Stockholm, Day 1: Humbert fights back, Leo Borg eliminated

Sweden’s late-season tennis double has begun. The Bybit Stockholm Open, an indoor ATP 250 running until November 14, is the first of the two big professional events in Sweden this winter before UTS Gothenburg by BNP-Paribas in December.

Humbert comes from behind twice

Seventh seed Ugo Humbert, runner-up in Stockholm last year and ranked No.14 at the UTS rankings, beat Paraguay’s Adolfo Daniel Vallejo 6-4, 6-3 in 1 hour 25 minutes. The Frenchman trailed in both sets: Vallejo led 2-0 in the first and 3-1 in the second. Humbert broke back each time, took the opener by breaking for 5-4, then won the last five games of the match. He hit 26 winners, against 34 unforced errors, and broke serve six times.

The world No. 39 now faces Croatian qualifier Borna Gojo, who served 14 aces and was never broken in a 6-3, 6-4 win over Tomas Machac.

No home win for Leo Borg

Wildcard Leo Borg lost 6-3, 6-2 to British qualifier Toby Samuel in 1 hour 10 minutes. Borg broke in the opening game, but Samuel broke straight back, again for 5-3, then twice more in the second set. Borg saved seven of the 11 break points he faced but made six double faults. Samuel, ranked No. 95, plays third seed Lorenzo Musetti next.

Leo Borg will get another chance at home next month. He is in the field of UTS Gothenburg by BNP Paribas, at the Scandinavium on December 12 and 13, and opens against top seed Felix Auger-Aliassime in the quarter-finals. The other quarter-finals are Stefanos Tsitsipas vs Luciano Darderi, Holger Rune vs Alexander Bublik and second seed Brandon Nakashima vs Andrey Rublev.

Max Dahlin, the other Swedish wildcard on court on Monday, saved a match point in the second-set tie-break before losing 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-3 to fifth seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry. With Elias Ymer beaten by Juan Manuel Cerundolo on Sunday, no Swede is left in the singles draw.

Also on Monday

Sixth seed Alex Michelsen beat Yannick Hanfmann 6-2, 6-3 without dropping serve. Cameron Norrie won the last eight games against James Duckworth to win 7-5, 6-0 and set up a meeting with top seed Taylor Fritz, runner-up at UTS Los Angeles 2023.

On Tuesday, Holger Rune is back in Stockholm to face eighth seed Zizou Bergs.