Alexei Popyrin sends world No.5 Daniil Medvedev packing from Paris Masters despite ‘ridiculous’ call

Australian tennis star Alexei Popyrin has celebrated another huge win over world No.5 Daniil Medvedev on the day Sydney pal Alex de Minaur moved closer to earning a coveted spot in the ATP Finals for the first time.

Popyrin, who in August became the first Aussie to win a Masters 1000 in more than two decades, was carried on a wave of indignation as he claimed a 6-4 2-6 7-6 (7-4) win over Medvedev.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Alexei Popyrin fumes at ridiculous call.

The world No.24 Popyrin went ballistic after a woeful call from a line judge went against him at a crucial juncture in the ninth game of a nervy, error-ridden deciding set, prompting the point to have to be replayed as Popyrin faced a critical break point.

“So slow, and he calls it out. How can you call that ball out? This is f***ed. I don’t want to play. This is f***ed. This is ridiculous,” complained Popyrin.

Even the chair umpire admitted: “It’s a terrible call, I know. There is nothing I can do to help in this case.”

But the Aussie recovered his composure to hold his serve.

And he then proved stronger in the tiebreak to take his third career win over a top-five ranked opponent.

“The animation from me came out after that call,” said Popyrin.

“That was tough call to take, but stuff like that, I try and let it fire me, rather than put me down and demotivate me. It definitely fired me up, probably woke me up a little bit, and made me play a little bit more free.”

He’d lost his three previous matches against the former US Open champ but, aided by out-of-sorts Medvedev’s serving woes in delivering 14 double faults, he prevailed after almost two-and-a-half hours.

In a tight final breaker, the key moment came when Medvedev double-faulted one last time to give Popyrin a match point, which the Aussie then converted with a fine volley at the net, his 31st winner of the match.

“To get the job done here, at the last Masters of the year where I really wanted to go deep, this is a great step,” said Popyrin.

He’ll next face one of the tour’s most in-form players, Karen Khachanov, who survived a blitz of 20 aces from monster-serving home favourite Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, to prevail 6-7 (12-14) 6-1 6-4.

Later, De Minaur won 6-5 7-6 (7-5) over Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic with a little help from a familiar little Parisian friend.

The Australian No.1 was cheered on at courtside in Bercy by the young ‘superfan’ Paul, who de Minaur took under his wing for supporting him come rain or shine during his breakthrough run to the quarter-finals of the French Open at Roland Garros in June.

And the pair had much to cheer during their reunion as ‘Demon’ moved to the verge of being one of the leading eight players in line to play in the end-of-season men’s showpiece Finals in Turin.

In the live rankings, the 25-year-old is now just 75pts behind eighth-placed Andrey Rublev, who’s already out of the tournament, and he’ll go past the Russian if he wins his last-16 match.

It is a big if, though, as de Minaur will have to beat either the already-qualified world No.6 Taylor Fritz or in-form Briton Jack Draper, his conqueror at the US Open.

De Minaur had to scramble to rescue two set points in the second stanza against world No.55 Kecmanovic, before edging a tight tiebreak which was effectively settled by one stray forehand from the Serb when serving at 5-4 down.

- with 7NEWS