Santi advances and Hans Hach gets a bye at the doubles opening day 

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  • Mexican tennis draws in the opening day of doubles at the Arena GNP Seguros complex.

Acapulco, February 26, 2024.- Santiago Gonzalez had a triumphant debut in the XXXI edition of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presented by HSBC, while Hans Hach Verdugo was eliminated at the beginning of the doubles tournament this Monday.

What could have been a perfect day for Mexican tennis representatives, ended with a win and a loss in the doubles draw in Acapulco.

Santiago Gonzalez and Briton Neal Skupski, top seeds, made the prediction valid by beating American William Blumberg and Norwegian Casper Ruud in straight sets 6-3, 6-2 in one hour and three minutes of play.

It was a hard-fought first set, which was decided with a break in the eighth game, and from there Santi and Skupski imposed their hierarchy to score the victory.

“It was not an easy match, especially in the first set. I’m happy to advance to the second round. We took advantage of the opportunities we had. The key was that we always looked for more”, explained the player from Veracruz, who thanked the warm support of the public on court 1 of the Arena GNP Seguros tennis complex.

Gonzalez and Skupski will face the winner of Tuesday’s match between Evans and Patten and Arneodo and Weissborn in the quarterfinals.

On court 2, the Latin American duo formed by Mexican Hans Hach Verdugo and Venezuelan Luis David Martinez lost a dramatic 4-6, 6-3, 7-10 defeat to Finnish Harri Heliovaara and Australian John Peers, in just over an hour and a half of play.

After getting the ticket via lucky loser to the main draw of the doubles tournament, Hach and Verdugo came from behind in front of the support in the stands to overcome a one-set deficit and extend the outcome to the third and final set, where they had a 6-3 advantage, but lost six unanswered points and sealed their fate.

Already in the first set, the crowd favorites had paid dearly for their mistakes, when the Mexican left-hander smashed a volley in the fourth game to give up the break and allow his rivals to take the set.

However, in the second game, they broke from the first game and from there they held their serve with category to tie the hostilities, however, they fell apart when they had a 6-3 advantage over Heliovaara and Peers, who knew how to grow to take the match in a heroic way.

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