Raonic makes history with Montreal finals spot

MONTREAL: Milos Raonic beat Vasek Pospisil in the first all-Canadian semi-final at the Montreal Masters on Saturday and will crack a top 10 ranking for the first time.

Raonic, seeded 11th, beat 71st-ranked Pospisil 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7/4) and will make his biggest ATP rankings move on Monday when he will become the first Canadian in the top 10.

But first, he'll take on either top seed Novak Djokovic or Rafael Nadal -- both multiple Canadian title winners in Sunday's final.

No pair of Canadians had ever done so well at the home event, with Raonic the first local to reach the final since 1958.

He needed two and a quarter hours to claim the victory on his first match point. Two late errors from wild card Pospisil in the tiebreaker -- a double-fault and a forehand long -- gave Raonic the chance to seal it.

Pospisil was competing in only his second semi-final of any kind at the Tour level after losing last month in Bogota.

Raonic reached the final in his 12th elite Masters 1000 event and now stands 27-13 this season.

His breakthrough comes three months after starting work with Croatian Ivan Ljubicic. (AFP)