A day after his four-hour quarter-final victory, the 22-time Grand Slam champion was again tested to the limit by Ajdukovic, the world number 130 who had won just two tour-level matches before this week.

The Spaniard rebounded from dropping the opening set to prevail 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, returning to the final of a tournament he won as a teenager in 2005.

Nadal will play Portuguese seventh seed Nuno Borges or Argentina’s Thiago Agustin Tirante on Sunday as he goes in search of the 93rd singles title of his career.

His most recent triumph came two years ago at Roland Garros, when he won the tournament for a record-extending 14th time.

It’s always a great feeling to be in a final. I won four matches in a row. I wasn’t able to make that happen since two years ago.

A lot of things happened. That’s the truth. Still in this process of recovering a lot of things I lost because I had a very important hip surgery almost one year ago… so things aren’t going that easy.

But I’m fighting. I fought the whole tournament to be where I am today. Matches like yesterday and today help to improve a lot of things on court. Happy with that. Let’s see if I’m able to play a little better tomorrow.

I think it was a tough match. The opponent had one of the best backhands I’ve played against. He came here with a lot of confidence. I was trying to push him back. It was very difficult. I found a way to survive and be through to the final after a long time without being in a final. That’s great news and I’m very, very happy with that.

RAFA NADAL

Rafa was also set to play in the Swedish Open men’s doubles semi-final on Saturday with Casper Ruud, but the pair pulled out with our champ conserving his energy for the singles final.

Sources: AFP, Metro