Tennis: Nadal finds form with Swedish Open win over Norrie

Former world No.1 Rafael Nadal showed promising signs on Thursday in Bastad, defeating Britain’s Cam Norrie 6-4, 6-4 to make the quarter-finals of the Swedish Open.

The Spaniard was contesting just his 14th singles match of the season, having been sidelined by extensive injury issues over the past two years.

His win over Norrie was one of the best matches he has played all year, with the Brit seeded fifth in the ATP 250 event.

Nadal is now a +100 favourite with Bovada to claim his second Swedish Open title, 19 years after first claiming the trophy.

Nadal shows trademark grit to overcome second-set lull

Nadal came out of the blocks firing on Thursday, winning the opening set with a break in the seventh game.

However, he found himself staring down the barrel of Norrie levelling the match in the second set. Nadal dropped his second service game, handing Norrie a 4-1 lead.

The 22-time Grand Slam champion responded in style, picking up back-to-back breaks of serve and racing through the next five games to win the round-of-16 clash in straight sets.

“I’ve been a while without playing on the tour, since Roland-Garros,” said Nadal after his victory.

“To have the chance to compete well against a great player like Cameron is a great feeling.

“I think I played in some moments good tennis, in some moments I need to play a little bit more aggressive, but that is part of the journey today.

“I haven’t been competing very often, so matches and victories like today help.

“To be in rhythm the whole match and hold the pressure on the opponent the whole match, that’s something that I need to improve, because I didn’t play enough.”

Navone next, Olympics around the corner

Next up, Nadal will face Argentine Mariano Navone in his second ATP-level quarter-final of the season.

The Spaniard is a -277.78 favourite with online bookmakers to defeat the world No.36 and move into the semi-finals, where he will face either Duje Ajdukovic or Thiago Monteiro.

Nadal is also alive in the doubles event, where he’s playing alongside Casper Ruud. The pair face off against Orlando Luz and Rafael Matos on Friday in the semi-finals as -138.89 favourites.

It is just as well Nadal is getting some court time in, because the 38-year-old is off the to Olympics next week.

There, he will seek to win his first gold medal in the singles event since 2008. He will also combine with Carlos Alcaraz in the men’s doubles.

Nadal holds the fifth line of betting (+800) to win the singles, with tennis bookies not posting odds for the Olympics doubles yet.

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