Madrid Open: Alexander Zverev to face Dominic Thiem in final

Dominic Thiem lost to Rafael Nadal in the Madrid Open final in 2017 but has a chance to make amends on Sunday

Alexander Zverev will face Dominic Thiem in Sunday's final at the Madrid Open.

Zverev, the world number three from Germany, eased past Canada's Denis Shapovalov 6-4 6-1.

Earlier, Austrian Thiem, who is chasing his first Masters title, beat Kevin Anderson of South Africa 6-4 6-2.

Thiem, the 24-year-old fifth seed, had ended Rafael Nadal's 21-match unbeaten run on clay in the quarter-finals.

He hit 16 winners on his way to victory over Anderson and will hope to go one better than 12 months ago where he lost in the Madrid decider to world number one Nadal.

"I will try everything on Sunday. A Masters 1000 title would mean a lot to me because it's obviously really tough to win one," Thiem said.

"To be honest, I thought also myself that I was pretty far away before this week started. Now I'm in the finals again, which is amazing for me."

Shapovalov had become the youngest player to reach the semi-finals in Madrid after he beat Britain's Kyle Edmund in Friday's last eight.

But once the 19-year-old - who had never won a main tour clay-court match before this week - lost his serve in game nine to allow Zverev to serve for the set in the next game, his challenge faded.

Zverev, who will be chasing his eighth career title and his second of the year, eased through the second set comfortably.