Nadal Reaches First Final Since 2022 at Swedish Open

Rafael Nadal has secured his spot in the Swedish Open final after a hard-fought victory over Duje Ajdukovic in Bastad. This marks Nadal’s first final appearance since the 2022 French Open. The 38-year-old Spaniard triumphed over the unseeded Croatian 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in a match that lasted two hours and 12 minutes.

On Sunday, Nadal will face seventh seed Nuno Borges from Portugal, who defeated Argentina’s Thiago Agustin Tirante 6-4, 6-3 in their semi-final match.

“It was a very tough match – my opponent has one of the best backhands I have played against,” Nadal said. “He came here with a lot of confidence. I was trying to push him back and it was very difficult. I found a way to survive.”

The final will be Nadal’s 131st tour final and his 72nd on clay. “It is always a good feeling to get back into a final,” he added. “I’m still in this process of recovering a lot of things that I lost because I had an important hip surgery almost a year ago. Things are not going that easy, but I am fighting.”

Nadal was also set to play in the Swedish Open men’s doubles semi-final on Saturday with Casper Ruud, but the pair withdrew to conserve Nadal’s energy for the singles final. This withdrawal allowed Brazil’s Orlando Luz and Rafael Matos to advance to the final.

Nadal’s participation in the doubles was part of his preparation for his doubles partnership with Carlos Alcaraz at the Paris Olympics this summer.

The match against Ajdukovic was a rollercoaster. The Croatian took the first set 6-4, but Nadal responded strongly, winning the second set 6-3. In the decisive third set, Nadal quickly took a 3-0 lead with a double break. Ajdukovic fought back, breaking Nadal’s serve twice to level the set at 3-3.

Nadal then managed to break Ajdukovic’s serve again in a tense exchange and celebrated wildly after saving multiple break points to hold and lead 5-3. Ajdukovic held serve to stay in the match, but Nadal held his nerve to claim victory.

Throughout the match, Nadal was clinical with his break points, converting all six opportunities. Ajdukovic, on the other hand, had 10 break points but could only convert five.