Rafael Nadal swept past Leo Borg, son of tennis great Bjorn Borg, to advance to the second round of the Bastad Open on Tuesday.
This marks an important step in his preparation for the Paris Olympics. In his first singles match since a first-round exit at Roland Garros on May 27, the 38-year-old Nadal secured a 6-3, 6-4 victory despite wet conditions.
Both Nadal and the 21-year-old Borg, ranked 461 in the world, were wild card entries in this Swedish clay-court tournament.
Despite an early scare with the former world number one slipping on the wet white line, Nadal broke for 3-1, hitting four aces to take the first set in 43 minutes.
An immediate break in the second set gave Nadal control, and he sealed the match on his second match point after 1 hour and 25 minutes on court, marking his eighth ATP tour match win this season.
"It's good, I'm finally defending my title," joked Nadal, recalling his last appearance in Bastad when he won the title at age 19 in 2005. "I haven't been playing a lot of tennis in the last few months. The feelings are great, playing in front of a full crowd means a lot to me and I'm lucky to have been able to play without rain. Even in the tougher moments, I have been able to keep going with the help of the team, but of course, the fans have a huge impact on that. They give me amazing energy."
The 22-time Grand Slam winner also praised his young rival, saying, "It's a huge honour to play against the son of one of the biggest legends in the history of our sport. I think he played quite well, he has a great future ahead. I wish him all the very best."
Next, Nadal will face fifth seed Cameron Norrie in the second round after the British player defeated Slovak Jozef Kovalik 7-6 (7/4), 6-4. Nadal skipped Wimbledon to focus on the Olympics, which will be held at Roland Garros, where he has won 14 French Open titles.
On Monday, Nadal also teamed up with Casper Ruud for a doubles win on clay in Bastad, just two weeks ahead of the Paris Games. Top seed Andrey Rublev starts his campaign on Wednesday against 121st-ranked Thiago Tirante of Argentina.
