Leo Borg, Son of Bjorn, Hopes To Make A Make A Name For Himself In Bastad

Leo Borg
Leo Borg (photo: Brigitte Urban)

BASTAD/WASHINGTON, July 19, 2023 (by Michael Dickens)

The Nordea Open, a popular ATP 250-series clay-court event that takes place in Bastad, one of Sweden’s most typical summer resorts, has returned for its 55th edition with a strong and talented lineup — and the next generation of a very famous and well-known tennis player from this Scandinavian country, too.

The Bastad Tenisstadion, with a picturesque view of Skansenbadet Beach and Laholm Bay, has showcased some of the greatest Swedish talent the country has ever produced such as Bjorn Borg, Mats Wilander, Magnus Gustafsson and Robin Soderling — all past champions of the tournament. This year, the Nordea Open has welcomed Leo Borg, son of three-time champion Bjorn Borg, as a wild card entrant — and star attraction — in the 28-player draw that is competing for first-prize money of €85,605 plus 250 ATP points. 

The line-up features top-seeded World No. 4 Casper Ruud of Norway and defending champion Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina, currently ranked 20th. It also includes a Top-10 star in World No. 7 Andrey Rublev of Russia and a pair of Top-20-ranked competitors, No. 16 Lorenzo Musetti of Italy and No. 19 Alexander Zverev.

On Tuesday, the 20-year-old son of the 11-time major champion and Hall of Famer triumphed at home and won his first ATP Tour match. Now, he needs just 653 more to catch up to his famous father, who compiled 654 victories and won 66 titles. Ranked 437th, Borg defeated fellow Swedish wild card Elias Ymer, 7-6 (5), 6-3 on Centre Court in an entertaining one hour, 44 minutes.

It was the perfect setting for Borg to triumph after saving two of the three break points he faced and outpointing the 166th-ranked Ymer 77-63. He closed out the victory with an ace, the culmination of a magnificent serving performance.

When the 6-foot-tall Borg, with a mane of blond hair reminiscent of his famous father, was asked to describe how he felt after achieving his first victory on the ATP Tour during his on-court interview, he let out a huge sigh of relief, then responded: “I don’t even know; it’s so special, you know? It’s my first ATP win. It’s mixed emotions, but I’m very happy with my win and how I played. I couldn’t be happier.

“I was very nervous from the beginning. It’s tennis. You’re going to be nervous, but it’s how you manage those situations. I’m happy with how I performed.”

Later, during his press conference, Borg added: “I have worked so hard for this for so many years and today was the day I got the result. I’m very happy with my performance today and how mentally strong I was. Elias and I have a good relationship and overall, it was good tennis.”

Borg, winless in 13 career matches on the ATP Challenger Tour circuit, was appearing in just his sixth career tour-level event and first of this season after playing exclusively on the Challenger and ITF Men’s World Tennis Tour circuits this year. He has posted a respectable 20-15 win-loss record in all competitions in 2023 and won one title, a $25K hard-court event at Jakarta in April.

The first-round victory in Bastad by Borg advanced him into the second round against 113th-ranked Argentine veteran Federico Coria in a featured Wednesday night match. For the first eight games of the match, Borg held his own. The, Coria broke Borg’s serve for the first of four times and the 31-year-old’s match experience benefited him the rest of the way.

Coria beat Borg, 6-4, 6-2, in an hour and 26 minutes by taking advantage of the young Swede’s overall lack of match knowledge.

To his credit, Borg saved a match point before rain fell and suspended the match for an hour. However, the resumption lasted all of five minutes, covering the final seven points of the contest. Coria won on his second match point with an inside-out forehand winner. He outpointed Borg 69-52 to advance to the last eight against Cerundolo. The two shook hands and despite losing, Borg was upbeat and smiled as he walked off the court.

In his on-court interview, Coria gave props to Borg. He said: “Leo is very young, [but] he has a great future.”

Cerundolo begins defense of his title with solid victory

Francisco Cerundolo

Francisco Cerundolo (photo: Brigitte Urban)

Meanwhile, as the second round unfolded earlier Wednesday, the fourth-seed Cerundolo advanced to his eighth quarterfinal round of the season and sixth on clay with a solid performance against No. 77 Luca van Assche of France.

Although it took Cerundolo five match points to put away the 6-2, 6-3 victory, the match was never really in doubt as the Argentine hit five aces and captured 78 percent of his first-serve points. He converted four of five break points and outpointed his opponent 63-49.

“I’m super happy to be back after last year when I won my first title,” Cerundolo said in an on-court interview. “It was a special day for me. Today, I think I played pretty well.”

The 24-year-old reigning champion, who defeated Sebastian Baez in an all-Argentine final a year ago, is seeded fourth this time, in what he described as a “super-tough draw.” The No. 63 Baez, seeded eighth, was a first-round casualty this time, against Coria.

“A lot of players are playing really good … Ruud, Rublev, Zverev, Musetti and many others. … Hopefully, I can keep going and win it again. It’s a super nice tournament. I think all the players really like to be here,” Cerundolo added.

Around the Nordea Open

• Other Wednesday winners: Filip Misolic, a 21-year-old qualifier from Austria, rallied to advance to the quarterfinals after beating 159th-ranked qualifier Jozef Kovalik of Slovakia, 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4. The 139th-ranked Misolic owns a career 7-1 tour-level win-loss record on clay. His last appearance at Tour level came last year at Vienna, when he lost to Cerundolo in the first round.

Also, in an all-Italian battle, No. 3 seed Lorenzo Musetti prevailed over No. 75 Matteo Arnaldi, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (6), on his seventh match point after two hours and 35 minutes to advance to his seventh tour-level quarterfinal of the season Next, he will face Misolic.

• Looking ahead to Thursday: Top seed Ruud, who won the Bastad title in 2021, opens against No. 96 Alexander Shevchenko of Russia; No. 2 seed Rublev of Russia faces 89th-ranked Russian qualifier Pavel Kotov; and No. 5 seed Zverev of Germany takes on No. 122 Thiago Monteiro of Brazil. Also, No. 53 Bernabe Zapata Miralles of Spain opposes No. 58 Sebastian Ofner of Austria. The winners will move into Friday’s quarterfinals.

 

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