- The top seeds were in action on the second day of the AMT 2024.
- Rune, Tsitsipas, Ruud and Tiafoe are already in the second round after opening with victories, but the big surprise of the tournament came with the elimination of Alexander Zverev
Acapulco, February 27, 2024.- The opening day had already thrown up a couple of surprises, but nothing like the elimination of the tournament’s top seed, Alexander Zverev on the second day of main draw activity. The rest of the favorites, Rune, Ruud, Tsitsipas and Tiafoe, confirmed the predictions of the XXXI edition of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presented by HSBC.
Stefanos Tsitsipas (5) got the first win of the day on the main court by defeating Roman Safiullin in one hour and 20 minutes 6-3, 6-4, extending his 11-0 record against players outside the Top 20 and will now face Italian Flavio Cobolli in the second round, who came from qualifying and defeated Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime on Monday.
The world No. 12 converted 83% of points on his first serve and scored his first five aces of the tournament, for which he pledged to donate $1,000 for the reconstruction of Acapulco “It’s a great feeling, I hope I can do more and contribute to the community”.
Later he had a doubles duel scheduled with his brother Petros Tsitsipas on court 1 and maybe that was motivation for not starring in any singles surprise, although from his defeat he did not come out with a smile, he assured “It was great, fantastic, I enjoyed it a lot”. He also pointed out that it doesn’t matter the elimination of some seeds, because he focuses on each match “I just need to play my tennis and focus on each opponent”.
Later Holger Rune (2) did the same 6-2, 6-3 against Michael Mmoh, coming from qualification. The Dane is looking to go further than his semi-final in 2023 and the spotlight is on him after announcing a few days ago that Patrick Mouratoglou was returning as his coach for the third time in his short career, so they add a new victory together and he said “It feels good and right for me, we had a good new start. We’ve known each other for a long time, when I was young and went to his academy.”
The No. 7 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings was superior in almost every aspect to the American, who committed five double faults in the first set alone, while Rune saved three breaks. After 47 minutes, the second set began in an increasingly crowded Mextenis Stadium in support of one of the big favorites. The 20-year-old defined the match in 1 hour 32 minutes by leading the match with 86% effectiveness in points won with his first serve.
“Great start, I felt very strong at the beginning of the match, I managed to handle the pressure and felt mentally strong in the key moments. In the rallies I feel good, I try to do my best to play well. At the moment I’m not thinking about the depth of the tournament, only about the next round and keeping the good spirit and focus” he added in conference. Now, he will face in the second round Alexander Kovacevic, who knocked out the champion in Los Cabos, Jordan Thompson.
Finally, Alexander Zverev closed the day against his German compatriot Daniel Altmaier, who was looking for the biggest victory of his career and got it by surprising the No. 6 and top seed of the ATP 500 in three sets 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. The match lasted 2.5 hours, with the top seed unable to maintain his perfect 5-0 record in his first round matches in Acapulco, where he lifted the title in 2021. Altmaier, world No. 57, only lost serve once during the second set and broke Sacha twice and will now face Miomir Kecmanovic looking to keep the dream alive.
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