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Competing as a wild card at the ATP 250, the 22 year-old Borg eased past Sebastian Ofner 6-3, 6-4 to register his second ATP Tour victory (his other came in Bastad in 2023). The 633-ranked Swede converted two of three break points he earned, en route to sealing a second-round spot at an event where his father defeated great rival John McEnroe to lift the title in 1980.

“This is really special. My first Stockholm win is so special,” said Borg, who will face third seed and 2019 champion Denis Shapovalov in the second round. “I really stepped up my game, so I’m really happy with my performance. I have the level, but the consistency has not been my greatest side. I’ve really worked on my stuff, and I really stepped up today and showed myself, and the tennis people, that I really belong here.

“I’ve been injured for some time and how I managed today to come back and show myself that I really belong here. It’s a good, positive thing. I just have to keep doing my thing.”

Borg’s 76-minute victory was his first against a Top 150 opponent in nine attempts. He has mostly competed on the ITF World Tennis Tour this year as he looks to rebuild toward career-high of World No. 334 and beyond.

"I played really good today and it helped so much with this crowd, it was amazing," Borg said. "I knew he had a big game, so I really had to play much better. But I really stepped up today and am really happy with my performance. Yeah, really good."

Jacob Fearnley’s first test at the BNP Paribas Nordic Open was to try and complete a Stockholm revenge job on Tallon Griekspoor. The Briton succeeded in his mission, although not before some deciding-tie-break drama.

Fearnley upset fifth seed Griekspoor 6-3, 6-7(6), 7-6(5) on Day 1 of the indoor ATP 250 to avenge his second-round loss to the Dutchman at the same event a year ago. Fearnley at one point led 6/2 in the third-set tie-break but lost four points in a row, including two on his own serve, before wrapping his two-hour, 44-minute win.

“That was very tough. I thought things were going fairly comfortably up until 5/3 when I was serving for it, and I got a little bit tight,” Fearnley said. “To be fair to Tallon, he competed hard and upped his level when he needed to. It was just a war until the end. Huge respect to Tallon, but happy to be through.”

Fearnley completed victory despite being out-hit 32-34 by Griekspoor in the winner count. The 24 year-old Briton’s serve was the foundation for his triumph, and he finished the match having won 78 per cent (45/58) of points behind his first deliver.

Fearnley will next prepare for a second-round meeting against one of two brothers: Home wild cards Mikael Ymer and Elias Ymer play their first-round match on Wednesday for the right to take on the Scot.

In the opening match of the day in Stockholm, Miomir Kecmanovic raced past sixth seed Alexandre Muller to snap a four-match ATP Tour losing streak.

The Serbian World No. 49 next plays Tomas Martin Etcheverry or qualifier Mark Lajal. 

Meanwhile Sebastian Korda ensured that all three seeds in action lost on Day 1 in the Swedish capital by rallying past seventh seed Alexei Popyrin 6-7(4), 6-1, 6-3.