Raonic, Pospisil Meet In Historic First All-Canadian Final; Serena Seeds Third Stanford Title

History will be made Sunday in America’s capital when Milos Raonic meets Vasek Pospisil in the first ever all-Canadian final on the ATP.

“Personally, this is a first final for me so that’s great. It’s more special that I am playing a Davis Cup teammate and a fellow Canadian,” Pospisil said. “This is great for tennis in Canada. I’ll try to do my best.”

Raonic advanced to the final breezing past Donald Young 6-4, 7-5.

“I did the most important things,” the 23-year-old Raonic said. “I took care of my serve. I thought he played really well and I just put that pressure on him in the final games of the set. It paid off. Obviously I want more. I think I have a much better understanding of what I need to bring out of myself, especially earlier in tournaments so I can do consistently well at each tournament and give myself the opportunity to get into the weekend stages.”

Because of late Friday rain, Pospisil was forced to play four sets on Saturday. He first finished off Santiago Giraldo in a third set then in the evening returned to beat Richard Gasquet 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-5.

“I stuck with it. I felt like I was forcing my game and made adjustments,” said Pospisil. “I hung in there in the third and waited for an opportunity. I was fortunate to get an opportunity and I seized it.”

The two Canadian stars, who are missing (or glad to not be there!) an abundance of PR opportunities at the Toronto Masters this weekend, have played just once before when Roanic won in a third set breaker last year in the Montreal semifinals.

The 24-year-old Pospisil is playing his first ATP final, Raonic is seeking his sixth title. The final also marks the second all-90s final of the weekend after 23-year-old David Goffin beat 20-year-old Dominic Thiem in Kiztbuhel.

In the Washington women’s final, 2-time Svetlana Kuznetsova faces Kurumi Nara.

Out west, top ranked Serena Williams seeks a third Stanford title against Angelique Kerber. In the semis, Serena beat another German, Andrea Petkovic in straight sets, while later Kerber fended off fellow-lefty Varvara Lepchenko.

“I’m really excited,” Serena said after her 12th straight win at Stanford. “Andrea and I both had really long matches yesterday, so I was just hoping to come out again today with fresh legs, and just try to do the best I could out there.

“My body feels great. I’m just really excited to be in the finals of Stanford again.”

Serena, who is bidding for a 61st career title, has beaten Kerber four of five times but the German did beat her in the 2012 summer at Cincinnati.