Italy’s Matteo Berrettini returns the ball to Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas during their semi-final at the Swiss Open. AP

Rafael Nadal reached his first final since winning Roland Garros in 2022 on Saturday, beating Croatian qualifier Duje Ajdukovic in a three-set clash in Bastad ahead of the Paris Olympics.

A day after his four-hour quarter-final victory, the 22-time Grand Slam champion was tested again by Ajdukovic, the world number 130 who had won just two tour-level matches until this week.

The Spaniard recovered from the first set loss to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, reaching the final of a tournament he had won as a teenager during his last participation in 2005.

“It was a very tough match. It was very difficult to be honest, but I found a way to survive and reach the final after a long time without a final, so that’s great news and I’m very happy,” Nadal said.

The 38-year-old will face seventh-seeded Portuguese Nuno Borges, who defeated Argentine Thiago Agustin Tirante 6-3, 6-4, as he seeks his 93rd career singles title.

His most recent triumph came two years ago at Roland Garros, when he won the tournament for a record 14th time.

“It’s always a great feeling to be back in the final. I’ve won four matches in a row, something I haven’t done in two years,” said Nadal, whose ranking has dropped to 261 after a series of injuries.

“A lot has happened… I’m still trying to get back a lot of things that I lost because I had a very significant hip operation almost a year ago, so it’s not going so easy.

“But I’m fighting. I fought the whole tournament to be where I am now. Games like yesterday and today help to improve a lot of things on the pitch, so I’m happy with that. Let’s see if I can play a little bit better tomorrow.”

Nadal struggled early on against the 23-year-old Ajdukovic, going 3-0 down and a double break in the first set, but he fought back with two breaks in the second set after another poor start.

The former world number one seemed to have the third set under control as he took a 3-0 lead, but lost his serve twice in a row, making the same mistake as on Friday that nearly cost him the match.

In the seventh game he broke again and in the next game he saved two more break points, eventually claiming victory two games later with a comfortable win.

Nadal is using the Bastad event as preparation for the Olympic Games, where the 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 action this week for the first time since losing in the first round of Roland Garros at the end of May.

Nadal was also scheduled to play doubles later on Saturday, partnering Casper Ruud, but he announced he was withdrawing as a precaution after spending six hours on court in his last two singles matches.

Meanwhile, Matteo Berrettini took a big step back on his way back to the top of the ATP circuit by beating Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6 (8/6), 7-5 on Saturday to reach the final in Gstaad.

The 28-year-old Italian, who won the final in Gstaad in 2018, has been struggling with injuries since reaching world number six, a personal best, in May 2022.

He had lost his five previous meetings with the 12th-ranked Greek, but in Switzerland he managed to surpass the decisive moments to reach his third final of the year, after Marrakech in April and Stuttgart in June.

Agencies