Misses out on Bastad title Nadal's Olympic dress rehearsal clearly fails

SDA

21.7.2024 - 16:08

Rafael Nadal loses the final in Bastad
Rafael Nadal loses the final in Bastad
Keystone

Rafael Nadal (ATP 261) loses the final at the ATP 250 tournament in Bastad. The Spaniard had no chance against the Portuguese Nuno Borges in two sets.

Former world number one Rafael Nadal has missed out on his 93rd tournament win on the ATP Tour. The 38-year-old Spaniard lost the final in Bastad, Sweden, 3:6, 2:6 against seventh seed Nuno Borges from Portugal. Nadal celebrated his last triumph to date at the French Open just over two years ago.

He was back in Paris two months ago despite a long injury break, and Nadal will also be competing at the same venue at the Olympic Games, which open on Friday. The clay court tournament in Bastad served as a test for him.

The left-hander from Mallorca trailed early in the first set of the final and then conceded the set to Borges. The 27-year-old world number 51 then took Nadal's service game to lead 3:2 in the second set and was able to celebrate the first tournament victory of his career after just under one and a half hours.