Rafael Nadal in action© AFP
Rafael Nadal and Casper Ruud saved a match point in the deciding set tie-break to reach the semi-finals of the doubles in Bastad on Wednesday, hours after the Norwegian was knocked out of the singles. Nadal and Ruud squeezed past France’s Theo Arribage and Roman Safiullin of Russia 6-4, 3-6, 12/10 to advance to the last four, winning the final three points of the match after being on the brink of defeat. “I think we had some fun. It was an emotional match at the end, a good level of tennis against two good players,” said Nadal, who is also competing in the singles tournament. “We enjoy it, the crowd was amazing. Full crowd in a doubles match, that’s fantastic. Just enjoying every single day here.”
While Nadal and Ruud wait to discover their semi-final opponents, the Spaniard will be back in action on Thursday against Britain’s Cameron Norrie in the round of 16 in the singles.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion returned to competition for the first time this week since his early French Open exit.
He will hope to avoid the same fate as Ruud, whose Olympic preparations took a hit when he lost 6-3, 6-3 to Thiago Monteiro in the second round earlier on Wednesday.
Ruud, a two-time French Open runner-up, was a finalist in Sweden last year. He won the tournament in 2021.
World number 121 Thiago Tirante of Argentina pulled off the biggest win of his career as he defeated top seed and defending champion Andrey Rublev 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 6-4.
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