Rafal Nadal bursted into the finals of Bastad Open, scheduled tomorrow after a massive win against Argentina's Mariano Navone by 6-7 (2/7), 7-5, 7-5 in a total of three hours and 59 minutes match.
Referring the long hours of the match Rafal mentions, “It was very close, long and tiring.”
The four hour marathon is the second longest match of his career after 2009 Wimbledon against Novak Djokovic.
“For moments he was in control. For moments I was in control. At the end, no one was in control. That's the truth,” said Nadal.
The 22 time Grand slam winner wording his experience said, “I was able to hold physically till the end. Let's see how I am tomorrow. Today I'm alive and I'm in the semi-finals. So that's super important.”
While Navone who was not even in the list of World’s top 100 is now placed at 36th spot. The match started off in his favour however, the Spaniard stormed the by winning three consecutive tiebreakers.
He dropped three serves against a man who was seeded in his first maiden Grand slam in an open era.
The 14 time French open winner, Nadal is using Bastad open to train himself for the Olympics, where the tennis will be played at Roland Garros.
The finals will be a spectacle between Nadal and Croatian qualifier Duje Ajdukovic, the world number 130. Croatian had won just two tour-level matches in his career prior to this week.
Nadal is also due to play semi-finals with in his double match teaming up with Casper Rud in Sweden. He will play the doubles after his finals with Ajdukovic.
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