Borges was almost champion.

The Portuguese player lost to Arnaldi in a Challenger after having a match point, and then the Italian went on to win the Challenger.

Victory over Garin in the deciding tie-break then defeat in the deciding tie-break against Arnaldi, that is so classic Borges! The Portuguese is a fierce fighter who always finds a way to come back into matches and turn them into real battles. I don’t really like his game on clay since he keeps wanting to be very (too?) aggressive and his flat shots don’t serve much purpose. Rome with the low bounce isn’t so bad because he has all the time he needs to dictate play and, for once, his flat shots actually work properly here, let’s say. He reached the round of 16 in 2024 and now he’s coming in with a nice bit of confidence I think, his recent tournaments have been very decent even if he’s still lacking wins. I’m expecting a good Borges this week.

He’ll be up against the qualifier De Jong, who is also used to matches decided by very small margins, but usually he loses them, I’ve seen him fight hard and lose often. Not in his last two matches though! He beat Martinez and Dellien via tie-breaks and the level was good. A bit too comfortable though, his opponents were way too passive and as soon as you let him play/come to the net he’s a pain. Borges is going to offer him a different kind of tennis and I’m not convinced he’ll particularly like it; there’s also the question of the schedule, with 3 hours of tennis today and a first round tomorrow, knowing that Borges is incredibly tough to beat. I’m not convinced De Jong can finish the job...