King of Clay Rafael Nadal defeats son of a legend Leo Borg to open Bastad Open campaign

Rafael Nadal's debut in the singles draw of the Bastad Open 2024 took place this Tuesday, July 16, against the local Leo Borg, son of the legendary Bjorn Borg. The Spaniard was to achieve a convincing victory by 6-3, 6-4.

He will face Cameron Norrie in the round of 16 of the Swedish tournament in what will be a lot tougher test than the player ranked inside the top 500 who was given a wildcard for this tournament.

FIRST SET

In the first set, Nadal started very strong with his serve. He took the first game strongly to make it 1-0. Borg managed to equalize the match 1-1 after toiling on his serve, In the next game, despite getting 40-0, Nadal lost 3 consecutive points to deuce, but the Spaniard managed to take the game and make it 2-1.

In the next game, the Swede's second serve of the match, was to be the first key moment of the set. Nadal would have two break points. Although the first failed to take the lead in the first set at 30-40, the Spaniard would remain calm to later strike the blow to his rival and get 3-1 up.

Now it was Nadal's turn to confirm the break with his serve, something he was going to achieve with little difficulty. 4-1 up with the goal of winning the first set closer. Then, Borg cut 4-2 looking to stay with chances to overcome the disadvantage. Nadal won his next serve again without conceding a break point. After the 5-3, the Spaniard served to win the set, and with a hold, he closed the first set 6-3.

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SECOND SET

In the second set, things started very positively for Nadal. The Spaniard was 15-40 in the first game on Borg's serve, and at the second opportunity managed to break his opponent's serve, and then confirm it by losing only one point on his serve to put the initial 2-0.

After this setback, Leo Borg won his next service game to make it 2-1 and stay in the match. Rafa continued without conceding a single break point to his opponent, and put the 3-1 on the scoreboard, getting closer to victory. Even so, he was going to have to keep working hard, because Borg was not about to throw in the towel. 3-2, and again Nadal forced to maintain the advantage with his serve. With a great forehand 40-30 up, Rafa put the 4-2.

Leo Borg then got his first break of the match to cut it back to 4-3, this time looking for a miraculous break. However, Rafa responded with another break to make it 5-3, one game away from taking the match. With a third consecutive break, Borg's second, the score was 5-4 with Nadal serving for the win. The Spaniard was not going to fail, and took the set 6-4 and the match to get into the round of 16.

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Originally written for TenisAldia.ES for TennisUpToDate.com.