ATP roundup: Rafael Nadal back to winning in Sweden

 

[July 17, 2024]  Spain's Rafael Nadal shook off any rust and defeated Leo Borg -- the 21-year-old son of tennis legend Bjorn Borg -- 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of the Nordea Open on Tuesday in Bastad, Sweden.

Nadal, 38, had not played in an ATP Tour match since May 27, when he lost a first-round match to Alexander Zverev at the French Open. Nadal, with 92 tour-level titles to his credit, was competing in Bastad for the first time since winning the event in 2005.

He didn't face a break point against fellow wild-card entry Borg and won 82.1 percent (32 of 39) of his first-serve points in capturing the match in one hour and 25 minutes. He will face No. 5 seed Cameron Norrie of Great Britain in the next round.

In other matches, Nadal's countryman Roberto Carballes Baena won in three sets over sixth-seeded Roman Safiullin of Russia 5-7, 7-6 (3), 6-3; and Kazakhstan qualifier Timofey Skatov overcame Japan's Taro Daniel 6-7 (7), 6-2, 7-6 (4).

Seventh-seeded Nuno Borges of Portugal defeated lucky loser Andrea Pellegrino of Italy 6-2, 7-6 (3). Other winners were Portugal's Henrique Rocha, India's Sumit Nagal, Argentina's Thiago Agustin Tirante, Kazakhstan's Dennis Yevseyev, Brazil's Thiago Monteiro and Croatian qualifier Duje Ajdukovic.

Hamburg Open

It was a good day for seeded players, led by No. 2 Holger Rune with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Hungary's Fabian Marozsan in the opening round in Germany.

Denmark's Rune saved all four break points while converting two of five. He also had a 23-13 edge in winners.

Third-seeded Sebastian Baez of Argentina downed Germany's Dominik Koepfer 6-2, 6-3; fifth-seed Arthur Fils of France needed three sets to beat Spain's Jaume Munar 5-7, 6-3, 6-1; seventh-seeded Luciano Darderi of Italy posted a 6-1, 2-6, 6-0 win over lucky loser Nick Hardt of the Dominican Republic; and eighth-seeded Zhizhen Zhang of China got his bearings to beat Brazil's Thiago Seyboth Wild 7-6 (6), 6-0.

Other winners were Frenchman Hugo Gaston, Argentina qualifier Marco Trungelliti and Serbia's Dusan Lajovic.

Swiss Open Gstaad

Lukas Klein of Slovakia won a tight battle with No. 8 seed Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland 7-6 (4), 2-6, 7-5 in the first round in Switzerland.

Klein had a slight edge in aces (9-7) and winners (22-21), while Wawrinka saved 3 of 4 on break-point opportunities to 0-for-2 for his opponent in the match lasting just more than two hours.

Sixth-seeded Matteo Berrettini of Italy downed Argentina's Pedro Cachin 6-4, 7-6 (2). Qualifier Quentin Halys defeated fellow Frenchman Richard Gasquet 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5).

Other winners were Germany's Yannick Hanfmann, Brazilian qualifier Gustavo Heide, Serbia's Hamad Medjedovic and the Netherlands' Botic van de Zandschulp.

Infosys Hall of Fame Open

Mackenzie McDonald rallied from a first-set loss to oust eighth-seeded Rinky Hijikata of Australia 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2 in the opening round in Newport, R.I.

McDonald converted 7 of 13 break point opportunities, to 6 of 12 for his opponent. Hijikata had more winners (34-24), but McDonald was better on first-serve points, winning 46 of 66 (70 percent) to 32 of 54 (59.3 percent) for Hijikata.

No. 5 seed Brandon Nakashima defeated fellow American Emilio Nava 7-5, 6-2; seventh-seeded Arthur Rinderknech of France beat Japan's Shintaro Mochizuki 6-3, 7-6 (5); and France's Benoit Paire took a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (4) victory from Zachary Svajda in a match that was suspended Monday at the start of the third set due to darkness.

Also advancing Tuesday were British qualifier Billy Harris, Australian qualifier Alex Bolt and wild cards Ethan Quinn and Eliot Spizzirri of the United States.

--Field Level Media

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