Sun and crisp Nordic breeze welcomed a full crowd to semi-finals day at Båstad on Day 6. The first match was won by Spain’s Rafael Nadal against Croatia’s Duje Ajdukovic in 2 hour 22 minutes with a scoreline of 4-6 6-3 6-4. 

In this first meeting between the Spaniard and Croat, Nadal opened proceedings in a way he would not have liked; handing Ajdukovic an early break of serve. Less than 24-hours after playing the second-longest 3-set match of his career against 4th-seed Navone, Nadal would have liked to make this a quick one, but Ajdukovic capitalised on the early break and took the first set 6-4. 

Serving first again in the second set, Rafael Nadal hoped for a strong start. He lost his opening serve again but quickly broke back to equalise. He broke the Croat again in the 6th game to then win the set 6-3 and force another 3-setter. 

Opening the third set, Duje, playing his first ATP Tour semi-final, was aiming to become the first qualifier to reach Båstad final and the 6th qualifier to reach an ATP Tour final this season. However, Nadal broke the young Croat in his first two games to lead 3-0 for the first time in the match. Nadal, however, took the longer route to victory by exchanging a few more breaks of serve. He won the third and with that made his first tour-level final since 2022 Roland Garros (d.Ruud) and 72nd on clay (63-8).

Rafael Nadal plays the final against either Thiago Agustin Tirante of Argentina or Nuno Borges of Portugal