Rafael Nadal's quest to end a two-year spell without a top-level title ended in misery as the 22-time Grand Slam winner was comprehensively beaten by Nuno Borges in the final of the Swedish Open in Bastad.
Competing in his first ATP Tour final since winning the 2022 French Open - on his favoured clay surface no less - Nadal went down 3-6 2-6 to the Portuguese, who was competing in his maiden top-level Championship match.
Borges took just one hour and 27 minutes to defeat the 38-year-old and win his inaugural ATP Tour title, sealing the victory with his second ace of the day, both of which came while he was serving for the match.
Borges collapsed to his knees in disbelief after dispatching his celebrated foe, who subsequently came to the other side of the net to congratulate the seventh seed on his merited triumph.
Before being put to the sword by Borges in the showpiece contest, Nadal had come through a pair of three-set thrillers with Mariano Navone and Duje Ajdukovic, taking just under four hours to complete an astounding comeback against the former.
The 14-time Roland-Garros winner - who also clinched the Swedish Open title all the way back in 2005 - pulled out of his doubles semi-final with Casper Ruud to give himself the best shot at prevailing on Sunday, but his gruelling week finally appeared to take its toll.
Nuno Borges beats Rafael Nadal on clay to win the Swedish Open, his first ever ATP Tour title 🚨🏆 pic.twitter.com/Kn4MwlEcES
— Sky Sports Tennis (@SkySportsTennis) July 21, 2024
Borges and Nadal only managed one hold between them in the first six games of the match, where the Spaniard lost serve three times and broke the Portuguese twice himself, but unforced errors and double faults were costing the former champion dear.
After ending that sequence of breaks, Borges dropped just two more points on serve en route to a first-set success, and Nadal had to beat away a break point in his opening service game following the restart.
However, the 38-year-old could not keep a hard-hitting Borges at bay for long, and the seventh seed made the most of the ailing Spaniard's drop-off for a rapid-fire double break.
There had not been a single ace in the contest before Borges served for the match at 5-2, where the first-time finalist fired two unreturned serves past the 22-time major winner to etch his name onto the trophy.
What next for Nadal after Bastad defeat?
Defeat in Sweden marked just a ninth loss from 72 top-level clay finals for Nadal, who had previously won 17 successive championship matches on the surface since losing the 2015 Madrid Open to Andy Murray.
The 38-year-old now prepares for his Olympic swansong in Paris, where he will enter the men's singles using a protected ranking and also team up with Carlos Alcaraz in the men's doubles.
