Rafael Nadal into Bastad Open semi-finals after four hour epic

On Friday, July 19, Rafael Nadal faced the quarterfinals of the Bastad Open 2024 in search of a place in the semifinals of the tournament. The Spaniard faced the No. 4 seed, Argentine Mariano Navone, whom he managed to defeat after an epic match that was decided by 6(2)-7, 7-5 and 7-5.

The start of the first set was going to be completely crazy. Rafa started serving, and at the first change suffered a break by a Navone who would not be able to then confirm the break. Despite the break achieved by Nadal, the Argentine would hit the Spaniard again with another break that left him 1-2 up on the scoreboard.

Unfortunately for Nadal, Navone would get the first service game of the match to put the 1-3 on the scoreboard. Things kept getting worse for Rafa, who suffered another break that left the Argentine 1-4 up and serving to leave the first set on track. However, Nadal did not want to throw in the towel so soon, and sought the miraculous comeback breaking Navone's serve to make it 2-4.

Then, the Spaniard managed to confirm the break with his first service game won in the whole match after losing the first three. At 3-4, Navone secured his game, and at 3-5 Nadal managed a game in white to cut back to 4-5 and hope for a miracle. Mariano Navone served to win. The Argentine got 40-15 with two set balls, but Rafa Nadal managed to save both and here was to come that miracle, breaking his opponent's serve to put the 5-5 and open a new scenario in the first set.

Nadal went from 1-4 down to 6-5 up after a break that forced, at least, the tie break. On Navone's serve, the Spaniard would have two break and set balls, but the Argentine managed to lift both to force the tiebreak. Unfortunately for Rafa, the tie break started in the worst possible way, with the Argentine winning 5 points in a row that left the set on track. At 1-6, Navone would have 5 set points. In the end, Nadal's rival took a hard-fought first set 2-7 in the tiebreak.

In the second set, Rafa Nadal was able to respond forcefully to the previous setback. The Spaniard began with a break on serve of his rival, who would then confirm without too much trouble to place the 2-0 in his favor. Nadal wanted to deliver a mental blow to Navone, and chained another break putting himself 3-0 up. However, the Argentine was to stop the bleeding preventing Rafa to confirm the break, with a break that left him 3-1 down.

Unfortunately for Nadal, Navone was to recover from that 3-0 deficit with another break after getting 3-2, which left the score of the second set tied. With a blank game, the Argentine went from 3-0 down to 3-4 to take the set again. Nadal responded by winning his service game, and at 4-4 the second set began to approach its decisive moment.

Mariano Navone managed to win his game and put the 4-5 in his favor, with the pressure on Rafa Nadal. The Spaniard responded with forcefulness to tie 5-5, to then deliver a blow to his rival, breaking his serve after getting 15-40 up. Now, Rafa served to win the second set and force the third and final set. The Spaniard was not going to fail, and by 7-5 sent this great match to the final set.

The third set started complicated for Nadal, who suffered a break after Navone won the first game with his serve. Despite the 0-2, Rafa responded quickly and did not allow the Argentine to confirm the break with a break now in his favor. He then saved a break ball from Navone, and managed to bring the score back to 2-2.

At this point there was going to be the longest game of the match. Nadal would have up to 5 break balls, and on the fifth one the Spaniard would break to make it 3-2 in his favor. Rafa was able to certify the break and get 4-2. With another break, it seemed that he had the victory in his hand, as he was 5-2 up and serving. However, Navone managed to get a 0-40 that gave him three break balls, and after which he was going to put the 5-3 looking to hold on in the match.

In the end, after Navone managed to make it 5-4, Rafa Nadal would fail a second time, and the Argentinean would make it 5-5 after Nadal had served to win the match twice. However, Rafa would recover from it, and with another break he was 6-5 up. It is said that the third time is the charm, and here Nadal was 40-0 with three match points. Now he was not going to fail, and closed a legendary match to qualify for the semifinals of the Bastad Open 2024.