MONTREAL (AP) 鈥� Fifth-seeded Andrey Rublev beat Matteo Arnaldi 6-4, 6-2 on Sunday in the National Bank Open semifinals after waiting out a rain delay early in the second set.
Rublev, the 26-year-old Russian with victories this year in Madrid and Hong Kong, will face Alexei Popyrin of Australia in the final. Popyrin beat American Sebastian Korda 7-6 (0), 6-3.
鈥淭he wait has been worth it." Rublev said about the delay of 1 hour, 40 minutes at 1-1 in the second set. 鈥淚鈥檓 happy to be in my first Canadian final. I just want to recover, rest well and be ready for tomorrow.鈥�
On Saturday, he beat top-seeded Jannik Sinner.
Arnaldi, from Italy, reached his first Masters 1000-level semifinal.
Earlier Sunday in the quarterfinals, Popyrin topped fourth-seeded Hubert Hurkacz 3-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5, and Korda 鈥� the winner last week in Washington 鈥� beat second-seeded Alexander Zverev 7-6 (5), 1-6, 6-4.
Popyrin rallied to beat Hurkacz after being within two points of defeat, then shut out Korda in the first-set tiereaker.
"It鈥檚 an amazing achievement for myself to be honest, and sometimes you have to pat yourself on the back,鈥� Popyrin said about reaching the final. 鈥淚鈥檒l do that tonight, but tomorrow it鈥檚 all hands on deck and back to work.鈥�
Rain washed out play Thursday night and all of Friday as remnants of Tropical Storm Debby rolled through, putting the event behind schedule.
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AP tennis:
The Associated Press
