Nuno Borges scores one of the best victories of his career and makes personal history in Rome

Nuno Borgesnumber 53 in the ATP rankings, produced a beautiful performance to make history on a personal level and qualify for the first time in his career for the third round of a Masters 1000. He did so with great concentration and consistency to overcome the always treacherous Alexander Bublik (17th), in what was the second best victory of his life in terms of ranking, only surpassed by the triumph against Grigor Dimitrov (then 13th) at this year’s Australian Open.

Facing someone who doesn’t feel well on clay, Borges was intense and without showing much wear and tear during the 3:40 hour of the first round against Pedro Martinez, resolving the question with partials 6-4 and 6-4. The 27-year-old Maiato knew how to execute his game plan efficiently and also counter a crowd that was always on the Kazakh’s side, securing the third triumph of his career in Masters 1000 tournaments.

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Borges was quick to make his mark, achieving a break in the third game, but Bublik reacted… before the Portuguese advanced to another break. From then on, the decisive moment of the set arrived in the eighth game, with the Portuguese coming from 15-40, before putting himself in front of the marker. In the second set, Borges came out with everything and had points to take a double advantage, but Bublik reacted and made it 2-2. However, the Maiato once again took control of the game and underlined the superiority that was always evident to confirm the victory, even managing to recover from 2-5 to 4-5.

In this way, Nuno Borges provisionally rises to 49th place in the ATP rankings, leaving re-entry into the top 50 as an almost guaranteed fact, while he waits for Tallon Griekspoor (26th) or Francesco Passaro (240th) to find out who his next opponent will be in the fight for a place in the round of 16.