STOCKHOLM, October 17, 2023
An audience full of expectations made their way to the Royal Tennis Hall on the second day of the BNP Paribas Nordic Open to watch Swedish wild card entry Leo Borg play on Center Court Tuesday. Borg, who made his third consecutive appearance in the ATP Tour 250 tournament, once again had to face a tough opponent in his first round. Despite his home arena and the great crowd support, he was defeated by Serbian Laslo Djere in two sets.
The 20-year-old Borg, who is currently ranked World No. 359, got off to a good start in the match against the 35th-ranked Djere. Even though Borg managed to break the Serb’s serve in the first set, it didn’t quite go on in his favour and the set ended 6-3. Then, Djere quickly took hold of the second set and even though Borg managed to win three games and fought well, it was a too tough challenge for the home favorite, who was defeated 6-3, 6-3.
Up next for Djere will be US-American J.J. Wolf, who upset fifth seed Sebastian Baez from Argentina 7-6(5), 6-2
In other action, Emil Ruusuvuori of Finland defeated qualifier Benjamin Hassan of Lebanon 6-2, 6-1 in only 57 minutes.
“I’m very happy with the performance,” said Ruusuvuori. “I had a couple of weeks off from the Tour, so it’s good to start this way with such a solid performance. It’s a special place to be… For me it’s one of the best weeks for sure. I really like Stockholm, it’s a place that I could possibly even live in and for my friends and family it is easy to come and see.”
Ruusuvuori will play third-seeded Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor in the second round in Stockholm, where he reached the semi-finals in 2022.
Later in the evening, Swiss veteran Stan Wawrinka booked his spot in the second round following a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Borna Gojo of Croatia.
A winning return to Stockholm for @stanwawrinka!
He defeats Gojo 7-5 6-4 👏#StockholmOpen pic.twitter.com/Jvse5kdHKQ
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 17, 2023
