Canadian Open: Andrey Rublev takes ‘special’ win over Jannik Sinner, Jessica Pegula speeds past Peyton Stearns

Jannik Sinner was forced to withdraw from the Canadian Open after a gruelling quarter-final defeat to Andrey Rublev, who won 6-3 1-6 6-2.

Perhaps even more worrying for Sinner, apart from the defeat, was the relapse of a hip injury, something the Italian has been struggling with for much of this year.

Both players played their second games within hours, as rain disrupted the schedule in Montreal.

After a 6-4 6-3 victory in three sets over Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo, Sinner was back on court to face the world number 8.

Meanwhile, earlier on Saturday, Rublev won 6-2 6-2 against Brandon Nakashima, making this meeting with the world number 1 a fact.

“It was a really great match for me. I played really well today and I’m happy that I could win,” Rublev said in quotes published by the ATP.

“I don’t know, there’s not much to say because I still don’t understand what’s happening at the moment because Jannik is a great player and he’s played unbelievable the last two years.

“I just hoped that I could fight with him, that I could show great tennis. In the end I think we had a lot of great rallies, a lot of long rallies.

“To be able to win these kind of races is always special of course, and of course I needed those races, especially after some bad moments this year. So of course I’m happy.”

Rublev was the first to win the match after beating Sinner in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead, with his second set point deciding the opening goal.

From that point on it started to rain again, resulting in a 30-minute delay, which seemed to be in Sinner’s favor.

He fought back admirably and won the second set in dominant fashion, breaking the Russian twice and restoring the equalizer after his first set point.

Sinner was clearly suffering from his hip problem and was urged by coach Darren Cahill to ask for the trainer before the deciding match if necessary.

Despite his problems, Sinner came close to beating Rublev in the opening match, but he saw five chances pass him by.

Rublev followed up that hard-fought victory with a convincing break to 15, giving him a 3-0 lead.

Sinner managed to beat two match points from Rublev in the deciding eighth game, before ultimately losing in the third game.

Rublev will face another Italian in the semi-final, Matteo Arnaldi.

Sinner, the reigning Canadian Open champion, now has two weeks to recover before the final Grand Slam of the year begins: the US Open.

Elsewhere, Jessica Pegula reached the semi-finals in Toronto with a 6-4 7-5 victory over compatriot Peyton Stearns.

Stearns played well in the first match but was broken in the fifth game before Pegula won the tenth game with a convincing hold to love at 6-4.

The 22-year-old started the second set with a fierce battle for her own position, saving three break points.

She managed to score two more in the next game, but Pegula also managed to save them and equalized in the third set.

It looked like the match was heading for a deciding goal when Stearns finally managed to break Pegula for the first time to take a 3-1 lead.

But Pegula broke her compatriot’s serve twice more and decided the match on her own serve at 7-5.