Alexei Popyrin to face Andrey Rublev in men's National Bank Open final after snapping Sebastian Korda's eight-match winning streak; Rublev sees off Matteo Arnaldi in last four - watch women's final from 11pm on Sky Sports Tennis on Monday night with men's final from 12.30am on Tuesday
Monday 12 August 2024 23:09, UK
Defending champion Jessica Pegula will face shock finalist and fellow American Amanda Anisimova in the National Bank Open showpiece in Toronto.
Pegula, who routed Liudmila Samsonova 6-1 6-0 in last year's final, saw off Diana Shnaider 6-4 6-3 in Sunday's second semi-final after Anisimova had continued her fairytale run by beating Emma Navarro 6-3 2-6 6-2.
Anisimova, ranked 132nd in the world, had stunned world No 3 Aryna Sabalenka 6-4 6-2 in the quarter-finals and has has now defeated four top-20 players in a row after also conquering Anna Kalinskaya and Daria Kasatkina.
The 22-year-old, the lowest-ranked finalist in Canada in 40 years, trails 2-0 in her career head-to-head with world No 6 Pegula but did take her compatriot to a third-set tie-break in Charleston earlier this year.
Anisimova said: "This is a huge accomplishment for me, and something I've been working really hard towards.
"I'm just super happy and pretty surprised with how well I've been able to do so far. I'm still hungry for more."
The men's final in Montreal will be contested between Australia's Alexei Popyrin and fifth seed Andrey Rublev of Russia.
The unseeded Popyrin snapped Sebastian Korda's eight-match winning streak and ended the American's hopes of successive ATP Tour titles following his victory at the Washington Open last week by triumphing 7-6 (7-0) 6-3.
Rublev beat Italy's Matteo Arnaldi 6-4 6-2 on a busy day of action that also saw the quarter-finals completed, with Korda knocking out second Alexander Zverev in three sets and Popyrin upsetting fourth seed Hubert Hurkacz, also in three sets.
In other news, Naomi Osaka defeated Anna Blinkova 6-2 2-6 6-2 to reach the second round of qualifying at the Cincinnati Open where she will battle Ashlyn Kreuger for a spot in the main draw.
In the run-up to the final Grand Slam of 2024 - the US Open - you can watch tennis' biggest stars in action live on Sky Sports.
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