After four-hour Bastad quarterfinal win, Rafael Nadal rallies again for spot in first final since 2022

Rafael Nadal will play for his first title in more than two years in Bastad, Sweden on Sunday after he rallied for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Croatian qualifier Duje Ajdukovic in Saturday's semifinals of the ATP 250 Nordea Open.

Nadal trailed by a set and a break against the world No. 130 before roaring back to win in two hours and 13 minutes—a far cry from his four-hour victory against Argentina's Mariano Navone in Friday's quarterfinals, but a comeback nonetheless. From 2-2 in the second set, Nadal won seven of the next eight games in a run that looked as though he'd put himself in firm command, but he ultimately staved off a late surge from the first time ATP-level semifinalist.

A fourth win in Sweden moves Nadal into his first tour-level final since he beat Casper Ruud to win Roland Garros in 2022, and he'll be bidding for his 93rd career ATP singles title and 64th on clay.

"It was a very tough match," Nadal said afterwards. "He has one of the best backhands that I've played against, and he came here with a lot of confidence. I think I was trying to push him back, and it was very, very difficult, but I found a way to survive.

"Always, it's a great feeling to be back in a final. I won four matches in a row, something I wasn't able to make happen since two years ago.

"In this process of recovering a lot of things I lost ... things have not been going that easy, but I'm fighting. I was fighting during the whole tournament to be where I am today, and I think matches like yesterday, like today, help to improve a lot of things on court. I'm happy with that."

The 38-year-old Nadal, who hadn't played a semifinal match since that run to his 22nd Grand Slam singles title either, started slowly against the 23-year-old Croatian qualifier after winning the second-longest best-of-three-set match of his career in the previous round. A step slow to reach Ajdukovic's booming groundstrokes, Nadal missed more balls than he made, and was broken twice in the first three games of the match.

Meanwhile, the Croatian—who had never before this week been past the second round of an ATP tour-level tournament—didn't look like a man overawed by the stage, or his legendary opponent. He hit 10 winners in the first 10 games, and despite only landing 43% of his first serves in the opening set, he was only faced one break point in one game of the opener (which Nadal converted already down 3-0).

But the Spaniard's level, like a vintage sports car, slowly began to lift when he found himself down 6-3, 1-0 and Ajdukovic serving. That, coupled with accumulating misfires from the Croat's racquet, gave Nadal a lifeline. He lost just one point on serve in his next four second-set service games, and after about an hour-and-a-half, the match was level.

Nadal avoided another plot twist late in the third set, after having built a 3-0 lead. Ajdukovic won three straight games for 3-3, and after the Spaniard broke serve for a sixth time in the match, he dug out of 15-40 down to lead 5-3—in what proved to be the Croat's last chances to climb back in the match.

Nadal's final opponent will be either No. 7 seed Nuno Borges of Potugal, the only seeded player to reach the semifinals, or Argentina's Thiago Agustín Tirante.