Casper Ruud’s journey at Roland Garros came to an unexpected halt due to an injury-affected defeat against Nuno Borges. On Wednesday afternoon, Borges, ranked No. 41 in the PIF ATP Rankings, overcame Ruud with scores of 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-0. This victory marked a historic moment as Borges became the first Portuguese man to reach the third round of the tournament.
Ruud, a two-time finalist at Roland Garros, started strong on Court Suzanne-Lenglen but was visibly hindered by a left knee issue from the third set onwards. In his post-match press conference, Ruud shared that he had been dealing with knee pain leading up to the tournament.
“It’s hopefully nothing too serious,” said Ruud. “For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been kind of struggling a little bit with knee pain on and off.”
He explained that while practicing before the tournament allowed him to manage certain painful movements, playing matches presented different challenges. “When you’re playing matches, you can’t really control it in the same way,” he added.
Ruud first experienced this pain during April’s Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters and had undergone a scan during his title run at the Mutua Madrid Open. Despite his struggles, Ruud praised Borges for his performance.
“I don’t want to take anything away from Nuno because I think he played a phenomenal match,” said Ruud.
Borges’ victory sets him up for a third-round match against Alexei Popyrin. The Australian player defeated Alejandro Tabilo earlier with scores of 7-5, 6-3, 6-4.
Reflecting on his win against Ruud, Borges stated: “I was fighting a lot… He really played a huge intensity… Then I just kept on trying and noticed he started to slow down.”
Borges expressed pride in his perseverance throughout the match despite acknowledging that Ruud was not at full capacity due to his injury.
“I’m still proud of how I battled from the beginning until the end and gave myself a shot,” said Borges.