“An unexpected final, an unprecedented tournament with finalists who represent the new generation”, is the qualification made by Álvaro Falla, director of the Acapulco Open before falling 9:00 on Saturday night.
Carlos Alcaraz and Stefanos Tsitsipas hearts were broken by his absence, but the young finalists ranked at the Top 20 level in the world divided the support of the Mexicans.
“Come on Tommy” the echo of a child’s voice was heard in the stadium, which mixed with the shouts of the public “come on Alex”.
He Mexican Tennis Open in the celebration of its 30 years it had an eighteenth different champion in its history and that was Alex de Minaur, an Australian national but with the fluency of his Spanish and the Hispanic roots of his parents he felt a special vibe: “This is the biggest title of my career and I wouldn’t have wanted to do it anywhere else. Long live Mexico”.
Alex won his first title of the ATP 500 and the seventh of his career in two hours, 27 minutes by beating American Tommy Paul 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, on a night in which he came from behind to lose the first set. Alex accompanied by his powerful serve, looked fit until the last racket, in a game where speed and even skids were demanded on the hard court of Acapulco.
“I know the hard work it takes to be here and it’s good to see the results. You don’t always win the tournament and go through a week undefeated, so I’ll definitely appreciate this before I go to Indian Wells and Miami.”
De Minaur became the second Australian champion in Acapulco, following Nick Kyrgios’ triumph in 2019 and will move up four places in the rankings to No. 18, leaving him three places shy of his career-high 15th.
“Like everything in my career, it’s been step by step. I just want to keep pushing, keep getting the most out of myself. I know I may not play amazing tennis every day (…) So far I haven’t been I’m completely happy with my career, I’ve always wanted more. This title gives me more motivation,” he said in a conference.
Alex and Tommy Paul reached the final with less than 24 hours to recover, after beating their respective semi-finals. The Australian beat Dane Holger Rune 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 who battled cramps in the final set.
“It was not easy because he is a great player (Rune). Sometimes he would hit me off the court and not let me do much. But I managed to save a couple of crucial break points and keep giving myself chances,” Alex said after their semis game.
By beating the world number 10, De Minaur earned his third Top 10 win of the season (he also defeated Rafa Nadal and Andrey Rublev).
Paul, for his part, beat his friend in the semifinals taylor fritz in the longest match in the history of the tournament, in 3 hours 25 minutes at 3:00 in the morning, triumphing 6-3, 6-7(2), 7-6(2).
“The goal this year was to rank up and get more trophies. I only have one trophy on the Tour between singles and doubles,” said Paul, who rises five places in the ranking.
In the desire to continue being considered the best tournament ATP 500 of Latin AmericaAs of 2024, the Los Cabos Open (ATP250) and Acapulco will be linked with a pass to Indian Wells (Masters 1000) “the ATP is giving us that option,” said the new AMT Director.
