Pavel reaches Masters final

Tommy Haas retired in the second set in Montreal

Andrei Pavel reached the final of the Canadian Masters in Montreal when his semi-final opponent Tommy Haas retired with a back injury.

The Romanian, who was leading 6-4 5-0 before Haas' injury, will now meet Pat Rafter, who enjoyed a comfortable victory over Frenchman Fabrice Santoro.

Pavel took the initiative in the fifth game of the first set, breaking his German opponent's serve before eventually capturing the set.

And he continued to dominate in the second set, but after treatment in the third game, Haas was visibly tiring.

He caught me on a wrong foot and I did a wrong move

  Tommy Haas

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

"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."

Pavel becomes the first Romanian to reach a Canadian final since Ilie Nastase in Toronto in 1975.

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

Haas conceded his injury was down to bad luck.

"He caught me on a wrong foot and I did a wrong move," he said.

Rafter played well within himself to reach the final

"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."

Rafter strolled into the final with a 6-2 6-2 win over Santoro, the end coming when the Frenchman double-faulted.

The unseeded Frenchman, who is two-handed on every shot, was overwhelmed in little more than an hour by ninth seed Rafter.

The Australian, beaten in the last two Wimbledon singles finals, is after his 11th career title, having not won one since June 2000.

He dominated his semi-final 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.

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

  Pat Rafter

"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.

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

Rafter has a 20-6 record in Canada and is phenomenally popular there, as was proved by the ovation he received at the close of the match.

The Queenslander, who won this title 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."