Rafael Nadal was victorious on his first outing since May, teaming up with Casper Ruud to beat second seeds Guido Andreozzi and Miguel Reyes-Varela in the Nordea Open doubles at Bastad.
Returning to the clay in Sweden for the first time since he won the singles title as a teenager in 2005, Nadal looked comfortable alongside the world number nine.
The Spaniard was beaten by Alexander Zverev in the first round at the French Open in May, then chose to skip Wimbledon as he prepares to play at the Paris Olympics.
He hit one tremendous forehand winner early in the second set as the star-studded pairing triumphed 6-1 6-4 in 70 minutes.
Speaking alongside Ruud after the match, Nadal said: "It's a pleasure playing with a good friend and an amazing player like Casper here in Bastad.
"Personally, I am happy and I think it was a good match. We played quite well for the first time we played together and I'm happy to be back here after almost 20 years.
"I have great memories from this place from 2003, 2004 and 2005, so I am enjoying this week and hopefully I can keep going."
Nadal will open his singles campaign at the competition on Tuesday, with home hope Leo Borg his first opponent at the ATP 250 event.
Zverev breezes past De Jong into Hamburg Open second round
Alexander Zverev cruised into the second round of the Hamburg Open with a comfortable straight-sets victory over Jesper de Jong.
The top seed took one step closer to defending his title with a 6-2 6-2 victory on Wednesday.
De Jong took the opening game, but Zverev dominated after that, winning the next five in a row, before holding off the Dutchman's late fightback to take the first set.
The second was a carbon copy of the first, as De Jong was broken twice and given no way back in as Zverev closed out the match to set up a meeting with Hugo Gaston in the next round.
Data Debrief: Defending champion starts strong
After clinching the title on home soil last year, Zverev was always going to come out fighting in his defence.
He hit 29 winners and twice went on five-game winning runs to take the match away from De Jong before he could get any real foothold.
Ruud stunned as Monteiro advances to Swedish Open quarter-finals
Thiago Monteiro pulled off a shock in the second round of the Swedish Open, beating Casper Ruud in straight sets to reach the quarter-finals.
The Brazilian took just an hour and a half to see off the second seed 6-3 6-3 in Bastad on Wednesday.
Ruud successfully defended two break points in the opening game but could not gain the upper hand as Monteiro charged forwards, getting two breaks to take the set.
Monteiro continued to dominate in the second, though he only needed one break this time, and comfortably held off the Norwegian in the final game to make it into the next round, where he will face either Pavel Kotov or Duje Ajdukovic.
Data Debrief: Monteiro comes out on top
Monteiro did not give Ruud any sort of opening, winning all of his service games, and 75% of his service points (38/51).
The number two seed did not win more than one game in a row, and he will be hoping to put this result behind him quickly ahead of his doubles quarter-final with Rafael Nadal later on.
Nadal downs Borg to advance to Swedish Open second round
Rafael Nadal is through to the second round of the Swedish Open after holding out for a straight-sets win over Leo Borg on Tuesday.
In his singles return in Bastad, the Spaniard triumphed 6-3 6-4, to follow up his doubles win with Casper Ruud on Monday.
Nadal raced into a 4-1 lead in the first set, and though Berg was able to peg him back to 5-3, the former world number one served to love in the final game to seal it.
He got another vital break in the opening game of the second, which was enough to help him hold off the Swede's attempted fight back to book a place in the next round, where he will face Cam Norrie.
Data Debrief: Running back the clock
Nadal last played in Bastad in 2005, winning the clay tournament as a 19-year-old.
And he made a strong start to the tournament this time around; he won 41 of his 53 service points (77%), but got a vital break in either set to put him out of Borg's reach.
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