Borges v Ruud: Things we learned

Unseeded Portuguese lands milestone win over world No.8

Nuno Borges, Roland-Garros 2025, second round ©Julien Crosnier / FFT
 - Dan Imhoff

Nuno Borges bt Casper Ruud (7) 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-0.

Nuno Borges epitomises the need to hang tight and ride it out.

From having one foot out the door in his opening Roland-Garros outing of 2025 to a second-round upset of seventh seed Casper Ruud on Wednesday, the 28-year-old has landed in the third round in Paris for the first time.

The world No.41 conceded he had his back to the wall after the opening set before left knee troubles took their toll on his more fancied opponent, a two-time finalist who had never fallen before the third round here since 2018.

Borges’ great escape pays off

Borges’ grit dug him out of a tight spot in the opening round when he prevailed from two sets and a break down in the fourth against French wild card Kyrian Jacquet.

Anything thereafter was a bonus and even after he dropped the opening set to the Norwegian under the closed roof of Court Suzanne-Lenglen in his subsequent match, he never counted himself out of the fight.

“I was fighting a lot especially that first set. I felt like I was completely drilled,” Borges said. “He really played a huge intensity and I wasn't handling the situation the best. It was too much for me and then I just kept on trying and I realised he started to slow down a little bit and obviously he wasn't 100 per cent today.

“I'm not sure the result would have been the same but I'm still proud of how I battled from the beginning until the end and gave myself a shot and today I got lucky.”

Casper Ruud / Deuxième tour, Roland-Garros 2025©Julien Crosnier / FFT

Knee troubles derail Ruud

The warning signs were there after Ruud withdrew from Geneva earlier this month to rest his left knee ahead of his most successful Slam, and after he defeated Spanish veteran Albert Ramos-Vinolas comfortably in the opening round all was looking up.

Not even a set into his Court Suzanne-Lenglen clash against Borges, however, the discomfort returned although he did not deem it serious enough to throw in the towel.

“For the last couple of weeks I've been kind of struggling a little bit with knee pain on and off,” he said. “It's been okay in practice because I'm able to control it a bit more. When you play a match, you go full on, no matter what happens.

“I don't want to take anything away from Nuno, because I think he played a phenomenal match, a really high level. A few shots out there are a bit painful for me to do … I felt it the first time in Monte-Carlo. So it's been with me actually the whole clay season on and off.”

College tennis

A US college route paved the way for Borges to turn professional and it was his time at Mississippi State University from 2016-2019 that shaped his preference for hard courts as his best surface.

Maiden fourth-round showings at last year’s Australian and US Opens initially confirmed as much.

That might require a serious rethink though should he take down Australian 25th seed Alexei Popyrin for a first fourth round on the clay in Paris.

“I think it's funny because I grew up playing on clay in Maia but then I found the love for hard court later in the US when I was studying in Mississippi State and since then I feel like my game developed more toward the hard court,” he said.

“It's always been more natural, but I really enjoy the clay. I just think sometimes it's a little harder for me. I think it's really special to be in the third round of the biggest clay-court tournament in the world.”

Portuguese holds rare Nadal distinction

Since ATP rankings began in 1973, Borges became the first Portuguese man to beat a top 10 opponent at a major.

It continued a trail of milestones: his career-best mark of world No.30 last September is the highest for a Portuguese player.

That came after he won the Swedish Open in Bastad in July, which made him just the fifth player after Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Horacio Zeballos to deny Rafael Nadal in a clay-court final.