Rafael Nadal reached his first final since winning the 2022 French Open on Saturday, defeating Croatian qualifier Duje Ajdukovic in a three-set match in Bastad ahead of the Paris Olympics.
A day after his four-hour quarterfinal victory, the 22-time Grand Slam champion faced Ajdukovic, the world number 130 who had only won two tour-level matches prior to this week.
The Spaniard came back from a first-set loss to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, returning to the final of an event he won as a teenager in 2005.
“It was a very tough match. It was very difficult honestly, but I found a way to survive and be through to the final after a long time without being in a final, so that’s great news and I’m very happy with that,” said Nadal.
The 38-year-old will play Portuguese seventh seed Nuno Borges, who overcame Argentina’s Thiago Agustin Tirante 6-3, 6-4, as he goes in search of the 93rd singles title of his career.
His most recent triumph came two years ago at Roland Garros, when he won the tournament for a record-extending 14th time.
“It’s always a great feeling to be back in the final. I won four matches in a row, something I wasn’t able to make happen since two years ago,” said Nadal, whose ranking has tumbled to 261 after a string of injuries.
“A lot of things happened… I’m 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 are not going that easy.
“But I’m fighting. I’ve fought during the whole tournament to be where I am today. Matches like yesterday and today help to improve a lot of things on court, so I’m happy with that. Let’s see if I’m able to play a little bit better tomorrow.”
Nadal struggled early against the 23-year-old Ajdukovic, falling behind 3-0 and a double break in the first set, but he recovered with two breaks in the second set after another terrible start.
The former world number one appeared to have perfect control of the third set as he went 3-0 up, only to lose his serve twice in a row, a replay of the stumble that nearly cost him on Friday.
He broke again in the seventh game, then resisted two more break points in the following game before securing victory with a comfortable hold two games later.
Nadal is using the event in Bastad as a warm-up for the Olympic Games, where tennis will be played on clay at Roland Garros. He won gold in the singles in Beijing in 2008 and gold in the doubles in Rio 2016.
He only returned to competition this week, after falling in the first round of the French Open in late May.
Nadal was also scheduled to play in the doubles later on Saturday with Casper Ruud, but he stated he was withdrawing as a precaution after spending six hours on court in his previous two singles bouts.