diff --git a/core/src/components/select/select.tsx b/core/src/components/select/select.tsx
index 592664e9c0..990c2a99db 100644
--- a/core/src/components/select/select.tsx
+++ b/core/src/components/select/select.tsx
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import { Component, ComponentInterface, Element, Event, EventEmitter, Host, Meth
 
 import { getIonMode } from '../../global/ionic-global';
 import { ActionSheetButton, ActionSheetOptions, AlertInput, AlertOptions, CssClassMap, OverlaySelect, PopoverOptions, SelectChangeEventDetail, SelectInterface, SelectPopoverOption, StyleEventDetail } from '../../interface';
-import { findItemLabel, getAriaLabel, renderHiddenInput } from '../../utils/helpers';
+import { findItemLabel, focusElement, getAriaLabel, renderHiddenInput } from '../../utils/helpers';
 import { actionSheetController, alertController, popoverController } from '../../utils/overlays';
 import { hostContext } from '../../utils/theme';
 import { watchForOptions } from '../../utils/watch-options';
@@ -179,11 +179,18 @@ export class Select implements ComponentInterface {
       this.setFocus();
     });
 
+    await overlay.present();
+
+    // focus selected option for popovers
     if (this.interface === 'popover') {
-      await (overlay as HTMLIonPopoverElement).presentFromTrigger(event, true);
-    } else {
-      await overlay.present();
+      let indexOfSelected = this.childOpts.map(o => o.value).indexOf(this.value);
+      indexOfSelected = indexOfSelected > -1 ? indexOfSelected : 0; // default to first option if nothing selected
+      const selectedEl = overlay.querySelector<HTMLElement>(`.select-interface-option:nth-child(${indexOfSelected + 1})`);
+      if (selectedEl) {
+        focusElement(selectedEl);
+      }
     }
+
     return overlay;
   }
 
diff --git a/core/src/components/select/test/basic/e2e.ts b/core/src/components/select/test/basic/e2e.ts
index d8f556bd1e..5d0154fd2b 100644
--- a/core/src/components/select/test/basic/e2e.ts
+++ b/core/src/components/select/test/basic/e2e.ts
@@ -48,12 +48,28 @@ test('select: basic', async () => {
   select = await page.find('#customPopoverSelect');
   await select.click();
 
-  const popover = await page.find('ion-popover');
+  let popover = await page.find('ion-popover');
   await popover.waitForVisible();
   await page.waitForTimeout(250);
 
   compares.push(await page.compareScreenshot('should open custom popover select'));
 
+  // select has no value, so first option should be focused by default
+  const popoverOption1 = await popover.find('.select-interface-option:first-child');
+  expect(popoverOption1).toHaveClass('ion-focused');
+
+  let popoverOption2 = await popover.find('.select-interface-option:nth-child(2)');
+  await popoverOption2.click();
+  await page.waitForTimeout(500);
+
+  await select.click();
+  popover = await page.find('ion-popover');
+  await popover.waitForVisible();
+  await page.waitForTimeout(250);
+
+  popoverOption2 = await popover.find('.select-interface-option:nth-child(2)');
+  expect(popoverOption2).toHaveClass('ion-focused');
+  
   await popover.callMethod('dismiss');
 
   // Custom Action Sheet Select
diff --git a/core/src/utils/helpers.ts b/core/src/utils/helpers.ts
index f00bfb3b40..eaaf1d968d 100644
--- a/core/src/utils/helpers.ts
+++ b/core/src/utils/helpers.ts
@@ -174,6 +174,25 @@ export const findItemLabel = (componentEl: HTMLElement): HTMLIonLabelElement | n
   return null;
 };
 
+export const focusElement = (el: HTMLElement) => {
+  el.focus();
+
+  /**
+   * When programmatically focusing an element,
+   * the focus-visible utility will not run because
+   * it is expecting a keyboard event to have triggered this;
+   * however, there are times when we need to manually control
+   * this behavior so we call the `setFocus` method on ion-app
+   * which will let us explicitly set the elements to focus.
+   */
+  if (el.classList.contains('ion-focusable')) {
+    const app = el.closest('ion-app');
+    if (app) {
+      app.setFocus([el]);
+    }
+  }
+};
+
 /**
  * This method is used for Ionic's input components that use Shadow DOM. In
  * order to properly label the inputs to work with screen readers, we need
diff --git a/core/src/utils/overlays.ts b/core/src/utils/overlays.ts
index 1397b0c1ae..544d533f4c 100644
--- a/core/src/utils/overlays.ts
+++ b/core/src/utils/overlays.ts
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ import { getIonMode } from '../global/ionic-global';
 import { ActionSheetOptions, AlertOptions, Animation, AnimationBuilder, BackButtonEvent, HTMLIonOverlayElement, IonicConfig, LoadingOptions, ModalOptions, OverlayInterface, PickerOptions, PopoverOptions, ToastOptions } from '../interface';
 
 import { OVERLAY_BACK_BUTTON_PRIORITY } from './hardware-back-button';
-import { addEventListener, componentOnReady, getElementRoot, removeEventListener } from './helpers';
+import { addEventListener, componentOnReady, focusElement, getElementRoot, removeEventListener } from './helpers';
 
 let lastId = 0;
 
@@ -78,22 +78,7 @@ export const focusFirstDescendant = (ref: Element, overlay: HTMLIonOverlayElemen
   }
 
   if (firstInput) {
-    firstInput.focus();
-
-    /**
-     * When programmatically focusing an element,
-     * the focus-visible utility will not run because
-     * it is expecting a keyboard event to have triggered this;
-     * however, there are times when we need to manually control
-     * this behavior so we call the `setFocus` method on ion-app
-     * which will let us explicitly set the elements to focus.
-     */
-    if (firstInput.classList.contains('ion-focusable')) {
-      const app = overlay.closest('ion-app');
-      if (app) {
-        app.setFocus([firstInput]);
-      }
-    }
+    focusElement(firstInput);
   } else {
     // Focus overlay instead of letting focus escape
     overlay.focus();