Rafael Nadal has reached his 10th final of the season, beating top seed and defending champion Novak Djokovic 6-4 3-6 7-6 (7-2) at the Montreal Masters.
The fourth-seeded Spaniard will play the first Canadian to reach the final since 1958 when he faces Milos Raonic, a 6-4 1-6 7-6 (7-4) winner over compatriot Vasek Pospisil.
Nadal will be bidding for his third Canadian title after triumphs in 2005 and 2008.
He has beaten Raonic in all three of their matches, including two on hardcourt.
Raonic beat Pospisil in the first all-Canadian semi-final at the Montreal Masters and will crack a top 10 ranking for the first time.
He will also become the first Canadian in the top 10.
“I really don’t know what to say,” said Raonic, who won the first ATP semi-final between Canadians since Martin Wostenholme beat Andrew Sznajder in Rio de Janeiro 23 years ago.
“Breaking into the top 10 means so much,” he said. “I’m really happy at the moment.”
No pair of Canadians had ever done so well at the home event.
He needed two and a quarter hours to claim the victory on his first match point.
Two late errors from wild card Pospisil in the tiebreaker – a double-fault and a forehand long – gave Raonic the chance to seal it.
“Getting to this ranking was a big objective for me, but I still have a tough final to play, said Raonic, who fired 14 aces.
Pospisil was competing in only his second semi-final of any kind at the Tour level after losing last month in Bogota.
Raonic reached the final in his 12th elite Masters 1000 event and now stands 27-13 this season.
His breakthrough comes three months after starting work with Croatian Ivan Ljubicic.