Rafael Nadal and Casper Ruud won a dramatic doubles match at the Swedish Open to reach the semi-finals in Bastad.
Nadal and Ruud beat the French pairing of Theo Arribage and Roman Safiullin 6-4 3-6 12-10, saving a match point in the match tie-break.
On Thursday, Nadal will be in second round singles action against Britain’s Cameron Norrie – live on Sky Sports Tennis.
“I think we had some fun,” Nadal said. “It has been an emotional match at the end, a good level of tennis against two good players.
“We enjoy it and the crowd was amazing, a full crowd in a doubles match, that’s fantastic. Just enjoying every single day here.”
Nadal and Ruud broke early in the first set and held serve to win the opening set, which the crowd loved.
However, Arribage and Safiullin raced into a 3-0 lead at the start of the second, only to be pegged back to 3-3. The French duo broke in the eighth game though and sent the match to a deciding tie-break.
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Nadal beat Bjorn Borg’s son Leo, who was playing in front of his home crowd, to reach the second round of the Swedish Open
Nadal and Ruud saved a match point at 9-10 down, before winning the next two points to get over the line.
“When you cannot win singles you have to try to win doubles,” joked Ruud, who lost his opening singles match to Thiago Monteiro earlier on Wednesday.
“”It was not the best beginning of the day but a very nice way to finish the day for me. Winning alongside Rafa was a special doubles today. We saved a match point so a bit lucky, and we look forward to the next match.”
What’s coming up on Sky Sports Tennis?
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- Hamburg Open (ATP 500) 15-21 July
- Newport Hall of Fame Open (ATP 250) 15-21 July
- Swiss Open (ATP 250) 15-21 July
- Bastad Open (ATP 250) 15-21 July
- Palermo Ladies Open (WTA 250) 15-21 July
- Hungarian Grand Prix (WTA 250) 15-21 July
- Prague Open (WTA 250) 21-26 July
- Iasi Open (WTA 250) 21-26 July
- Umag Open (ATP 250) 21-26 July
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