Canadian Open: Hubert Hurkacz wins another decider to come back against Casper Ruud to reach final in Montreal

Hubert Hurkacz fought back to beat Casper Ruud 5-7 6-3 6-2 at the Canadian Open to reach the second ATP 1000 final of his career.

For a fourth consecutive match, Hurkacz won in three sets and will face Britain’s Dan Evans or Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta in the final on Sunday.

Hurkacz stormed ahead to race into a 3-0 lead in the first set, only for Ruud to level things up at 3-3. The pair shared the next four games, before Ruud broke him with a brilliant forehand winner and held his serve to take the opening set 7-5.

A frustrated Hurkacz used his anger to good effect in the second set to make a breakthrough at 3-2 by breaking his opponent.

He made good use of the serve and volley to keep a tighter stronghold during his service games to see out the set 6-3 and was growing in confidence.

As he did against in his quarter-finals win against Nick Kyrgios, Hurkacz left the court for the 10 minutes at the end of the second set.

The Pole continued to produce some great tennis and fought back from 40-0 down in the opening game of the final set to break Ruud immediately, albeit with a little bit of luck as a let court made the difference.

Hurkacz stamped his authority in the third game with another break and resisted some pressure from Ruud to win in two hours.

“I was just trying to stay in the game,” said Hurkacz after the match. “Casper was playing some incredible tennis and was the better player for a set and a half.

“I just fought and did my best.”

Asked if he was feeling tired after going the distance in the last four days, Hurkacz answered: “No, it’s OK. Physically, I feel good.

“I’ve been putting in a lot of work over the last weeks and so far it’s been good.”

Hurkacz looking for double success

Hurkacz is also in the semi-finals of the men’s doubles at the Canadian Open as he and partner Jan Zielinski face Evans and John Peers in the early hours of Sunday morning in the UK.

Evans will be playing back-to-back matches with his singles semi-final scheduled for 01:00 UK time on Sunday morning, before he will go straight back onto the court for his doubles match in Montreal.