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Australian Alexei Popyrin has joined some of tennis's greats as Croatian Open champion after defeating three-time grand slam winner Stan Warwinka in the final.

Australian tennis warrior Alexei Popyrin has overcome severe leg cramping to outlast triple grand slam champion Stan Wawrinka in an epic clay-court encounter to claim his second ATP Tour 250 title.

Popyrin rallied from a set down and had to draw on all reserves in the decider to defeat Wawrinka 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-4 in a Croatian Open final in Umag that stretched past two-and-a-half hours.

The 23-year-old struggled to move and was forced to go for broke at every opportunity to shorten rallies in Sunday night's humid conditions.

But the former French Open junior champion came up trumps to join an illustrious group of names including newly-crowned Wimbledon champion and world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz on the tournament's honour roll.

"All tournament I've been fighting battles that I don't know how I won. This one tops it all," Popyrin said.

"My quad was done at 2-1. I felt it cramp, I felt it strain. I think it's pulled.

"But I managed to dig deep. I don't know how I won it, honestly. I honestly don't know.

"I even told the physio when he came out. He said, 'If you go any more then it will be tough'.

"I said, 'There's no point in quitting now, I'm here in the final. If I lose, I lose. If I retire, I lose anyway. So I have a better chance of winning if I stay in'.

"So that's what I decided to do."

Wawrinka, a former Australian Open, Roland Garros and US Open champion, was bidding for a 16th ATP Tour title in his first final since 2019.

But Popyrin was a bridge too far for the 38-year-old.

"It's an unbelievable honour to play somebody like Stan in a final," the Sydneysider said.

"I grew up watching him, Roger, Rafa, Novak play. To play him in a final and beat him in a final, words can't describe how happy I am. It's an unbelievable feeling."

Popyrin joins the likes of Alcaraz, Wawrinka, former world No.1s Thomas Muster, Carlos Moya, Mareclo Rios, Juan-Carlos Ferrero and Italian young gun Jannik Sinner as a Croatian Open champion.

As well as picking up 85,605 euros ($A142,000) in prize money, Popyrin will soar 33 spots to a new career-high ranking of No.57 in the world on Monday.

The victory follows his maiden ATP Tour win in Singapore in 2021 and is a huge confidence booster ahead of next month's US Open on hard courts in New York.

While Popyrin was left celebrating, countryman Aleksandar Vukic fell short in his quest to land a maiden ATP Tour title in the Atlanta Open final.

Vukic put up a great fight before going down 7-5 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 to top-seeded American, and world No.9, Taylor Fritz.

The 27-year-old runner-up's reward for a string of top-40 wins is a rankings rise to his own career-high No.62 in the world.