TORONTO — Alexander Zverev fired a ball into the hazy, evening sky — and right out of Sobeys Stadium in frustration.

A few years back, the damage might have been a lot worse.

The National Bank Open presented by Rogers favourite had just lost the tiebreak in a knife-edged first set off a shot that clipped the net with a semifinal berth on the line.

Zverev recalibrated after providing that unexpected souvenir. The German then once again demonstrated why he’s one of the elite talents in men’s tennis.

The top seed at the Canadian men’s championship shook off that initial disappointment in rallying to defeat No. 18 Alexei Popyrin of Australia 6-7 (8), 6-4, 6-3 on Monday night.

“A few years ago it would have been a broken racket, for sure,” Zverev said with a smile of his outburst. “But I don’t break rackets anymore.”

Currently third in the ATP Tour’s rankings, Zverev will meet No. 11 seed Karen Khachanov on Wednesday after the Russian defeated No. 26 Alex Michelsen of the United States 6-4, 7-6 (3) on the campus of York University in northwest Toronto.

Popyrin, meanwhile, saw his run of nine straight match victories in Canada come to an end after lifting the trophy some 12 months ago in Montreal.

“It was a high-level match,” said the 25-year-old. “He’s Number 3 in the world for a reason.”

Tuesday’s schedule at the NBO features a pair of American favourites. 

Second-seed Taylor Fritz will take on No. 6 Andrey Rublev of Russia in the quarters, while No. 4 Ben Shelton is slated to meet No. 9 Alex de Minaur of Australia. Both semifinals go Wednesday ahead of Thursday’s title match. 

Popyrin, who returned to Canada ranked No. 26, took Monday’s first-set tiebreak when his gentle backhand after a long rally grazed the top of the net and dropped for the winning point — much to the delight of his fans, including one with an inflatable yellow kangaroo. 

Zverev responded by immediately swatting that ball out of sight in disgust. 

“It was necessary to get (the emotion) out somehow,” said the 28-year-old. “It was a set full of opportunities … a lot of unlucky moments also on my side, especially the set point.”

Looking for his 25th tournament victory and eighth ATP 1000 Masters triumph, he responded by going up 2-0 in the second set. 

Popyrin grabbed a break of his own before holding serve at 4-4. Zverev, who won the Canadian title in Montreal eight years ago when he defeated childhood idol Roger Federer, took a 5-4 lead and then again broke his opponent to even the match. 

Ousted at the quarterfinal stage of last year’s tournament, the gold medallist at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 got another break to go up 2-0 in the third set before serving out. 

“It was the battle of the fittest,” Popyrin said of the final set. “He came out serving bombs and I didn’t really have much chance on his serve.”

Zverev, who lost to world No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the final at this year’s Australian Open and made the French Open quarters, improved to 4-0 all-time against Popyrin, including a third-round victory at the Paris Olympics. 

“He feels very comfortable here in Canada,” Zverev said when asked where he sees Popyrin’s game. “He needs to analyze what it is and why that is. If he can get that same level and that same quality of tennis to the rest of the tour, he can be a top-10, top-8 player.”

Zverev has two tournament wins on clay this year, and is the highest-ranked competitor in a Toronto field lacking some significant star power after Sinner, No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz, No. 5 Jack Draper and No. 6 Novak Djokovic all skipped the US$9.19-million hardcourt event. 

Zverev, who owns a 5-2 record all-time against the 16th-ranked Khachanov, said getting upset in the first round of Wimbledon made his decision to make a third consecutive appearance at the NBO — expanded this year to a 96-player field — an easy one.

“It’s still a Masters 1000, and I think these are the biggest tournaments that we have on the ATP Tour,” he said. “We’re fighting for big things here. It’s a privilege to play in these kind of events. I think it’s not beneficial for top players that it’s a two-week event now. 

“But all-in-all, I had quite a lot of time off.”

Popyrin beat Rublev in the Montreal final last summer to claim his third tournament win, but wasn’t able to duplicate the feat in Toronto as attention now shifts to Cincinnati ahead of the U.S. Open.

“It’s been a great two years in Canada,” he said. “I just hope it keeps going every year like this for me here in Canada.

“And hopefully everywhere else in the world.”