Rafter to face Pavel in Montreal final

Fabrice Santoro ended a dismal Saturday night with a double-fault, handing Patrick Rafter a 6-2 6-2 win and a place in the final of the $2.95 million Montreal Masters Series against Romanian Andrei Pavel.

The unseeded Frenchman, who is two-handed on every shot, was overwhelmed in little more than an hour by ninth seed Rafter, hungry for his 11th career title after going without one since June 2000 and losing two Wimbledon finals along the way.

Pavel reached the first major final of his career when his opponent, German Tommy Haas, retired with a back injury while trailing 6-4 5-0.

Rafter dominated his semifinal from the start and never gave Santoro a look-in.

The Australian could not have asked for a better workout against Santoro, who beat him on grass at Halle, Germany, in June.

"I can't complain about anything, this was close to my top game," said Rafter. "Tonight, I did everything well. One more match win would be great.

"I'm very happy with how I'm playing. It's been a great week for me here.

Rafter Bonus
"Everything is a bonus from now on. I never expected to do so well, especially after the letdown of Wimbledon."

Rafter, beaten by Goran Ivanisevic at Wimbledon four weeks ago, now has a 20-6 record in Canada, where he has competed for eighth straight years.

The Queenslander, who won the title here in 1998 and reached the quarter-finals in 1999 and 2000, said he was looking forward to facing Pavel.

"It should be a good match, he's playing very good tennis," said Rafter. "He's a great player whom we might see in the top 10 -- but hopefully not tomorrow."

The injured Haas began to fade on a hot afternoon after losing his serve in the fifth game of the opening set.

Pavel went on to win the set and was running away with the second as Haas, who needed treatment on court after the third game, offered little resistance.

"After I broke him in the first set, I could tell that his serve was slower, it was not as deep," said Pavel.

"But you cannot go thinking that the other guy is injured. It can only make you get more nervous. I just played my game. I tried to win every point and stayed very concentrated.

"This is a dream come true," he said. "It's my first final at a Masters. "It's a bit of a surprise win."

Haas said: "It was bad luck, he caught me on the wrong foot and I did a wrong move. All of a sudden I felt things tightening up in my lower back. It's my first lower back problem, it happened in the middle of the first set."