Amanda Anisimova advanced to her first WTA 1000 final after defeating No.15 Emma Navarro 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 in the semifinals of the National Bank Open on Sunday. Now ranked No.132, Anisimova is the lowest-ranked Canadian Open finalist in 40 years.

Toronto: Scores | Draws | Order of Play 

Anisimova will meet defending champion Jessica Pegula in an all-American final on Monday. No.3 seed Pegula returned to the final with a 6-4, 6-3 win over No.14 seed Diana Shnaider in the evening semifinal.

Pegula leads Anisimova 2-0 in their head-to-head, but their last match, on the green clay of Charleston this year, went down to a third-set tiebreak.

Anisimova's big victories continue: Anisimova's win over Navarro was her fourth Top 20 win of the week, coming off victories over No.3 Aryna Sabalenka, No.12 Anna Kalinskaya and No.10 Daria Kasatkina. 

"This is a huge accomplishment for me, and something I've been working really hard towards," Anisimova said. "I'm just super happy, honestly, with my week here, and 'm pretty surprised with how well I've been able to do so far.

"I'm still hungry for more, and I hope that I can really do well tomorrow."

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Anisimova reached a career-high No.19 in 2019 after reaching her first major semifinal at Roland Garros as a prodigious 17-year-old. Last year, Anisimova shut down her season to mental health reasons and did not play a competitive match for eight months. She began the year outside the Top 300. Regardless of what happens on Monday, she will leave Canada in the Top 50.

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"I knew that when I stepped away that I really wanted to come back and I didn't want to finish my career on that note," Anisimova said. "There was still a lot that I wanted to achieve, and just not finish at such a young age, because I had sacrificed so much and given so much to the sport. So, yeah, I knew that I still had many years that I wanted to play."

In their first tour-level meeting, Anisimova overpowered Navarro from the baseline, firing 28 winners to the No.8 seed's 10. On a windy day that saw the start of the match delayed due to rain, Anisimova's serve proved the difference-maker. Anisimova lost just three points on her own serve in the 28-minute first set.

Anisimova led by an early break in the second set before Navarro stormed back to win five consecutive games to force a deciding set. Once again, Anisimova broke first to lead 2-1 and this time she did not squander her lead. After wiping out a break point chance to hold to 4-2, Anismova closed out the next two games to seal a 1-hour and 55-minute win.

Pegula prevails again: Later on Sunday, World No.6 Pegula extended her incredible run of results at the National Bank Open with a 1-hour and 23-minute victory over surging Shnaider.

Shnaider has been in fine form lately. The 20-year-old had won 17 of her last 19 matches coming into Sunday's semifinal, including her first Top 10 victory over Coco Gauff in the Round of 16.

Shnaider has won three titles already this year (on three different surfaces) and won an Olympic silver medal in women's doubles with Mirra Andreeva just last week.

But when you put Pegula on court in Canada, she is nearly unstoppable. She made her National Bank Open main-draw debut in 2021 and reached the semifinals, then reached another semifinal in 2022 before winning her second career WTA 1000 title at this event last year.

Pegula tops Shnaider to reach second straight National Bank Open final

Pegula is now one win away from defending a WTA singles title for the first time. The 30-year-old holds a stunning 16-2 main-draw record at the National Bank Open. Only Chris Evert and Monica Seles have better records in their first 18 matches at this tournament (both 17-1).

Shnaider went up an early break in the first set, but Pegula steadied the ship and came back to take the one-set lead on another gusty Toronto day. They each had six winners in the opening set, but Shnaider had 13 unforced errors to Pegula's six.

The second set was also close, but Shnaider double faulted her service away to give Pegula a break lead at 4-3. The American eased home from there, earning a second break of the set to wrap up victory, ending the clash with a scintillating rally.

More to come...