Rafael Nadal beat Duje Ajdukovic at the Swedish Open on Saturday to reach his first ATP Tour final in over two years ahead of the Olympic Games in Paris.
The 38-year-old has been in fantastic form in Bastad ahead of his final Olympics, also defeating Bjorn Borg’s son, British star Cameron Norrie and Mariano Navone.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion, who has delayed plans for retirement, went into his clash against Croatian world No.130 Ajdukovic one day after a four-hour marathon match, which would’ve taken a huge toll on his aging body.
Nadal, who produced another comeback to down Ajdukovic 4-6 6-3 6-4, has now reached his first final since landing a record-extending 14th French Open title in June 2022 and he’ll next face Nuno Borges or Thiago Agustin Tirante in Bastad.
Quizzed in his on-court interview about reaching his first ATP Tour final in over two years, Nadal said: ‘It’s always a great feeling to be in a final. I won four matches in a row. I wasn’t able to make that happen since two years ago.
‘A lot of things happened. That’s the truth. Still in this process of recovering a lot of things I lost because I had a very important hip surgery almost one year ago… so things aren’t going that easy.
‘But I’m fighting. I fought the whole tournament to be where I am today. Matches like yesterday and today help to improve a lot of things on court. Happy with that. Let’s see if I’m able to play a little better tomorrow.’
Just like his quarter-final win over Navone on Friday, the King of Clay got off to another nightmare start as he suffered an early double break to fall 3-0 behind.
But similar to his last match, it only seemed to bring out of best of Nadal, who conjured up a lethal smash in game three to clock up his own break point opportunity, getting the job done and then holding to win two games in a row.
There was an amusing moment after the end of that game as Nadal – who has admitted he’s been struggling with ‘concentration’ – accidentally walked to his opponent’s bench before shaking his head and heading over to his own bench.
Nadal looked to level up the set with his own double break but Ajdukovic held his nerve to keep his nose ahead, which seemed to fire up the Spanish tennis legend.
Nadal’s dominant hold to love cut Ajdukovic’s lead to 4-3 – although the qualifier refused to give up – and they traded service games to make it 5-4 to the Croatian.
That meant Ajdukovic had the chance to serve out for the first set and he got the job done 6-4, with 45 minutes on the clock in Bastad, when Nadal’s looping shot towards the back on the court landed just long.
Ajdukovic broke Nadal in the first game of the second set as the Swedish Open crowd – who were heavily backing the iconic Spaniard and had been loudly cheering for him – fell into a dramatic silence as the veteran struggled on court.
‘Come on Rafa!’ One fan screamed in game two, and that young spectator had their wish granted as Nadal hit back with an instant break to level it up at 1-1.
‘Let’s go Rafa, let’s go!’ Was the following chant in game three as Nadal held to make it 2-1 and edge ahead for the first time in the second set after 14 minutes.
Nadal started to dominate and eventually took a 5-2 second-set lead, with Ajdukovic having one last hold in the tank before the Spaniard wrapped it up 6-3.
The former world No.1 looked strong at the start of the third set, racing into a 3-0 advantage, although he was made to go up a level as Ajdukovic broke him back.
Ajdukovic then dramatically made it a double break to level things up at 3-3 with Nadal left kicking himself as he risked throwing it all away.
But there is a reason why Nadal is among the greatest tennis players of all time and he turned things around to take the decider 6-4 and reach the final in Bastad.
‘Tough match,’ Nadal added. ‘The opponent had one of the best backhands I’ve played against. He came here with lots of confidence. I was trying to push him back. It was very difficult. I found a way to survive and reach the final after a long time without being in a final. That’s great news and I’m very, very happy with that.’
Nadal was due for a doubles semi-final alongside Casper Ruud later in the day on Saturday but he decided to withdraw after playing more than six hours of tennis in the last 24 hours alone. He’s featuring in Olympic doubles with Carlos Alcaraz.
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