Fifth-seeded Andrey Rublev won against Matteo Arnaldi 6-4, 6-2 on Sunday in the National Bank Open semifinals, after waiting through a rain delay early in the second set.
Rublev, a 26-year-old from Russia who has won in Madrid and Hong Kong this year, will compete against Alexei Popyrin of Australia in the final. Popyrin won against American Sebastian Korda with a score of 7-6 (0), 6-3.
“The wait has been worth it,” Rublev said about the 1 hour, 40 minutes delay when the score was 1-1 in the second set. “I’m happy to be in my first Canadian final. I just want to recover, rest well and be ready for tomorrow.”
On Saturday, Rublev had beaten top-seeded Jannik Sinner.
Arnaldi, from Italy, reached his first Masters 1000-level semifinal.
Earlier on Sunday, Popyrin defeated fourth-seeded Hubert Hurkacz 3-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5 in the quarterfinals, and Korda, who won last week in Washington, beat second-seeded Alexander Zverev 7-6 (5), 1-6, 6-4.
Popyrin came back to win against Hurkacz after being close to losing and then won the first-set tiebreaker against Korda.
“It’s an amazing achievement for myself to be honest, and sometimes you have to pat yourself on the back,” Popyrin said about reaching the final. “I’ll do that tonight, but tomorrow it’s all hands on deck and back to work.”
Rain caused the cancellation of play on Thursday night and all of Friday due to Tropical Storm Debby, which delayed the event.
