HOUSTON (AFP) – Canadian Denis Shapovalov continued his giant-killing run at the ATP Dallas Open on Saturday, beating defending champion Tommy Paul 7-5, 6-3 to book a title clash with second-seeded Casper Ruud.
Norway’s Ruud out-lasted Spain’s Jaume Munar 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (7/4) to reach the final.
Unseeded Shapovalov, who ousted world number four Taylor Fritz in the second round, needed just an hour and a half to get past a second top-10 opponent in a week in ninth-ranked Paul.
He’ll get a chance at another on Sunday against world number five Ruud, who regained a break in the 10th game of the final set to force the deciding tiebreaker.
“Second and third set (Munar) really stepped it up,” said Ruud, who thought he might have benefitted from a few nerves from Munar as he served for the match in the third.
“I know what the feeling is like,” Ruud said. “You can get tight. You kind of see the finish line a few yards in front of you and then you kind of stumble. I’ve done it myself and I was fortunate to be on the right side of it today.”
Ruud hit a backhand down-the-line winner to grab a 4-2 tie-breaker lead, took a 5-3 edge when Munar was wide with a backhand volley and went to 6-3 on an overhead smash.
Two points later, the Spaniard netted a forehand to hand Ruud the victory after two and a half hours, falling to 1-4 all-time against the Norwegian.
Ruud, who is 2-0 against Shapovalov, seeks his 13th career ATP title and a third consecutive finals win after triumphs last year at Barcelona and Geneva.
Shapovalov is into his eighth ATP final chasing third title after a victory in Stockholm in 2018 and last November in Belgrade.
