Rafael Nadal held on to reach his first ATP Tour semi-final in two years by defeating Mariano Navone 6-7 (2), 7-5, 7-5 in a grueling four-hour match on Friday at the Nordea Open in Bastad, Sweden.
Nadal had a 5-2 lead in the third set before Navone, of Argentina, twice broke his serve to tie the deciding set at 5-5. But Nadal dropped just one point in the final two games to capture the set.
The Spaniard last appeared in a semi-final at Wimbledon in 2022. His opponent in Saturday's clay-court semi-final will be Croatian qualifier Duje Ajdukovic, who defeated Thiago Monteiro of Brazil 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. No. 7 seed Nuno Borges of Portugal meets Argentina's Thiago Agustin Tirante in the other semis.
Nadal will welcome at least one more match on his favorite surface before he competes for Spain in the Summer Olympics at Roland Garros later this month. He has won 14 French Opens at the site in Paris.
Hamburg Open
German Alexander Zverev, the top seed, cruised past eighth-seeded Zhizhen Zhang of China 6-4, 6-3 to post a quarter-finals win in front of his home-country fans.
In the semifinals, he will meet Spain's Pedro Martinez, who recorded a 1-6, 6-1, 6-4
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