Nadal and Ruud save MP and advance to doubles semis in Bastad | ATP Tour

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Nadal and Ruud save MP and advance to doubles semis in Bastad

The Spaniard and the Norwegian beat Safiullin-Arribage

July 17, 2024

Rafael Nadal continues to gain experience and hours on the court and this Wednesday he managed to advance to the semi-finals in doubles of the Korda Open with Casper Ruud after getting past a hard-fought match against Roman Safiullin and Theo Arribage by 6-4, 3-6 and 12-10, after saving a match point.

The Spaniard and Norwegian duo started strong from the baseline, did not give up their serve and a break in the seventh game was enough to take the first set. However, the match was far from a formality and Safiullin and Arribage were more than up to the task, after taking the second set 6-3, to stretch the definition to the super-tiebreak.

There, both pairs had their opportunities to take advantage and after saving a match point, victory went to Nadal-Ruud after one hour and 33 minutes of play.

“It was an exciting match, Casper came on court after losing his singles match and I thank him for doing that. We enjoyed it and the atmosphere was fantastic for a doubles match,” said Nadal. “This is a good way to end the day, especially having won by lifting MP,” said Ruud. “If he wants to continue playing with me, I’ll be happy to,” said the Norwegian, laughing.

Do the protagonists approve of the nickname ‘Ruudal’ that they received from the public and on social media? “I had Fedal, and now Ruudal…”, said the Spaniard laughing.

The Spanish-Norwegian duo have now secured a place in the semi-finals of the Swedish tournament, which will take place on Friday, after Nadal will return to the court for the fourth consecutive day on Thursday to face Cameron Norrie.