Nuno Borges upset this year’s Brisbane International champion and 13th seed Grigor Dimitrov 6-7 (3-7) 6-4 6-2 7-6 (8-6) to become the first player from Portugal to reach the fourth round at the Australian Open and just the second player from his country to advance to the second week of a Grand Slam tournament.
Borges scored his second straight win against a seeded opponent after beating world number 24 Alejandro Davidovic Fokina in the second round.
“I am still processing. I still can’t believe it. My reaction at the end was very honest. I was not ready to win this match when it started. It’s big for Portugal. I am proud to be Potuguese and be here competing in one of the biggest tournaments in the world. I hope that I showed the younger kids it is possible, with a little bit of luck, working hard it is possible to achieve just living in the moment”, said Borges.
Both players went on serve with no breaks en route to the tie-break. Dimitrov earned two mini-breaks to win the tie-break 7-3. Borges saved a total of three break points in the second and fourth games before breaking serve in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead. The Portuguese player fended off four more break points in the 10th game.
Borges broke twice in the first and third games to win the third set 6-2. Dimitrov earned his first break on his 11th break point of the match of his 4th of the second game of the fourth set and held serve at 15 in the third game to open up a 3-0 lead. Borges pulled back on his serve in the ninth game and held serve at 15 in the 10thgame to draw level to 5-5. Borges opened up a 4-1 lead in the tie-break. Dimitrov won the next three points to draw level to 4-4 before slicing a backhand into the net. Borges made a double fault at 5-4. Dimitrov earned a set point at 6-5, but he made a double fault. Borges sealed the win, when Dimitrov made two backhand unforced errors.
“Maybe, in the third set, when I got a break, I was like: ‘Maybe I can actually win this. It was not from the start. It’s like people say, take one set at a time, one game at a time. I kept pushing through, testing my limits, testing his. I know that in a tennis match anything can happen and today was just a true example of that”, said Borges.
