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Rafael Nadal has reached his first final since 2022 after defeating Duje Ajdukovic in three sets at the Swedish Open in Bastad. Nadal overcame the unseeded Croatian 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in a grueling two-hour and 12-minute match to advance to his first final since the French Open two years ago.
On Sunday, the 38-year-old Spaniard will face seventh seed Nuno Borges of Portugal, who defeated unseeded Thiago Agustin Tirante of Argentina 6-4, 6-3 in their semi-final clash.
“It was a very tough match—my opponent has one of the best backhands I have played against,” Nadal remarked. “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.”
This final will be Nadal’s 131st career 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 scheduled to play in the Swedish Open men’s doubles semi-final with Casper Ruud, but the pair withdrew to allow Nadal to conserve energy for the singles final. Their withdrawal advanced Brazil’s Orlando Luz and Rafael Matos to the final.
Nadal was using the doubles matches as preparation for his partnership with Carlos Alcaraz at the Paris Olympics this summer.
In the semi-final against Ajdukovic, the Croatian took the first set 6-4, but Nadal rebounded with a strong performance to win the second set 6-3. Nadal then started the third set with a double break, quickly leading 3-0. Ajdukovic fought back, breaking Nadal’s serve twice to level the set at 3-3. However, Nadal broke again and held his serve to lead 5-3. Despite Ajdukovic holding his serve to stay in the match, Nadal secured victory by holding his serve in the final game.
Throughout the match, Nadal won all six of his break points, while Ajdukovic managed to convert only five out of ten break points.
