Rafael Nadal defeats Leo Borg in Bastad to line up Cameron Norrie encounter

When Rafael Nadal won his first ATP title in 2004, Leo Borg was 15 months old.

Flash forward nearly 20 years later to Tuesday, when the two stood on opposite sides of the net at the Nordea Open in Bastad.

A day after enjoying a winning team debut with Casper Ruud, Nadal played his first singles match since Roland Garros. The 22-time major winner dismissed Borg, 6-3, 6-4, to line up a second-round encounter with Cameron Norrie.

“A huge honor to play against the son of one of the biggest legends in the history of our sport. I think he played quite well, he has a future in front,” Nadal said on court afterwards.

Both competitors faced deuce on serve early, with Nadal shaking off a slip on the baseline in the third game. The former event champion soon broke for 3-1, constructing a rally that opened the door to finish with a forehand drop shot winner. The Swede—son of Hall of Famer Bjorn Borg—dug in well to keep his deficit to a single break, though couldn’t make inroads on return in seeing Nadal close out the set at love.

A double fault from Borg set up a pair of break points for the 22-time major winner in the opening game of set two. At 30-40, the 21-year-old was overpowered by the weight behind Nadal’s crosscourt forehand to drop serve for a second time. The advantage was all the Spaniard needed to ride out an 85-minute victory.

Nadal is appearing at the ATP 250 clay-court event for the first time since 2005, when he lifted the trophy. The 38-year-old improved to 8-5 on the season, as he looks to build momentum for the Paris Olympics after opting out of the grass-court swing.

Against Norrie, Nadal has won four of five contests. The Brit, however, claimed their most recent meeting at the 2023 United Cup.