Portuguese tennis sensation Nuno Borges on Sunday stunned tennis star Rafael Nadal to claim his maiden ATP title at the Nordea Open championship.
Nadal was way below his best as the 27-year old Portuguese produced a stunning performance to beat Nadal in the final on Sunday.
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.”
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, and 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.”
