Nuno Borges overcame tennis royalty to notch his maiden ATP Tour title on Sunday at the Nordea Open.
The seventh-seeded Portuguese eased past Rafael Nadal 6-3, 6-2 to clinch the trophy at the clay-court ATP 250. Borges delivered a rock-solid performance against the 22-time Grand Slam winner Nadal, and he broke the Spaniard’s serve five times en route to victory in his maiden tour-level final.
“I don’t know what to say. I think I was wishing for this moment for a while already,” said Borges in his post-match interview. “It’s crazy, in tennis it doesn’t happen when you expect it sometimes. I know we all wanted Rafa to win, a part of me wished that too, but something even bigger inside of me really pushed through today. Through all the emotions, through all the ups and downs.
“it wasn’t about playing my best tennis, it was just coming up in the big moments where I wanted, and I couldn’t have played better. I’m just really happy overall. I really don’t know what to say, I’m very emotional.”
Borges was the more consistent player throughout his maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head clash with Nadal, who could not raise his level like he did in battling three-set wins against Mariano Navone and Duje Ajdukovic earlier this week. The 27-year-old Borges showed no sign of nerves as he served out victory against the former No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings.
As he did throughout his run in Bastad, Nadal struggled to regularly hold onto his serve. Borges was particularly clinical against his opponent’s second delivery and finished the match having won 72 per cent (13/18) of second-serve return points, according to Infosys ATP Stats.
With his 88-minute triumph, Borges ensured he will on Monday rise nine spots to a career-high No. 42 in the PIF ATP Rankings. He is the ninth first-time title winner on the ATP Tour in the 2024 season so far.
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Despite his championship-match defeat, Nadal can reflect on a positive week in Bastad, where he reached his first tour-level title match since 2022 Roland Garros. The 38-year-old Spaniard, who is now 11-6 for the year, will now turn his attention to preparing for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“Many congratulations to Nuno,” said Nadal at the trophy ceremony. “You’ve been playing great during the whole week, so you deserve it more than anyone else here. Congratulations and enjoy your moment, it’s always special winning a title. I wish you all the very best for the rest of the season.
“I have been here for the week enjoying this amazing place. I really had fun on court, played some very long matches. Today wasn’t my best day, but all the credit to Nuno. He played very well and it was so difficult for me, so well done.”
