Canada's Milos Raonic received some valuable advice from a tennis great this week. He plans to use it in his first ATP final.

The hard-serving 20-year-old won his quarter-final match at the SAP Open against Richard Berankis on Friday in San Jose, Calif. He advanced straight to the final when second-seed Gael Monfils withdrew because of an injury to his left wrist.

Raonic will face top-seeded Fernando Verdasco of Spain in Sunday's final. He advanced to the final Saturday after downing Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro 6-4, 6-4 in a semifinal match.

Raonic, who made a surprising run into the fourth round at the Australian Open last month, had a chance to meet American Pete Sampras earlier in the week. The 14-time Grand Slam winner had some thoughtful words for the young Canadian.

"The biggest tip he gave me is that the best players know how to win even when they're not playing their best," Raonic said on a conference call Saturday. "It was great to meet him and see the person who I admired for so long and idolized for so long and (who) made a big impact on how I grew up and how I wanted to play."

Instead of battling the 12th-ranked Monfils in a semifinal Saturday, Raonic took part in an exhibition match against Ivo Karlovic, dropping a 7-6 (3), 7-6 (7) decision to the 122nd ranked Croatian.

Raonic says the increased attention since the Australian Open has been fun, but none of that matters when he steps on the court.

"It's nice getting that kind of attention but it's also more importantly doing well in the top level tournaments because that's what my goals are," said Raonic, who grew up in Thornhill, Ont.

"When a match starts, it's about that match and it doesn't matter what people say about it. It's gonna come down to what I can do to best prepare and what I can do to win those matches."

Saturday's exhibition was about getting Raonic ready for Sunday's final.

"The goal really was to use it as much as I can to better my chances for tomorrow and to work on a few things," he said. "I just used it as much as I can for tomorrow."

Raonic has been the biggest mover on the tour rankings this season, going from 152nd at the end of last year to 84th entering this tournament. He is expected to be at least 75th after the San Jose stop.

On Sunday, Raonic will try to become the first Canadian since Greg Rusedski in 1995 to win a men's final on the ATP in the Open era.

"You don't let anything overwhelm you or you don't put too much value into the situation," Raonic said. "Yeah it's nice to be in a final, but it doesn't matter because tomorrow is just a match."