JOIN USRafael Nadal beat Karen Khachanov 7-6 (7/3) 6-4 on Saturday to set up a final with birthday boy Stefano Tsitsipas at the Toronto Masters.
The Spanish icon will try on Sunday to spoil the 20th celebrations of the Greek youngster, who reached the second final of his career by beating Wimbledon finalist Kevin Anderson 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 7-6 (9/7), saving a match point on the way.
World number one Nadal won a battle of the tennis generations with Tsitsipas last April in the Barcelona title match.
"To win this match is important, it's very important to be in the final of Toronto," Nadal said after running his season record to 39-3 in a match which ended after midnight local time.
"I'm motivated every day when I wake up, there is always something to improve," said the 32-year-old.
"I want to stay around for as long as possible (in tennis)."
Top seed Nadal edged out the first set in a tiebreaker after a two-hour, rain-delayed start.
In the second, Nadal went about finishing up his business with a break in the third game and on his way to the win in just over an hour and a quarter.
Nadal leads the all-time list of Masters 1000 titles on 32. He will be playing his 116th ATP final and stands two wins away from 80 trophies.
Tsitsipas, who will move to at least 15th in the rankings, became the first man since Jo-Wilfried Tsonga here in 2014 to defeat four Top 10 players at the same event.
He dispatched Dominic Thiem, Novak Djokovic, and Alexander Zverev before downing Anderson. He will be the first unseeded finalist in Canada since Nicolas Kiefer in 2008.
"It feels like I'm playing Davis Cup and everyone is backing me up and they're so supportive," Tsitsipas said.
"Four wins against top 10 players. I would never imagine that I could pull this out in a single tournament. I don't know if I got lucky with all those players, but somehow it happened that I played four top 10 and managed to beat them, which is a huge achievement for me and for my game this week."
Halep in final
A weary Simona Halep, upset over how her matches are scheduled, defeated Ashleigh Barty 6-4, 6-1 to reach the final of the women's Rogers Cup in Montreal.
The top-ranked Romanian will third-seeded Sloane Stephens in the final, which will be a repeat of last year's US Open title match.
Stephens defeated Elina Svitolina 6-3 6-3.
Halep has reached the Rogers Cup final for the third time in four years. She won the last time it was in Montreal in 2016.
Halep complained Friday about playing the first semifinal day after two straight night matches. She contended she has the worst schedule in the 56-player event and "this happens almost every tournament."
Despite playing on only 15 hours rest, Halep was in control from the outset against the 15th-seeded Barty, eliminating the Australian in 71 minutes.
Halep played four matches in three days after a night session was postponed because of rain.