Rafael Nadal laughs about a new nickname for his partnership with Casper Ruud after making the Nordea Open semi-final.

The pair branded ‘Ruudal’, Rafael Nadal and Casper Ruud, advanced to the semi-finals at the Nordea Open in Sweden after a “special doubles” win for the duo. A 6-4 3-6 12-10 win saw them survive a match point against Theo Arribage and Roman Safiullin. Ruud had lost in singles action earlier in the day but was able to end the day on a positive note as he completed an emotional win with the Spaniard.

The pair branded ‘Ruudal’, Rafael Nadal and Casper Ruud, advanced to the semi-finals at the Nordea Open in Sweden after a “special doubles” win for the duo. A 6-4 3-6 12-10 win saw them survive a match point against Theo Arribage and Roman Safiullin. Ruud had lost in singles action earlier in the day but was able to end the day on a positive note as he completed an emotional win with the Spaniard.

This hard-fought win came just hours after Ruud had lost in singles action earlier that day.
“When you cannot win singles you have to try to win doubles,” joked Ruud, who lost his opening singles match 6-3 6-3 to Thiago Monteiro 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.”

On Wednesday, they survived a match point to win a dramatic quarter-final clash against French duo Theo Arribage and Roman Safiullin.

Nadal and Ruud took the first set 6-4 but dropped the second 3-6 before finding themselves trailing 9-10 in the match tie-break.

They picked up the next three points, though, to seal passage into the semi-finals in Sweden.

Nadal entertained the exciting crowd just as much after the match as during it with his response to learning a new nickname for his Scandinavian alliance with Norway’s Ruud.

The interviewer ended his line of questioning by asking: “Rafa, I’ve seen around here signs that are saying your new nickname, Ruudal. What do you think of it?!”