When he left the collegiate circuit in the USA to turn professional, Nuno Borges never thought he would break into the top 100 of the world tennis rankings, much less win a title on the ATP Tour, which he did in July. The Maia tennis player confessed days ago that his next goal is to win an ATP 500 tournament, as he feels very far from being able to win a Grand Slam title. However, his results in the majors are becoming increasingly consistent, and by advancing past the third round at the US Open, Borges repeated the feat from January, when he was stopped in the round of 16 at the Australian Open by Daniil Medvedev – whom he will face again in New York on Monday.
Borges’ third victory at the US Open will be unforgettable, especially the fourth set. The number one Portuguese player led 5-2, but when he served to close the match, he committed three double faults, allowing Jakub Mensik (65th) to break. In the tie-break, the 19-year-old Czech (the youngest in the top 100) led 6-3, but Borges saved all three match points, much to the delight of the hundreds of fans who created a fantastic and noisy atmosphere on court 17, a vibe Borges knows well from his university experience. With his opponent mentally and physically shattered, Borges dominated the final set and, very emotional, celebrated his victory with scores of 6-7 (5/7), 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (8/6), and 6-0, in 3 hours and 54 minutes.
Nuno Borges brilliance on full display ?? pic.twitter.com/wXuTpeQds3
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 1, 2024
“It was a great rollercoaster, a great, great victory. It might not have been my best match, but I am very happy with the way I fought until the end, even when I wasn’t playing so well. I could very well have fallen to the other side. Although it wasn’t a great match, I was satisfied. Tennis is like that; two or three points can change everything, and this match was a great example of that. Now, it’s about continuing to rest and dreaming even higher,” he told Lusa agency.
Borges’ 11 double faults were offset by his effectiveness on the first serve, winning 74% of points – and he was even better than Mensik on the second serve (50% to 38%) – at the net, where he achieved a 73% success rate, and on return, winning 79 points.
Borges matches his best performance in Grand Slam tournaments, achieved in Australia, that of João Sousa at the US Open (round of 16 in 2018), and ensures a new career-high ranking, moving up from 34th to 30th position – just two spots away from Sousa’s record. But he is the first Portuguese tennis player to reach the “round of 16” in both singles and doubles in the same major. This Sunday, Borges and Francisco Cabral will also face the Australians Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson, the seventh seeds and recent Wimbledon finalists.
Medvedev (5th) is the only surviving player in the men’s draw who has already triumphed at the US Open and qualified for the “round of 16”, defeating Italian Flavio Cobolli (31st), 6-3, 6-4, and 6-3. In the remaining matches of the upper half of the draw, Jannik Sinner (1st) is deciding a spot in the quarter-finals against Tommy Paul (14th), Alex de Minaur (10th) faces his fellow Australian Jordan Thompson (32nd), and Jack Draper (25th) takes on Tomas Machac (39th).
In the upper part of the women’s tournament, the “quarters” are arranged as follows: Iga Swiatek (1st) – Liudmila Samsonova (16th), Jessica Pegula (6th) – Diana Shnaider (18th), Beatriz Haddad Maia (21st) – Caroline Wozniacki (71st) and Jasmine Paolini (5th) – Karolina Muchova (52nd).