Nuno Borges stuns Etcheverry and Barcelona crowd with underarm serve ace on match point
The perfectly legal tactic employed Wednesday naturally drew mixed reactions.
There’s nothing like closing out a tennis match with an ace.
Until you’ve done it with an underarm ace. That’s what Nuno Borges pulled off Wednesday at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell to seal his place in the quarterfinals of the ATP 500 event.
After Tomas Martin Etcheverry saved his first match point with a return winner against the serve-and-volleying Borges, the Portuguese surprised everyone inside Pista Rafa Nadal with the provocative ploy.
A stunned Etcheverry was unable to get a racquet on the dying ball in the deuce court, leaving him to put hands on his hips in disbelief as Borges clinched the 6-3, 7-6 (3) victory. A quick handshake at the net followed, with Etcheverry later withdrawing from his doubles match with Corentin Moutet.
Reaction to how Borges got across the line was mixed, from the boos heard at the venue to the opinions voiced on social media. A sample: