The highlight of the day for the crowd at the Royal Tennis Hall was the match between local favourite Leo Borg and Austrian Sebastian Ofner. Borg started the match well, holding his service games. He showed great depth in his shots and played aggressive tennis, showcasing his superb touch and control with the racket. At 4-3, Borg broke the Austrian’s serve, making the score to 5-3 and then kept his composure to serve out the first set, winning it 6-3. In the second set, the Swede took the lead at 5-4 and, after a solid final game, finished the match with a score of 6-3, 6-4. A long-awaited victory for Leo Borg at the BNP Paribas Nordic Open after four previous first-round attempts. In the second round, Borg will face Canadian Denis Shapovalov, who won the tournament in 2019.
The main draw kicked off earlier on Monday with last year’s quarterfinalist Miomir Kecmanovic facing Frenchman Alexandre Muller. The Serbian player won the match quite comfortably with a final score of 6-4, 6-1. Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor, a semifinalist last year, had a slow start in his opening match against world No. 81, Briton Jacob Fearnley, who claimed the first set 6-3. In the second set, Griekspoor was down 2-5 but mounted a strong comeback, bringing the set in a close tiebreak, 8-6. In the third set, the players stayed even to 6-6, leading to another decisive tiebreak. This time, Fearnley edged out Griekspoor 7-5 in the tiebreak, clinching the match.
The third singles match of the day between Alexei Popyrin of Australia and American Sebastian Korda also went the distance. After losing the first set in a tiebreak, Korda raised his level and comfortably won the next two sets. Final score: 6-7, 6-1, 6-3.
Tuesday’s matches promise even more excitement. The most anticipated is the match between brothers Elias and Mikael Ymer, facing each other for the first time on the ATP Tour—guaranteeing that at least one more Swede will advance to the second round. Other matches include promising Norwegian Nicolai Budkov Kjaer against former Grand Slam champion Marin Cilic, and the day wraps up with an all-Italian encounter between Matteo Berrettini and Giulio Zeppieri. Qualifier Mark Lajal of Estonia opens the day against Tomas Martin Etcheverry, Argentina.
