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Alexei Popyrin stressed that his surprise victory over reigning champion Novak Djokovic at the US Open was “not unbelievable” and that winning his first Masters title in Montreal, just before the tournament, was “much bigger”.

The Australian, ranked 28th, defeated the 24-time Grand Slam singles title winner and four-time US Open champion 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 to reach the last 16 of a Grand Slam for the first time.

The victory also marks the first elimination in New York for former world number one Djokovic since 2006, when he lost to another Australian, Lleyton Hewitt.

“For me, winning Montreal was much bigger than today, just because it’s a title, and it’s a Masters 1000 title. That felt incredible,” said the 25-year-old Popyrin.

“Today was something I thought I could do, you know? Winning a Masters 1000 wasn’t something that crossed my mind.”

Popyrin had lost all three of his previous meetings with Djokovic, including this year’s Australian Open and Wimbledon.

Both matches lasted four sets.

“Those experiences gave me the confidence to go out on the field tonight and believe I could win, and to actually do it and believe in it.

“So when I did it, I felt like it proved me right, it proved what I thought was right. It wasn’t something that was, you know, unbelievable like Montreal, for example.”

Despite a lacklustre tournament for Djokovic, in which he admitted to playing “his worst tennis ever”, Popyrin was wary of one of the Serb’s trademark comebacks.

The Serb has come back from two sets down eight times in his career.

“He wasn’t playing his best tennis. I was waiting for him to step up. I felt like he did in the third set. But my level went down. I didn’t make many first serves,” the Australian added after reaching the last 16 of a major for the first time.

“Also, there were countless times where he came back from two sets to a love down. I didn’t want Novak to be one of those times where he came back from two sets to a love down.

“That was going through my mind. It was kind of an extra motivation for me not to do that and win that fourth set. I had to kind of pick myself up, scold myself a few times to get back in the mood to win.”

Popyrin now faces American crowd favourite Frances Tiafoe, who reached the semi-finals in 2022 and the last eight in 2023, in the round of 16.

“It’s going to be quite an experience to play against Frances because I’ve lost a few rounds before I played against Frances. He’d always say, ‘Man, why do you keep losing?'” before we played against each other.

dj/bb