Rogers Cup: Rafael Nadal 'Motivated Every Day' After Reaching Final

World No. 1 Rafael Nadal spoke of how he continues to remain motivated every day as he reached the final of the Rogers Cup on Saturday night.

After a two-hour delayed start due to rain, Nadal defeated Russia's Karen Khachanov 7-6, 6-4 in their semifinal clash in just over an hour and a quarter to reach his fifth final of the year.

The 32-year-old will look to win a fifth title of the year as well, and further extend his lead atop the ATP rankings, following his Wimbledon semifinal loss to Novak Djokovic last month that saw him miss out on the chance of potentially winning his 18th Grand Slam title.

"To win this match is important, it’s very important to be in the final of Toronto," Nadal said after the match, according to Fox Sports. "I’m motivated every day when I wake up, there is always something to improve. I want to stay around for as long as possible (in tennis)."

The Spaniard, who has suffered just three losses in 2018, will now be looking to avoid an upset against his next opponent in Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas, who is experiencing a fairytale run in Toronto.

The 20-year-old defeated Wimbledon finalist Kevin Anderson in three sets to reach the final, following wins over Dominic Thiem, Djokovic, and Alexander Zverev earlier in the week. Tsitsipas, currently ranked 27 in the world, also became the first player since Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 2014 to defeat four top-10 players in the same event in the process.

"Four wins against top 10 players. I would never imagine that I could pull this out in a single tournament," Tsitsipas said after his semifinal win. "I don’t know if I got lucky with all those players, but somehow it happened that I played four top-10 and managed to beat them, which is a huge achievement for me and for my game this week."

"It doesn’t matter what the score. I’m always going to attack. I’m always going to go to the ball,” Tsitsipas added. "My forehand is on fire at this moment. Hopefully it can remain like this tomorrow because it will be super important for me, the win tomorrow."

Nadal and Tsitsipas have notably faced each other just once, recently in the final of the Barcelona Open in April where the former comfortably came out on top with a straight sets win. However, Tsitsipas will be extremely confident ahead of his second encounter with Nadal on Sunday, with the added bonus of it not being contested on clay.

A win for the Greek youngster would not only represent his first-ever singles title, but could see him move up to at least 12th in the rankings, though he will also reach a career-high 15th if he fails to win.

"He’s a complete player. He has passion for the game," Nadal said of Tsitsipas. "He’s not just one thing, he’s got everything."