Andrey Rublev played mercilessly as he defeated Italian Matteo Arnaldi with a convincing 6-4, 6-2 result to advance to the final of the Canadian Open.
After a one-hour, 40-minute delay at 6-4, 1-1, the fifth seed returned to court in a ferocious display that saw him win five of the last six games of the match.
“The wait paid off. I’m happy to be in my first final in Canada,” said Andrey Rublev, who now leads his head-to-head with Arnaldi 2-1.
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“I just wanted to recover, have a good rest and be ready for the next match. The idea of not going to the Olympics was to be better prepared for Canada, so if I get to the final, it means we did very well.”
The fifth seed is now in his sixth Masters 1000 final. He has had a mixed run at the Masters 1000 this season. He claimed just one win in Indian Wells, Miami and Monte Carlo before winning the Madrid title, but then lost his second match in Rome.
Arnaldi meanwhile is playing in his second ATP semi-final and his first Masters 1000 semi-final in his career. The world number 46 beat the fifth seed in their second meeting at the French Open this year but was unable to replicate that result when they met in Toronto.
Awaiting Rublev in the Canadian Open final is Australian Alexei Popyrin, who upset him in the first round of the Monte Carlo Open earlier this year.
Popyrin turned a near-miss into an unlikely victory over American Sebastian Korda.
The Australian squandered two set points at 5-4 in the first set and when he was broken in the next game, last week’s Washington champion Korda looked to seize the momentum. But the Aussie quickly responded and forced a tiebreak which he won without reply.
“It means a lot to me. “Honestly, it’s an amazing achievement for myself and sometimes you have to pat yourself on the back,” said Popyrin, who followed in the footsteps of compatriot Alex De Minaur who reached the final of the Canadian Open last year.
