Nuno Borges of Portugal dropped the first eight games of his match with French qualifier Lucas Pouille, but he was still able to come away with a 0-6, 7-6 (6), 6-3 victory on Monday in the first round of the Millennium Estoril Open in Estoril, Portugal.
Playing in front of a friendly crowd, Borges got off to a nightmarish start, getting blanked in the first set before falling into a 2-0 hole in the second. He then rattled off four straight wins to get back on track and later forced a third set by prevailing in the tiebreaker.
Borges ended up taking the final four games of the final set to complete the comeback.
In other action, Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut pulled off a 6-1, 7-5 upset of sixth-seeded Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic, while Austrian Dominic Thiem also moved on by downing Maximilian Marterer of Germany 6-1, 6-7 (3), 6-4.
Grand Prix Hassan II
No. 7 seed Mariano Navone of Argentina took just 76 minutes to defeat Tunisian Aziz Dougaz 6-3, 6-2 in first-round action at Marrakech, Morocco.
Dougaz had a pair of aces while Navone had none, but the latter had little trouble punching his ticket to the second round. The only deficit Navone faced was at 1-0 in the second set.
Both of Monday’s other victors won in straight sets, with Russia’s Pavel Kotov eliminating Moroccan wild card Elliot Benchetrit and Jaume Munar of Spain cruising past Frenchman Luca Van Assche.
Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship
The United States’ Brandon Nakashima made it out of the first round with a 6-1, 6-4 drubbing of Croatia’s Duje Ajdukovic in Houston.
Nakashima saved both of the break points on his serve and converted 3 of 5 in the win.
Australia’s Rinky Hijikata upset fifth-seeded American Christopher Eubanks 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2). Eubanks notched eight aces to Hijikata’s seven but lost service points twice in both tiebreakers, which led to his downfall.
U.S. qualifier Patrick Kypson stumbled to a 7-6 (5), 6-3 loss against Belgium’s Zizou Bergs, and in last match of the night, J.J. Wolf of the United States defeated Swiss qualifier Alexander Ritschard 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.
–Field Level Media
