Spaniard Rafael Nadal moved into the final of the Melbourne Summer Set with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori on Saturday in Melbourne, Australia.
The top-seeded Nadal is playing in his first tournament since the Citi Open in August due to a foot injury. A win would be the 89th tour-level victory of his career.
To reach that milestone, he’ll need to get past 24-year-old American qualifier Maxime Cressy, who will be playing in his first ATP Tour final.
Cressy defeated No. 3 seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 7-5, 7-6 (9) in just over two hours to reach the final. He hit 17 aces and saved all five break points.
ATP Cup
Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov defeated Russians Daniil Medvedev and Roman Safiullin in a deciding doubles match 4-6, 7-5, 10-7 to send Canada to its first-ever ATP Cup final.
The Canadians will face Spain on Sunday in Sydney.
The ATP Cup format is best of three, and Canada and Russia split the singles matches earlier. Shapovalov and Safiullin played a tense two-hour, 39-minute match to open the day’s play, with the Canadian prevailing 6-4, 5-7, 6-4. Medvedev kept the Russians in the match with a much easier 6-4, 6-0 win against Auger-Aliassime.
The Russians were the defending champions, and Medvedev and Safiullin had been 3-0 in doubles this week entering the match with Canada.
Adelaide International
No. 1 seed Gael Monfils of France will face No. 2 seed Karen Khachanov of Russia in the final in Adelaide, Australia.
Monfils, tied at 5-5 in the first set with Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia, won eight straight games to capture a 7-5, 6-0 win in 80 minutes. He’ll be playing for his 11th tour title on Sunday.
Khachanov will be playing in the final of an ATP Tour event for the first time since November 2018, when he defeated Novak Djokovic in the Rolex Paris Masters. He earned his spot in the final by defeating Marin Cilic of Croatia, the third seed, 7-6 (3), 6-3.
This will be the first-ever meeting between Monfils and Khachanov.
–Field Level Media