Rafael Nadal won a huge fight against Mariano Navone to reach his first semi-final since Wimbledon 2022 in Bastad; Watch the Swedish Open semi-finals live on Sky Sports Tennis on Saturday
Friday 19 July 2024 20:37, UK
Rafael Nadal claimed one of the longest best-of-three set matches of all time - and the longest of the year - beating Mariano Navone 6-7 (7-2) 7-5 7-5 to reach the semi-finals at the Swedish Open in Bastad.
Nadal struggled to maintain his best level for long periods in the match but dug in superbly after letting slip a 5-2 lead in the deciding set to reach his first tour-level semi-final since Wimbledon 2022.
"I lost for some moments my concentration, but I was able to hold physically until the end," said Nadal after winning the second-longest three-set match of his career. "That is so important for me. Let's see how I am tomorrow, but today I am alive and in the semi-finals, so that's very important."
He will take on world No 130 Duje Ajdukovic in the semi-finals after the Croatian qualifier downed Thiago Monteiro 6-2 4-6 6-4 and he is also scheduled to play a doubles semi-final alongside his partner Casper Ruud.
Nadal is playing at the tournament in Sweden for the first time since he won the title as a 19-year-old in 2005 as he prepares for the Olympic tournament on clay at Roland Garros in Paris.
The 38-year-old Nadal skipped Wimbledon as he didn't want to switch surface to grass and then back to clay and risk injury. He has been dealing with hip and abdominal injuries over the past 18 months.
"There were a lot of changing dynamics in every single set," said Nadal. "For moments, he was in control. For moments, I was in control. But at the end, no one was in control! That's true, and I had a good chance in the second with 3-0. Then I was very close to losing the match in the second set.
"In the third [I was ahead] again with 5-2, but he's a great fighter and he played a great match. I wish him all the very best for the rest of the season."
Top seed Alexander Zverev eased through to the Hamburg Open semi-finals with a 6-4 6-3 win over Zhang Zhizhen inside 67 minutes.
Holger Rune's involvement in the tournament ended in the last eight after he was forced to retire from his match with Arthur Fils in the second set, with the score 6-4 4-1 to the Frenchman.
It raised concerns over Rune's anticipated participation in the Olympic Games, with the Danish player writing on his Instagram story: "So sorry guys. My knee had caused problems since the incident in the first match. Yesterday was bad. Today I tried but it wasn't good."
Stefanos Tsitsipas extended his perfect record against Fabio Fognini to 5-0 at the Swiss Open, where the Greek cruised to a 6-4 6-3 victory to reach the semi-finals.
"My returns worked pretty well, I was very consistent with them. I kind of insisted the whole match to stay back and give it a bit of a loop, try and get the angles from the very beginning. It worked pretty well," said Tsitsipas, who won 74 per cent of his first-serve points.
"I'm happy with how I started serving towards the end of the match. In the beginning, I was still trying to figure out how I'm going to open up the court and create opportunities on my serve. It took me a while to figure out. I kind of unlocked the code towards the end... I felt like I was doing everything correct."
Tsitsipas is now 14-1 against Italians on clay, with his only defeat coming to Jannik Sinner in Rome back in 2020. He will face Matteo Berrettini in the semi-finals after the Italian got the better of Felix Auger-Aliassime in two tie-breaks to continue his comeback after an injury-ravaged 2023.
Fifth seed Jan-Lennard Struff overcame Tomas Martin Etcheverry 7-5 3-6 6-3.
The German next faces Quentin Halys, who ousted fellow qualifier Gustavo Heide 6-1 7-5.
Halys downed his opponent with the help of a remarkable point-winning forehand from the floor midway through the opening set.
In the run-up to the final Grand Slam of 2024 - the US Open - you can watch all of the biggest tennis stars in action live on Sky Sports as they compete across the hard-court season.
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