Rome Masters: Borges through to last 16 at ATP Masters for first time after saving match point

Portugal’s Nuno Borges reached the last 16 of the Rome Masters by edging out Italian qualifier Francesco Passaro 4-6, 7-6 (8), 7-6 (4) at the Foro Italico in Rome on Sunday.

The 27-year-old, who also needed a third set tiebreaker to beat Pedro Martinez in the first round in Rome, saved a matchpoint in the second set tiebreaker before coming to win in 3 hours and 10 minutes.

Borges, ranked No 53, will play the winner of the match between German Alexander Zverev, the No 3 seed, and Italian Luciano Darderi next.

The Portuguese edged out Spain’s Martinez (6-7 (3), 6-4, 7-6 (8)) and won against Kazakh Alexander Bublik, the No 15 seed (6-4, 6-4) earlier in the tournament. He is only the third player from Portugal, the first since Joao Sousa in Miami 2018, to make the last 16 at an ATP Masters 1000 event.

The win continues an incredible season for Borges, who is now sitting at No 45 in the live rankings, one spot higher than his career best ranking of No 46, which he achieved in February this year.

In the previous rounds of the Italian Open, Passaro, ranked No 240, edged out Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech (6-7 (3), 7-5, 7-6 (7)) and Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor, the No 23 seed (4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5)).

Rome Masters 1000, other third-round results (Foro Italico, clay, EUR 7,877,020):

• Thiago Monteiro (Q) beat Miomir Kecmanovic: 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (6)
• Hamad Medjedovic vs. Daniil Medvedev
• Tommy Paul vs. Dominik Koepfer
• Sebastian Baez vs. Holger Rune
• Hubert Hurkacz vs. Tomas Martin Etcheverry
• Alexandre Muller vs. Andrey Rublev
• Stefano Napolitano vs. Nicolas Jarry
• Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. Alex De Minaur
• Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Cameron Norrie
• Alexander Zverev vs. Luciano Darderi
• Ben Shelton vs. Zhizhen Zhang
• Taylor Fritz vs. Sebastian Korda
• Novak Djokovic vs. Alejandro Tabilo
• Terence Atmane vs. Grigor Dimitrov
• Francisco Cerundolo vs. Karen Khachanov