Rafael Nadal lost the Swedish Open final in straight sets to Portugal’s Nuno Borges.
In Bastad, Borges overcame Nadal 6-3 6-2, finishing the match slamming down an ace before he fell to his knees and buried his hands in his face, a sign of just what the victory meant to Borges.
It was Borges’ first title on the ATP Tour. “I don’t know what to say,” he reflected afterwards.
“I was wishing for this moment for a while already. It’s crazy, tennis doesn’t happen when you expect it sometimes.”
Borges delivered a rock-solid performance against the 22-time Grand Slam winner. He was consistent throughout as he broke Nadal’s serve five times.
Nadal’s first ATP Tour final since 2022 ended in defeat. The Spanish legend was playing in this clay-court event to prepare himself for the Olympic Games at Roland Garros.
The 38-year-old did not enter Wimbledon this year because he did not want to risk injury switching from clay to grass and back again before the Olympics.
Nadal has been recovering from hip and abdominal injuries over the last 18 months.
“I know we all wanted Rafa to win and part of me wished that too,” Borges added. “But something even bigger inside of me really pushed through today, through the emotions, through all the ups and downs.
“Again it wasn’t even about playing my best tennis today. It was about coming up in the big moments where I won it and I couldn’t have played better. Just really happy overall.
“I really don’t know what to say I’m very emotional.”
In the Hamburg Open final, Arthur Fils survived a dramatic tie-break to defeat the home favourite Alexander Zverev to land only his second-ever ATP-level title.
The 20-year-old saved 21 of 22 break points en route to winning out 6-3 3-6 7-6 (7) at the end of a three-and-a-half-hour match as he followed up victory at the Lyon Open in 2023.
Earlier, the pair had had to be separated by the umpire when emotions boiled over during the final set, with Fils verbally attacking Zverev after an underarm serve by the Frenchman was called out after a review.
Later, Fils explained that he was serving underarm in order to counter cramping that was building up in his arm.
Elsewhere, Matteo Berrettini claimed his second ATP Tour title of the season with a 6-3 6-1 win over Quentin Halys in the Swiss Open final.
Berrettini got the better of Stefanos Tsitsipas in a hard-fought last-four tie but wrapped up victory over France’s Halys inside an hour in Gstaad.
After the final initially stayed on serve, Berrettini broke to move 4-3 up in the first set and won nine of the next 10 games to add the Swiss Open crown to his Grand Prix Hassan II title in April.
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