Portuguese tennis player Nuno Borges, seventh seed, beat Italian Luciano Darderi in the first round of the ATP250 tournament in Auckland, New Zealand.
Nuno Borges, 36th in the world rankings, lost the first round 7-5 to the 22-year-old Italian, who occupies 44th place in the ATP hierarchy.
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“It was important for me to stay positive after that difficult first set”, said the best Portuguese tennis player today, in an interview after the end of the match.
Borges managed to turn the match around by winning the next two partials by 3-6 and 5-7, closing the match in two hours and three minutes and advancing to the second phase.
“I kept believing and managed to turn things around”, explained the 27-year-old tennis player, who also pointed out the strong wind that was felt in Auckland as an extra difficulty.
Borges recalled that he had already faced and beaten Darderi in 2022, in a ‘challenger’ tournament that the Portuguese won in Italy.
“I knew it was going to be a big fight,” said the maiato.
Borges’ next opponent will come from Tuesday’s meeting between Argentine Mariano Navone (47th), who defeated him at the Olympic Games, and North American Reilly Opelka (293rd and former 17th), who on Friday surprised Novak Djokovic in Brisbane.
The ATP 250 in Auckland is the second and final preparation tournament for the national number one and the only Portuguese tennis player in the world top-100 for the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the season.
On Thursday, Nuno Borges was eliminated in the second round of the ATP250 tournament in Hong Kong, after losing in two sets to Spaniard Jaume Munar, who was ranked 62nd in the ATP hierarchy.
Source: rr.sapo.pt
