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Bastad, 20 July (HS). Rafael Nadal entered the semi-finals of the Bastad Open on Friday by defeating Argentina's Mariano Navon 6-7 (2/7), 7-5, 7-5 in a marathon match that lasted three hours and 59 minutes. The 22-time Grand Slam champion has made it to the last four of a tournament for the first time since Wimbledon two years ago.
After the victory, Nadal said, “It was a very close, long and tiring match.” The match, which lasted for nearly four hours, was the second longest three-set match of his career. Earlier, the Madrid semifinal match against Novak Djokovic in 2009 lasted 4 hours and 3 minutes.
He had to overcome a poor start against the fast-rising Navon, who is now ranked 36 in the world after finishing outside the top 100 at the start of the year.
Nadal lost his serve three times in a row, while his opponent became the first player in the Open era to be seeded in his first Grand Slam at this year's French Open.
Spaniard Nadal was 4-1 down but he came back to win the set, saving two set points in the 10th game and eventually leading 6-5. Nadal had two set points but Navon showed his ability to take the set to a tie-break, winning the first five points to take the lead.
Navon won the first set, but the Spaniard quickly composed himself and took a 3-0 lead in the second set. However, Navon quickly erased his lead, winning four games in a row, but the 38-year-old refused to give up and won his service game to take a 6-5 lead.
Nadal won the set with a powerful smash and took the match to the deciding game. Navon took a 2-0 lead in the third set, but Nadal came back and won five consecutive games, but then his opponent came back and equalized the score at 5-5. From here Nadal took a break again and finally won the match after spending almost four hours on the court.
Nadal next faces Croatian qualifier Duje Ajdukovic, ranked 130 in the world and who had won just two tour-level matches in his career before this week.