In a match that lasted exactly as long as his longest career best-of-three set encounter, Rafael Nadal prevailed.
Playing in his first competition since Roland Garros this week in Bastad, Sweden, the Spaniard overcame Mariano Navone, ranked No. 36, in a three-hour, fifty-nine-minute marathon, 6-7 (2), 7-5, 7-5, to advance to the clay-court event’s semifinals.
His 2009 Madrid semifinal battle against Novak Djokovic, which went for an absurd four hours and three minutes, stands as the longest best-of-three match in history, but it was only minutes away from becoming the longest of his career.
When the ATP started keeping track of match times in 1991, both matches are among the top five longest best-of-three ATP matches.
LONGEST (since 1991) BEST-OF-THREE ATP MATCHES:
4-6, 7-6, 19-17—Federer d. Del Potro in the 2012 Olympic semifinals
In the 2009 Madrid SFs, Nadal defeated Djokovic 4:03; in the 2024 Madrid 1st Rd., Chang defeated Moutet 3:59; in the 3-6, 7-6, 7-6
3:57—Tsonga d. Raonic in the 2012 Olympics 2nd Rd, 6-3, 3-6, 25-23; 3:59—Nadal d. Navone in the 2024 Bastad QFs, 6-7, 7-5, 7-5
With Wimbledon in 2022, Nadal hasn’t advanced to the semifinals in almost two years.
Beginning with the opening set, where Nadal rallied from a 5-3 deficit to hold two set points in Navone’s 5-6 service game, the marathon on Friday in Bastad was full of surprises. Ultimately, the first set ended in a tie-break.
After that, Nadal was three games away from losing while serving to tie the match at 4-5, 0-15 in the second set. However, he recovered to force a third set that decided the outcome of the match.
In the championship match, Navone took the early lead, holding a four-point lead for 3-0 and serving up breaks at 2-0, 40-0, and later in the match. However, Nadal broke and eventually built a 5-2, double-break lead; Navone recovered from both breaks to level the score at 5-all, but Nadal made one final push, breaking at 15 and holding at love to close it out.
With one more victory, Rafael Nadal will advance to his first final since winning the 22nd Grand Slam championship of his career at Roland Garros a few weeks prior. This is Nadal’s first semifinal since Wimbledon in 2022.
Duje Ajdukovic, a Croatian qualifier who defeated Thiago Monteiro of Brazil 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, will be facing the former No. 1 for the first time in the semifinals in Bastad.
“For moments he was in control, for moments I was in control, at the end, no one was in control.” 😂⁰⁰Rafa keeping it real after his marathon win over Navone.⁰⁰#NordeaOpen pic.twitter.com/HdOJcrXW7Y
— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) July 19, 2024