OEIRAS/STARNBERG, April 5, 2022

The second leg of the two-week ATP Challenger Tour clay-court swing in Portugal is underway and home favourite Nuno Borges headlined Tuesday’s action. The No. 3 seed of the €45,730 Oeiras Open 2 emerged victorious from the all-Portuguese first-round battle with Pedro Sousa, winning 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.

The 25-year-old Maia native converted three of his 12 break-point opportunities to prevail after two hours and six minutes.

Nuno Borges wins an all-Portuguese battle with Pedro Sousa 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 to book a meeting with another Portuguese in the second round — last week’s champion Gastão Elias. pic.twitter.com/uSNaMReWd8

— Gaspar Ribeiro Lança (@gasparlanca) April 5, 2022

“The result explains the match. It was very complicated from start to finish. I’m very glad I was the one who came out on top,” said Borges, who is bidding for his second Challenger career crown following his maiden triumph in Antalya in December last year. He will next take on his compatriot and last week’s Oeiras Open champion Gastao Elias. The World No. 173 eased past Sebastian Fanselow of Germany 6-1, 6-2 in 61 minutes.

Five other seeded players booked their spots in the second round: Sixth favourite Dmitry Popko from Kazakhstan edged out Dalibor Svrcina of the Czech Republic 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, No. 7 seed Jozef Kovalik of Slovakia defeated Turkish qualifier Ergi Kirkin 6-2, 6-3, No. 8 seed Dimitar Kuzmanov battled past qualifier and fellow Bulgarian Alexandar Lazarov 7-6(5), 0-6, 6-2, fourth-seeded Australian Christopher O’Connell outlasted Nino Serdarusic of Croatia 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 and No. 5 seed Alessandro Giannessi of Italy beat his compatriot Luciano Darderi 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-1.