Greek teenager Stefanos Tsitsipas toppled big-serving South African Kevin Anderson 6-7(4) 6-4 7-6(7) in a thriller to reach the Rogers Cup final.
ADVERTISEMENTGreek teenager Stefanos Tsitsipas toppled big-serving South African Kevin Anderson 6-7(4) 6-4 7-6(7) in a thriller to reach the Rogers Cup final.
Tsitsipas dropped his racket and screamed in front of a frenzied crowd after world number six Anderson sent a backhand long on match point. It was the world number 27's fourth consecutive win over a top 10 opponent at the tournament.
Tsitsipas dispatched Dominic Thiem, Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev in the previous three rounds before battling back to send the Wimbledon runner-up packing on a sun-soaked day in Toronto.
Tsitsipas will play his first ATP Masters 1000 final on his 20th birthday on Sunday against Rafael Nadal.
Fourth seed Anderson was unable to break Tsitsipas' serve on any of his four opportunities and saw his lone match point opportunity vanish when Tsitsipas smoked a backhand crosscourt winner in the third set tiebreak.
Tsitsipas, who stood well back of the baseline when receiving Anderson's blistering serves, managed the only service break of the game in the third game of the second set with an overhead smash.
With the win, Tsitsipas is projected to climb to at least number 15 when the new rankings are released on Monday.
Rafael Nadal put himself in line for his 33rd Masters 1000 title when the Spaniard defeated Russia's Karen Khachanov 7-6(3) 6-4 in their rain-delayed Roger Cup semi-final in Toronto, Canada on Saturday (August 11).
After an over two-hour delay to the start, the players exchanged early service breaks before Nadal took the set in a tiebreak. The match was decided after Nadal broke to lead 2-1 in the second set, holding serve comfortably for the rest of the match to wrap up victory in one hour, 51 minutes.