BASTAD, Sweden: Rafael Nadal held on to reach his first ATP Tour semifinal round in two years by defeating Mariano Navone 6-7 (2), 7-5, 7-5 in a grueling four-hour match yesterday 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 semifinal at Wimbledon in 2022. His opponent in Saturday's clay-court semifinal 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 semifinal.
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 quarterfinals 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 win over Argentina's Francisco Cerundolo, the fourth seed.
Saturday's second semifinal will feature a match between fifth-seeded Arthur Fils of France and third-seeded Sebastian Baez of Argentina. Fils defeated Holger Rune of Denmark in a 6-4, 4-1 walkover, while Baez topped Italian Luciano Darden, the seventh seed, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Swiss Open Gstaad
No. 1 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece advanced to the semifinals with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Italian Fabio Fognini, the seventh seed, in just 68 minutes.
Awaiting him in the next round is another Italian, sixth-seeded Matteo Berrettini, who defeated third-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada 7-6 (7), 7-6 (2).
Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff, the fifth seed, topped the fourth seed, Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina 7-5, 3-6, 6-3. In the semis, Struff will face Frenchman Quentin Halys, who defeated Gustavo Heide of Brazil 6-1, 7-5 in a clash of unseeded players.
Infosys Hall of Fame Open
No. 2 seed Marcos Giron saved all three break points and advanced to the all-American semifinals in Newport, R.I., with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Australia's Alex Bolt.
Giron's opponent is countryman and No. 4 seed Christopher Eubanks, who outlasted sixth-seeded Australian Aleksandar Vukic 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (3). Eubanks and Vukic each hammered 13 aces but Eubanks had a 40-26 edge in winners.
No. 3 seed Alex Michelsen and wild card Reilly Opelka will meet in the other all-American semifinal. - AFP