Without Rafa Nadal, injured, and with Carlos Alcaraz absent at the first substitution, the Masters 1000 of Montreal hinted that it would bring little joy to Spanish tennis. But Pablo Carreño, 31, number 23 in the ATP ranking, was convinced to spice up the Spanish mornings and by releasing his best tennis, the one that led him, among other things, to hang an Olympic bronze medal, has reached the final of the Canadian tournament, his first battle for a Masters 1000 title. The Spaniard beat Britain’s Daniel Evans this morning in a nearly three-hour long match (two hours and 59 minutes) by 7-5, 6- 7 (7) and 6-2 to soar to his first summit in the Canadian tournament, in which awaits the Pole Hubert Hurkacz, world number 10.

“In a difficult year for me, I had an incredible level. It’s a great opportunity to try to give my best in the final and to look for my first Masters 1000. Let’s see how I do it”, explained the tennis player from Gijón with a smile from ear to ear at the end of his battle against Evans, the most complicated he had ever seen, had to play in Montreal.Carreño’s path to the semi-finals had been a military march, without giving up a single set and with 97% of games won with his serve, with only one break suffered, in the quarter-finals against Jack Draper, thus reaching his third semi-final in a Masters 1000, but this time with the confidence of seeing himself as a favourite. In his two previous editions, at Indian Wells 2017 and Miami 2018, he fell to two colossi who easily overtook him in the ATP rankings, Stan Wawrinka (then number 3) and Alexander Zverev (number 5).Daniel Evans, 39 in the world, was perceived co even a rival who could bite the teeth without too much difficulty, but the reality was that the Spaniards had to pull pins to finish off the British.

Carreño started the game on fire, as sure of service as he had been all week. Evans answered with courage and also a good tennis, specifying that he was going to sell his skin very expensive. The Brits caused a scare in the first set by breaking Carreño’s serve, a milestone in this tournament in Montreal, to make it 5-5. Carreño didn’t get nervous and responded by snatching serve in his next round and with a shutout to close the first set.

Hostilities erupted in the second set, one of the most spectacular of the season, with long, intense and varied points. First, Evans managed to escape 4-1 after another break from Carreño’s serve. Forced to take a step forward, the Spaniard confided in the epic and upset the Canadian track. From 1-4 it went to 5-4, with Carreño throwing discs like guided rockets. The Spaniard had match point at 6-5 but Evans managed to save his neck in the longest game of the entire game. In the decisive game, pushed by the Canadian crowd, the Briton got up in time and won the tiebreaker 9-7.

The third set was unfamiliar territory for Carreño in Montreal and Evans’ inertia indicated the fight would be intense. But the reality was that the Briton had crumbled in the second set and reached the third set with weak strength. On the other hand, Carreño flew off the bottom of the track, as if the more than two hours of play they had played did not weigh it down. He earned a break in game six and took a 4-2 lead, leaving very emotionally damaged Evans, who didn’t look up again and didn’t earn a single point in the next two games. Like a steamroller, Carreño capped off his run to the final with a final run of 16 to three.

Tonight at 10:00 p.m. (via #Vamos and Movistar Deportes) the biggest challenge of his career awaits him against Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz, who beat Nick Kyrgios in the quarter-finals and Casper Ruud in the semi-finals. The two tennis players faced each other twice last year, with a victory for each (victory for Carreño in Cincinnati and victory for Hurkacz in Metz). It will be the Spaniard’s second final this season after falling in the Conde de Godó against a Carlos Alcaraz who in these weeks has stressed that he will eat the world. It is now the man from Gijón who has the opportunity to bite into his first metal in a Masters 1000 at the age of 31.

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