By ,
Published January 13, 2015
Tokyo, Japan (SportsNetwork.com) - Juan Martin del Potro and Milos Raonic each won their respective matches in straight sets and will challenge one another for the title in the finals at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships.
The top-seeded del Potro had to claw his way past Spaniard Nicolas Almagro, who was coming off a victory against tournament defending champ Kei Nishikori. The Argentinean needed tie breakers in both sets, but captured a 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (7-1) victory to oust the sixth-seeded Almagro.
Del Potro, a runner up here in 2008, hasn't been to the final in Tokyo since. It will be his fourth appearance in a final in 2013, though, having captured Rotterdam and Washington but falling to Rafael Nadal at Indian Wells.
In order to collect his third title of the year, he will need to beat Raonic for the first time. The Canadian won the Thailand Open last weekend and secured his second straight trip to the Tokyo final with a 7-6 (7-4), 6-1 victory over Ivan Dodig.
Raonic won the only matchup between the two earlier this year in the round of 16 at Montreal.
The tournament champ will collect $312,000.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/del-potro-raonic-to-square-off-in-tokyo-final