Rafael Nadal swept past Leo Borg, son of tennis great Bjorn Borg, to advance to the second round of the Bastad Open on Tuesday as he builds towards the Paris Olympics.
It was Nadal’s first singles match since the 38-year-old fell in the opening round at Roland Garros on 27 May, and he eased to a 6-3, 6-4 win in wet conditions.
Both Nadal and the 21-year-old Borg, currently ranked 461 in the world, were wild card entries to the Swedish clay-court tournament.
Despite an early scare with the former world No 1 slipping on the wet white line, Nadal broke for 3-1, hitting four aces to take the first set in 43 minutes.
An immediate break gave the Spaniard a foothold in the second, sealing the match on his second match point after 1hr 25min on court for his eighth ATP tour match win this season.
“It’s good, I’m finally defending my title,” joked Nadal, who has not played in Bastad since winning the title aged 19 in 2005.
“I haven’t been playing a lot of tennis in the last few months.
“The feelings are great, playing on front of a full crowd means a lot to me and lucky to have been able to play without rain.
“Even in the tougher moments, I have been able to keep going with the help of the team, but of course the fans have a huge impact on that. They give me amazing energy.”
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