Estoril Open: Nuno Borges saves match point and beats Pouille with a comeback

It was painful, it started very badly, there were two stops due to rain, but it ended well for Nuno Borges.

The Portuguese tennis player (62nd ATP), guaranteed, this Monday, qualification for the second round of the Estoril Open men’s main table, by beating Frenchman Lucas Pouille (241st in the ranking) by two sets to one, with splits of 6-0, 6-7 (6-8) and 3-6, after around two hours and 20 minutes.

Nuno Borges came in nervous – something he admitted in the interview on the court – right after the game, he lost the first set 6-0 in about half an hour, he was 2-0 down in the second set, but then started his recovery on the central court of the Estoril Tennis Club, against a Pouille who reached 10th in the ATP rankings in 2018.

After reducing his service game to 2-1 in the second set, Nuno Borges broke his opponent’s service twice and took an important lead (2-4), but would soon lose the service game advantage. and Pouille reached 4-4. Nobody disarmed more in their service games and the set was only resolved in the tie-break, with Nuno Borges winning (6-8) after three consecutive points and denying Pouille’s match point with 6-5 in favor of French.

In the third set, with Pouille starting to serve, no one gave in until 3-3 and Nuno Borges then made the difference by winning the service game to Pouille for 3-4, confirming the break with 3-5. Then, Nuno Borges took the lead on Pouille’s service, closing the match with the advantages and the second match-point he had available.

In the second round, Nuno Borges will face the Italian Lorenzo Musetti, currently 24th in the world rankings and with a maximum record of 15th reached in June 2023.