Montreal (Canada) August 14 : Pablo Carreno Busta made it to his first ATP Masters 1000 and National Bank Open final after scoring 7-5, 6-7(7), 6-2 victory against Daniel Evans in the semifinal here.The 31-year-old was awarded an opportunity to win in the tie-break of the second set but his perfect streak of sets during the week end with a nine before roaring back in an impressive final set on Saturday evening.
After so little distance separated the runners for the majority of the two-hour, 58-minute race, Carreno Busta raced through the finish line, winning the 12 points that remained and eight on the return.
“It was enjoyable for the crowd, but for me, it was a struggle.
I had the opportunity to win a match point in the second set, but he served well, so I was unable to do anything.If you’re facing a match point and you have to play a second set, it’s never easy to get it done,” said Carreno Busta about the intense match.
“Mentally I believe I was very efficient.Perhaps the first part of the third set was probably the toughest portion of the game.
After that, I thought I needed to play more aggressively, push hard, try to hit the net.It worked excellent,” he added.
The Spaniard will next play the eighth seed Hubert Hurkacz as he bids to become the first champion unseeded at the National Bank Open since Argentina’s Guillermo Canas in 2002.
The World No 23 advanced to his second final of the season (Barcelona) thanks to the aggressive game of baseline with an outstanding first-serve game in which he was able to score 79 per cent (49/62) of points on the first ball he lobbed.
He hit 43 winners and squandered five of his eight chances as he was in control of the game in the final stretch.
Despite no player being seeded, the semi-final was an all-weight battle with each of the men hitting the ground after being fumbled in an intense match.
After Evans lost earlier in the match, Carreno Busta slipped late in the tie-break in the second set to hand a mini-break to Evans.
The 31-year-old Carreno Busta knocked off seeded Italians Matteo Berrettini and Jannik Sinner to start his Montreal run, which was a welcome change from the what he described as “probably one of the worst years of my professional career”.
He now is in the position to win his seventh and most prestigious ATP Tour title.
Carreno Busta moved up 14 places to 15th in the ATP Live Race To Turin this week, with a chance to climb to 11th with the title.
He and Hurkacz split their previous two ATP Head-to-Head matches in 2021, each in 2021 with the Spaniard winning in Cincinnati and Hurkacz triumphant in the Metz final.
The week in Metz, Hurkacz also won the doubles title with fellow Pole Jan Zielinski.
His hopes of repeating the sweep in Montreal were put to rest on Saturday when Evans and John Peers in the semi-finals in which the British-Australian duo were defeated by Hurkacz and Zielinski 7-5, 10-4, 4-6.
