MONTREAL: Andrey Rublev powered into his second ATP Masters 1000 final of the season on Sunday as he lined up a title match against Alexei Popyrin in Montreal. Fifth seed Rublev, who won the Madrid Masters title in May, overcame a two-hour rain interruption as he beat Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi 6-4, 6-2 in their semi-final.

He faces off Monday evening for the trophy against Australian Popyrin, who put out last week’s ATP Washington winner Sebastian Korda 7-6 (7/0), 6-3 in 92 minutes. Rublev has had a patchy 2024, melting down several times on court in frustration with his play and being disqualified last February in Dubai for blowing up at a linesman.

But the Russian, who skipped the Paris Olympics to be prepared for the North American hardcourts that continue next week in Cincinnati, said he made the right scheduling choice. “That was the plan, to be set for the US Open,” he said. “I guess if I’m in the finals of Montreal, it must be working.”

Rublev will be competing in the sixth Masters final of his career and tuned up for the title bid by knocking out top-seeded world number one Jannik Sinner in a Saturday quarter-final. He said it was not easy facing Arnaldi, whose ranking will move to around 30th, putting him in the frame for a US Open seeding.

“He can hit hard out of nowhere and doesn’t give you any rhythm. The wind did not help,” Rublev said. “After the rain delay I played much better. I was focused and could dictate and play more aggressive.” Popyrin twice traded first-set breaks with Korda, but totally dominated the tiebreaker to love.

The Aussie broke to start the second set and held the margin all the way to victory as he reached his first Masters final. “It means the world to reach this final, it’s amazing,” he said. “It’s an amazing feeling and achievement. I have to pat myself on the back.

“But tomorrow will be all hands on deck and back to work. “The first set was topsy-turvy, a few breaks here and there. But I stayed mentally strong and took momentum into the tiebreaker. “I really needed to win in two sets — I don’t know if my legs would have made it into a third.”

‘He’s really quick’

Popyrin beat Rublev on clay last spring in Monte Carlo but knows the seed is also a huge hardcourt danger. “He plays a tough game on hardcourt,” Rublev said. “He’s really quick.” Rublev came out after the rain interruption in his win over Arnaldi and produced a double break after less than 30 minutes to reach the final. “It was worth it, all this week was worth it,” Rublev said of the rain delays that have plagued the event. “I’m happy to be in my first Canadian final. Now I just want to recover, rest and be ready for tomorrow.”

In a pair of quarter-finals held over by rain, Alexander Zverev missed a chance to collect his 50th victory of the season in a 7-6 (7/5), 1-6, 6-4 loss to American Korda and Popyrin accounted for Hubert Hurkacz 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-5.

Meanwhile, defending champion Jessica Pegula advanced to the WTA Toronto Masters final on Sunday by defeating Diana Shnaider 6-4, 6-3, giving her a chance to be the event’s first back-to-back winner since 2000. Sixth-ranked Pegula eliminated the 24th-ranked Russian in 83 minutes to book an all-American final on Monday against Amanda Anisimova, who ousted US eighth seed Emma Navarro 6-3, 2-6, 6-2. Pegula, trying for the first Canadian repeat since Martina Hingis in 1999-2000, is 2-0 against Anisimova, most recently winning in April at Charleston.

“She’s probably one of the biggest, cleanest ball strikers I’ve ever played against, so when she’s on it can be really tough,” Pegula said of Anisimova. “Tomorrow definitely is going to be a battle and I’m going to have to do my best to just make her play a lot of extra balls and try to be aggressive when I can, because when she’s on she can hit a lot of winners and take the racquet out of your hand sometimes, so I’m going to have to be smart tomorrow.”

Shnaider, a 20-year-old left-hander, had a break point in the eighth game but netted a forehand and Pegula held for a 5-3 lead. She then broke on the longest rally of the match, 21 shots, when Shnaider netted a backhand to end matters. Pegula moves into her 13th career WTA final, seeking her sixth title and second of the year after Berlin in June.

Shnaider, who ousted US top seed and reigning US Open champion Coco Gauff, was coming off a silver-medal effort in Paris Olympics doubles.

‘Still hungry’

Anisimova reached her fourth career WTA final by dispatching her fourth top-20 foe of the week, a career first. She also ousted third-ranked Aryna Sabalenka in a quarter-final. “This is a huge accomplishment for me and something I’ve been working really hard towards,” Anisimova said. “I’m just super happy with my week here and I’m pretty surprised with how well I’ve been able to do so far.

“I’m still hungry for more and I hope that I can really do well tomorrow.” At 132nd in the world, Anisimova became the lowest-ranked finalist at the Canadian tournament in 40 years, as she seeks a third WTA title after Bogota in 2019 and Melbourne in 2022.

Anisimova took a nine-month mental health break from tennis last year and fell to 373rd in the world rankings at the start of the year, but has ensured a return to the top 50 in the next world rankings. “I knew that when I stepped away that I really wanted to come back and I didn’t want to finish my career on that note,” Anisimova said.

“There was still a lot I wanted to achieve, and just not finish at such a young age, because I had sacrificed so much and given so much to the sport.” Navarro netted a forehand to surrender a break and a 5-2 lead in the final set to Anisimova, who closed with an ace to eliminate her compatriot in one hour, 55 minutes.

Anisimova fired 28 winners to 10 for Navarro in windy conditions. “It was tough out there again today, super windy, struggled on my serve a little bit just with the wind,” Navarro said. “In the end, she handled the conditions probably better than I did.” — AFP