Borges Earns Main Draw Win At U.S. Open

NEW YORK – One of Mississippi State all-time great men’s tennis players earned his first ever main draw Grand Slam victory on Monday.

Nuno Borges, the 2019 ITA National Player of the Year, outlasted reigning national champion Ben Shelton in a five-set thriller in the opening round of the U.S. Open. Borges bested the former Florida product 7-6(6), 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-7(8), 6-3 in a match that lasted over four hours.

The 25-year old Borges will move on to meet Yibling Wu of China in the second round on Wednesday with the match time still to be determined.

Borges is just the sixth player from Portugal to ever win a Grand Slam main draw match in men’s singles. He has won six of his last seven singles matches and claimed three victories during the qualifying rounds of the U.S. Open to reach the main draw.

Earlier this year, Borges reached the main draws at Wimbledon and Roland-Garros and also qualified for the Australian Open but was forced to withdraw after testing positive for COVID-19. He is currently ranked 104^th in the world.

Borges is one of the most decorated Bulldogs in program history. The four-time All-SEC selection and three-time SEC Player of the Year is the only player from State to ever hold the No. 1 national ranking in both singles (2019) and doubles (2018) and is the school’s all-time leader in nine career categories.

Borges helped lead the Bulldogs back-to-back SEC Tournament championships in 2018 and 2019 and spearheaded runs to NCAA Quarterfinals in 2018 and the Round of 16 in 2016 and 2019. He finished his collegiate career with a 121-23 singles record, tops the MSU record books.

Borges is one of three former Bulldogs coached by Matt Roberts currently playing professionally joining Giovanni Oradini and Florian Broska. Coincidently, Oradini and Broska also earned straight-set victories on Monday. Oradini downed Kai Wehnelt 6-2, 6-4 to reach the main draw of the Como Challenger in Italy while Broska swept Henri Haupt 6-0, 6-0 and also beat Max Wiskandt 6-4, 6-4 in the opening rounds of the ITF Germany F12. 

 

The moment when @nunoborges97 clinched his match at the #USOpen. #HailState🐶