-5
• Jan-Lennard Struff beat Borna Coric: 7-6 (2), 6-1
• Alexander Zverev (5) beat Sebastian Ofner: 6-3, 6-4
• Novak Djokovic (1) beat Roman Safiullin: 6-1, 6-2