The Pole dominated Casper Ruud while the Spaniard painstakingly got rid of Daniel Evans.
An unprecedented final at the Masters 1000 in Toronto will pit the Pole Hubert Hurkacz (10th in the world), who defeated the Norwegian Casper Ruud (7th) in half on Saturday, against the Spaniard Pablo Carreño (23rd), hard-fought winner of the Briton Daniel Evans (39th).
Almost two weeks before the US Open (August 29-September 11), the leaders of the circuit did not really shine on the Canadian cement, in the absence of Rafael Nadal, who preferred to spare his painful abs, and of Novak Djokovic, prevented from entering Canada as in the United States because not vaccinated.
The world No.1 Russian Daniil Medvedev, the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz (N.3) or the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas (N.5) all fell prematurely, freeing up space for the second knives. A rarity for the Canada Open, where the last player ranked beyond the Top 8 to win is Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, in 2014, already in Toronto.
It is happiness that therefore awaits Hurkacz or Carreño, with on paper the advantage of the 25-year-old Pole, who knows what it is to play – and win – a Masters 1000 final: he was revealed by his triumph in Miami last year, before confirming by reaching the semi-finals at Wimbledon.
Like the day before against the Australian Nick Kyrgios, it took him three sets to overthrow 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 Ruud, finalist of the last Roland-Garros.
«I had to hold on»
«Check it out» was however effective from the start on his first ball, as evidenced by 11 aces (18 in total), but that did not prevent his rival from seizing the opportunities to unbreak him, after being trailing from the start 3- 0.
The 23-year-old Norwegian, then extremely solid, pushed the Pole several times to make a mistake, sanctioned with a second break conceded, prior to the loss of the set. “He was better in the first set. I just had to hang on and fight», And reconnu Hurkacz.
Put under pressure at the start of the second round, he finally fought back to unbreak. Then he raised his level of play, taking the net more often, which succeeded in still seizing the opposing service and breaking away 4-2. Untenable, it was on a superb cushioning that he equalized.
«Stayed aggressive, tried to take every chance to get the upper hand in exchanges and make him uncomfortable“Explained Hurkacz, who further accelerated the pace by breaking at the start of the last set, with the help of the net band.
A boost which also illustrated the success of the more enterprising and pressing Pole, immediately rewarded with a double-break, then victory in 2h03.
6/6 for Hurkacz?
The native of Wroclaw is missing one to win a 6th title on the ATP circuit, which would be his second in 2022, two months after that gleaned on the German lawn of Halle.
«I try to be competitive and as well prepared as possible. I was lucky to win my (five) first finals. But tomorrow is a new match and it will be very difficult“, he underlined.
Carreño also battled hard to beat Evans 7-5, 6-7 (7/9), 6-2. After winning a fairly tight first set, he could have finished faster if he hadn’t missed a match point in the tiebreak of the second.
Instead, the bubbling 32-year-old Briton, combative as hell, got away with it without trembling, boosted at the slightest point won. But he ended up lacking tone in the middle of the 3rd set, when Carreño was not weakening. The 31-year-old Spaniard picked up the pace, winning the last four games and the match after three intense hours.
Also strong with six titles to his name, the Spaniard reached the final of a tournament in this category for the first time, just below the Grand Slams.
This will be their third meeting with Hurkacz. He had won their first confrontation in the round of 16 of the Cincinnati Masters 1000 in 2019, but lost the second in the final of the Metz tournament.
