NEW YORK -- Canada's Milos Raonic is heading to his first ATP Tour final in over two years.
Raonic, from Thornhill, Ont., beat No. 4 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece 7-6 (5), 6-3 in the semifinals of the Western & Southern Open on Friday.
Raonic, ranked 30th in the world, will face the winner of a match between top-ranked Novak Djokovic of Serbia and No. 8 seed Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain in the final.
"I'm playing well," Raonic said. "I think I'm moving much better than I have in recent years and I think that's putting me in better positions so I'm able to be more effective, I'm able to be aggressive earlier and I'm able to play more on my terms quicker in the points."
The Canadian's most recent final appearance was in Stuttgart, Germany in June 2018. Raonic, 29, has won eight career titles, most recently in January 2016 in Brisbane, Australia.
It will mark the fourth Masters 1000 final -- the highest level on tour below Grand Slams -- of Raonic's career. He is 0-3 in his previous appearances.
The win Friday will push Raonic into the top-20 of the rankings next week. He'll be 18th if he loses the final and 13th if he wins.
Raonic, who has been hampered by injuries in recent years, has said the five-month break during the COVID-19 pandemic allowed him to have three six-week training blocks.
"I had the freedom to train and really focus on specific things," he said.
Raonic saved a set point trailing 6-5 on serve in the first set before winning the tiebreak with a couple of forehand winners.
The hard-serving Raonic won 90 per cent of his points on first serve.
Normally held in Cincinnati, the Western & Southern Open has been moved to New York this year during the pandemic. It is being held on the grounds of the U.S. Open, which starts Monday. No fans will be in attendance at either tournament.
"Having won a bunch of matches this week, I don't think there's a better way to be preparing (for the U.S. Open)," Raonic said. "I definitely can't complain about anything that's going on in terms of my tennis right now."
The Western & Southern Open is the first men's tournament since the pandemic started in March.
Earlier, Naomi Osaka overcame a faulty serve and reached the women's final following a one-day break in the tournament prompted by her call for racial justice.
Osaka, the only Top-10 player left in the women's bracket, sparked the break by announcing she would drop out of the tournament rather than play a semifinal match against Elise Mertens. Osaka chose to keep playing after the unified one-day show of support.
How would she handle the emotions of the last few days? She was up to the moment.
She struggled with her serve -- her toss was repeatedly off the mark -- but gritted out a 6-2, 7-6 (5) victory to reach her first Western & Southern title match.
Osaka's tweet Wednesday night that as a Black woman she's exhausted and "sick to my stomach" over the many Black people killed by police drew quick support from other players and resulted in tennis joining other sports in calling off play temporarily. Osaka didn't practise on the off day.
Osaka, a two-time Grand Slam champion, held serve to open her match against 14th-seeded Mertens, and then broke for a 2-0 lead that set the tone. Osaka surged ahead 5-1.
Even though her serve was inconsistent -- she made only half of them -- the fourth-seeded Osaka fought off 18-of-21 break points while gritting it out.
Osaka grabbed her left hamstring after chasing a ball during the tiebreaker, but completed the match without pause. Osaka won the 2018 U.S. Open and will be coming off a successful week -- in many ways -- heading into this one.
Osaka will face resurgent Victoria Azarenka, who beat Johanna Konta 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 to reach the Western & Southern final for the first time since 2013, when she beat Serena Williams.
The 31-year-old Azarenka considered retiring at the start of the year. She lost in the first round at Monterrey and to Venus Williams at Lexington last week.
Azarenka, ranked No. 59, smiled throughout her semifinal and raised her index finger after finishing it off. She has lost only one set this week.
With files from The Associated Press.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 28, 2020.
