BASTAD.- More than two years after winning Roland Garros for the last time, Rafael Nadal qualified this Saturday for a new final, in the Bastad Tournament (Sweden), one week before the start of the Paris Games, beating Croatian Duje Ajdukovic 4-6, 6-3 and 6-4.
The 38-year-old Spaniard reached his first final of the season and continues to consolidate his tennis before playing at Roland Garros, where he will compete in the Olympic tournament, in singles and doubles, alongside Carlos Alcaraz.
He will play for the title again in Bastad, where he was champion at the age of 19, in 2005.
It will be the 131st final of his career, after having eliminated the Swede Leo Borg, the British Cameron Norrie and the Argentine Mariano Navone. Nadal came from behind to beat Ajdukovic, ranked 130th in the world and a qualifier, in two hours and 12 minutes.
As the day before against Navone, whom he beat in three sets and almost four hours of play, Nadal suffered at the beginning, losing the first set after losing his first two service games.
As the minutes passed, he found a better form, recovering in the second set after another break from the Croatian. The match was tied, and he was 3-0 up in the third, but a new setback allowed Ajdukovic to equalise. The Spaniard’s last effort gave him the win.
“It was a very tough match, really difficult, but I found a way to survive and play a final after a long time. It’s great news, I’m very happy,” said ‘Rafa’.
“It’s always a great feeling to be back in a final. I won four matches in a row, something I haven’t done for two years,” said the 261st ATP player after his injury ordeal.
“A lot of things happened, I’m still recovering, but I’m still fighting. I did that throughout the tournament and today as well. Matches like yesterday or today help improve a lot of things on the court,” she said.
He will play for the title against the winner of the other semi-final, the Portuguese Nuno Borges (51st), who defeated the Argentine Thiago Agustín Tirante (121st) 6-3 and 6-4 on Saturday.
It would be Nadal’s first trophy since winning Roland Garros in 2022, his 22nd Grand Slam.
Eliminated at Roland Garros this year, in his long-awaited return to the Grand Slam that he has won 14 times, in the first round against Alexander Zverev, Nadal decided not to play at Wimbledon to focus on the Olympic Games, 16 years after winning gold in singles at Beijing 2008.
Change of plans:
Later on Saturday, Nadal was scheduled to play doubles with Casper Ruud for a place in the final, against the French pair of Manuel Guinard and Gregoire Jacq, but announced at a press conference that he would not play in order to preserve his fitness for the singles final.
Source: AFP