• AMT Director Alvaro Falla highlighted the attendance throughout the week at the ATP 500 in Acapulco.
• He confirmed that Mextenis will continue to support the reconstruction of the tourist destination.

Acapulco, March 2, 2024.- The director of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presented by HSBC, Álvaro Falla, received the media present at the closing of the XXXI edition of the tournament, and proudly highlighted the estimated attendance throughout the week.

“The attendance of what we have seen has been incredible, fans coming from different cities of the country. We are very pleased to have stayed with Acapulco and decided that this was the destination that was a must and dear to us. Today we are going to celebrate another year! The 31st year of a tournament that is the best in its category. We are going to close with a flourish,” said Falla.

“It remains to close, but we have had an attendance of approximately 35,000 [people] so far, much more than expected. I confess I had my doubts that it would be possible, but the fans really believed in the project, it’s a great number. It’s a nice first stage in the rebuilding process. The most important thing was to take this first step. It is worth gold for Acapulco,” he said.

At the beginning of the traditional closing conference of the tournament, Falla joked with those present “Did anyone imagine that this would end like this? Raise your hand! The truth is that it ended much better! Thanks to you for joining us and making this happen. It is very emotional and we are very happy to say we did it! We did it against many predictions and moments that made us doubt. This is perfect, it happened and the objectives were achieved better than we expected,” he said.

The tournament was held on its usual date, at the end of February and beginning of March, and less than four months after Hurricane Otis, a real handicap. In addition, with the addition of having the ATP 250 in Los Cabos in the previous week, it was held for the first time before Acapulco, which implied a different and highly demanding challenge for Mextenis, the organizers.

“The back to back has been a great experience, I will not deny that it tested us in many issues. We did well as a team, but we have to analyze everything to be able to operate widely as we like,” he acknowledged.
He also remarked that the help for Acapulco and its reconstruction is not going to stop for Mextenis. “We are going to continue together in this process,” assured the also CEO of the company and recalled that in another of the actions to support the local community, Falla reminded that a Challenger tournament will be played at the Arena GNP Seguros complex in April.

In this 2024 edition, the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presented by HSBC offered 1,350 direct jobs and, year after year, during the eight days of activities, more than 11,000 families from the hotel, commerce and workers sectors benefit during the tournament.

Finally, he thanked the players and the ATP for their support during the process of the last months.
“The ATP has been our great partner in this process. Without their support it would have been difficult to make this decision. They have made us think about many things, it was an agonizing process and they with their historical experience have been an invaluable support. For them the decision we made was the best, they applauded it”, he concluded.

• The Australian and Norwegian have only met once before in ATP tournaments; the victory went to Alex de Miñaur in 2019
• Ruud reached his first Acapulco final in his third appearance at the tournament.

Acapulco March 1, 2024.- The reigning champion of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presented by HSBC, Alex de Miñaur (No. 9) will seek the in Acapulco two-time champion against the Norwegian Casper Ruud (No. 11), who arrive for the first time to the dispute of the trophy in Mexican lands and to his first ATP 500 final.

De Miñaur advanced to the final when Draper retired in the third set due to physical discomfort. Alex started the match dominating with a very fast serve with an average speed of 195 km/h, superior to his opponent, and broke the German’s serve at least twice. 

In the second set, Draper began to show physical discomfort and medical assistance had to come in, and when he was 4-0 down in the third set, the German decided to retire to leave the set 6-3, 2-6, 4-0. 

With this result, Draper accumulated three defeats against De Miñaur in the ATP circuit and has never been able to beat him. They had faced each other on two previous occasions with positive balance for Alex in 2022 at Wimbledon and in 2023 in Tokyo. 

“The truth is that they have treated me very well Acapulco, to come and be in the final makes me proud of that and well, give me the option tomorrow to play for the title, try to defend my title, now I am a little bit closer,” he said after finishing his match. 

The Australian is reaching his second final this season after winning the title in Rotterdam, “I think mentally it has been the most important thing, I had a change of chip to start this year and I said I’m going to be more aggressive and I’m going to play one on one against the best in the world because running only from side to side was not working for me, so that was the step forward I have taken and, we are at the beginning of the year, but the plan is to continue like this, stay strong and see where I can get,” he said. 

In the other semifinal, Norwegian Casper Ruud, seeded sixth, reached his first final in Acapulco in what is his third participation in the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presented by HSBC, by beating Denmark’s Holger Rune (No. 7) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in two hours and 23 minutes. 

Rune started winning the first set with a powerful serve that earned him 6 aces, and broke Casper’s serve, but in the second set Ruud came from behind to take the victory and reach his first final in this tournament. 

With this victory, Casper Ruud maintains his superiority over Rune by extending his lead of six matches won to only one lost against the Dane in ATP tournaments. 

“I had a very good feeling, I felt very good in this match. I felt good in Mexico, including Los Cabos and tomorrow I’m going to try to do my best. Alex [de Miñaur] is one of the best players on Tour,” said Ruud.

• The Mexican and his partner Neil Skupski solve the semifinal in two sets.
• He will face Nys and Zielinski this Saturday for the title in Acapulco.

Acapulco, March 1, 2024.- Mexican Santiago Gonzalez and British Neil Skupski will face this Saturday Monegasque Hugo Nys and Polish Jan Zielinski in the great final of the doubles tournament of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presented by HSBC, which is played in the hard courts of the tennis complex of the Arena GNP Seguros.

In front of a great atmosphere at the GrandStand, Gonzalez and Skupski defeated in straight sets by 7-6(5) and 6-3 Frenchmen Sadio Doumbia and Fabian Reboul, while Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski did the same against Finnish Harri Heliovaara and Australian John Peers by 6-4 and 6-3.

Santi will be looking for his first title of the season when the Acapulco ATP 500, which has a purse of 2.3 million dollars, comes to an end after a semifinal duel that they resolved in one hour and 45 minutes of play.

The first set could not have been less dramatic. It seemed that Santi and Skupski would define without problems, but the French reacted to tie and force the tie break, where the favorites of the public were against the wall, but the saving racket of the British player and the good arts of the player from Veracruz allowed them to win 7-5.

Santi and Skupski settled very well on the court and broke on two occasions at the beginning of the second set, to take a quick 4-0 lead and, finally, to solve with 6-3 digits, after suffocating an attempt of reaction from the French.

“Last year was a tough super year to overcome, but we’re doing really well this year, winning quite a few matches. This is our second final, hopefully tomorrow we can play good tennis, the support of the public is a factor and hopefully we can crown ourselves, but even if we don’t crown ourselves it would be a great week” assured the Mexican at the end of his match.

“Who would have thought that nine years later I could be back in a final, but I feel very good, good tennis, I have a great partner next to me and hopefully, for many years I have wanted to fulfill winning in Acapulco.”

On the other hand, in the first round at the GranStand, Nys and Zielinski, second seeds, defeated Harri Heliovaara and John Peers in two sets 6-4, 6-3, to book their place in the final.

The first set anticipated a very tight duel, as they were very evenly matched until the tenth game, when Nys and Zielinski broke to take the set 6-4.

The break opened the door for them to easily solve the second set, ending the match in an unexpected way in just one hour and 20 minutes.

Results of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presented by HSBC doubles semifinals:

Hugo Nys (MON) / Jan Zielinski (POL) to Harri Heliovaara (FIN) / John Peers (AUS) 6-4, 6-3.

Santiago Gonzalez (MEX) / Neal Skupski (GBR) to Sadio Doumbia (FRA) / Fabian Reboul (FRA) 7-6(5), 6-3.

• The Norwegian player overcame the American Ben Shelton in a spectacular duel.
• The Danish player did the same against the surprising German Dominik Koepfer.

Acapulco, March 1, 2024 – Norway’s Casper Ruud (No. 11) and Denmark’s Holger Rune (No. 7) will play one of the semifinals of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presented by HSBC after overcoming their quarter final opponents in exciting matches.  

Ruud, seeded sixth at the Acapulco ATP 500, defeated American Ben Shelton (No. 17) 6-7 (7), 6-4, 6-4 in a vibrant match that ended in the wee hours of the morning after two hours and 34 minutes of play. 

For Casper, this is his best performance in the Mexican tournament, as he had never advanced beyond the quarterfinal round. His best performance in Acapulco was in 2021 when he stayed in the quarterfinals, on that occasion he was eliminated by Alexander Zverev.

“It was a really very difficult match, but I feel good, I hope to have a good match tomorrow (this Friday) after several matches these days,” said after finishing his match the Norwegian. 

Denmark’s Holger Rune (No. 7) overcame Germany’s Dominik Koepfer (No. 58) in a very close match that had to be defined, both sets, in respective tie breaks by 7-6 (2), 7-6 (0) after one hour and 59 minutes of match time. 

In the first set, Koepfer made a couple of unforced errors, while the Dane broke the German’s serve twice. This is Rune’s second participation in the ATP 500 tournament in Acapulco, after he crashed out in the semifinal round last year.

In the current season, it will be for Rune his third semifinal, after reaching this same instance in the Montpellier and Brisbane tournaments.

“[Being in the semifinals] of course is great and yes, I was really looking forward to it. Today was a physical battle, tomorrow will be maybe another physical battle. I could imagine it. We both played very well. So, yeah, I was looking forward to being in another semifinal here. The crowd was amazing today, so I really enjoy playing here in Acapulco,” said the Dane.

• The Greek was knocked out of the AMT 2024 after the current Australian champion came from behind in three sets.

Acapulco February 29, 2024.- The match that opened the fourth day on the court of the GNP Seguros Arena Stadium was one between two rivals that could easily have starred in the final of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presented by HSBC. The 2023 champion, Alex de Miñaur (No. 9) and third seed, came from behind to beat fifth seed Stefanos Tsistipas (No.11) in three sets 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 in two hours and six minutes.

Although the Australian began by breaking the Greek’s serve in the first game, Tsitsipas was dominant from that moment on and broke him in the second, fourth and sixth games to take the first set in 28 minutes in his favor. However, the champion confirmed that the conditions in Acapulco are favorable for his game and has had a considerable evolution since he was eliminated in the first round of the Los Cabos Open.

It was the 25-year-old’s first win over Stefanos Tsitsipas, who boasted a dominant 10-0 record prior to this match. With his victory, the new member of the world Top 10 becomes the first champion to reach the semifinals of the AMT looking to defend his title since David Ferrer in 2013. He also reaches the top four of an ATP tournament for the 23rd time in his career.

“Today was a very good victory, obviously with an opponent who had never beaten him before, so it’s one of those victories that you enjoy a lot. It is normal that the people of Acapulco support Stefanos, he is a great player who has been here for many years, it is normal, now that he is not here I hope they support me,” he said after his victory.

He also added “Tennis wise I am not feeling the most comfortable, but what I will always do is to fight until the end. I go day by day. I hope to find my best tennis at the end of the week, now there are several who are playing at a very high level in Acapulco and now [I will] prepare for another battle, [with] a lot of desire,” he said. 

The Greek, meanwhile, scored another five aces in the match, for a total of 15 that will be converted into a 15 thousand dollar donation to support the reconstruction of Acapulco.

At the same time on the Grandstand, Jack Draper (No.50) and Miomir Kecmanovic (No.53) were vying for a ticket for the biggest win of their respective careers to the best four of the ATP 500 in Acapulco. The balance was in favor of the Briton 2-1, with a memorable match last month in Adelaide of 3 hours 40 minutes, and this time in Acapulco he increased his advantage against the Serbian who he defeated in 1 hour 21 minutes 6-2, 6-2 with five aces and 88% of points won with his first serve.

The Briton will now have a tough challenge against the champion, but he assured that he will enjoy his first semifinal at this level, as he had previously only reached four in 250 tournaments “I feel great, I feel like it was coming, I made two finals in 250, I feel like I’m progressing as a tennis player all the time, always improving and I think I can go further. Here I’ve really tried to focus on my practice and its quality and that has shown in my games so I’m very happy with the way I’m playing,” he said. 

“These players know who I am, I’ve been injured a lot, played a lot. With Alex I have had strong battles before and it will be tough, I will always want to win the match, I never want to play freely, I want to compete to win and tomorrow it will be the same” concluded after his victory the 22 year old.

• Santi hopes to continue the evolution of the tournament and become a Masters 1000 tournament.
• The young Yucatecan is pleased after the experience in Los Cabos and Acapulco.

Acapulco, February 29th, 2024.- The Abierto Mexicano Telcel presented by HSBC always fills Mexican players with energy, preparing them for a long and demanding season. 

Such is the case of doubles player Santiago Gonzalez and rookie Rodrigo Pacheco, for whom the experience of the tournament in Acapulco is somewhat opposite, but for both is highly satisfactory.

Santiago has a good pace in the doubles draw, where he is first in the seeding together with British Neal Skupski, while Pacheco was eliminated in singles in the first round, but he does not leave without valuable learning and an experience that will be of great importance in his incipient career.

Both players and their sponsor Telcel OPPO received this afternoon the specialized press in the hospitality installed in the GNP Seguros Arena complex to make a personal balance of the tournament.

“I am very happy to be back in Acapulco. It is something important after what happened with the hurricane. It is an incredible tournament and this is our grain of sand to help in the reconstruction”, explained Gonzalez.

Santi is fascinated with the Mextenis Stadium and with the tennis event in general, to the extent that he hopes it will become a Masters 1000, the highest level of world tennis, only below the Grand Slams.

The Veracruz native was grateful for Telcel’s great support, which allows him to travel with his family and attend to the strenuous professional calendar. The tennis player’s life involves many sacrifices, so the backing of sponsors is usually decisive to keep him at a high level.

Gonzalez has important dates coming up with the Masters 1000 in Indian Wells and Miami, and then a European tour, thinking about getting a ticket to the Olympic Games in Paris, where he would team up with Miguel Reyes-Varela, the second best Mexican doubles player in the ATP rankings.

Rodrigo Pacheco left Acapulco with a big smile on his face, as he was able to be in the main draw of major tournaments like Los Cabos and Acapulco for the first time in his incipient career.

Now, the left-handed Yucatecan, barely 18 years old, is aiming for the Mexican Challenger tour, which includes a date again in Acapulco, in a season in which he will try to score enough points to be able to qualify for the big tournaments in the future.

“I am very happy. It has been a great experience. It’s my first year in form as a professional. I’m just starting, I have a lot to learn. It was amazing to receive the great support from the public. I have to keep learning to be back in this tournament,” said Rodrigo.

For Telcel it has been a great commitment to support the reconstruction of Acapulco after the passage of Otis. After the meteor hit the port of Guerrero, Telcel has delivered through its various agencies such as Carlos Slim Foundation, a total of 10,000 food supplies, 18,000 blankets and blankets, 15 water purification plants and was given the task of fumigating more than 20,000 hectares, to prevent the spread of infectious diseases such as dengue, said Renato Flores, deputy director of Communication and Government Relations of Telcel.

After the talk with the specialized press, the players took part in a photography workshop, capturing the moment with the OPPO Find N3 Flip.

• The Grandstand vibrated with tight duels on the third day of the AMT and at the end Ben Shelton and Casper Ruud are already in the quarterfinals, but Frances Tiafoe said goodbye to the tournament.

Acapulco February 28, 2024.- During the third day of activities of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presented by HSBC, the Grandstand hosted three duels of high level competition with three players within the Top 20 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. While the surprise of the day was the elimination of another American, Ben Shelton and Casper Ruud advanced to the round of 16.

The eighth seed, Frances Tiafoe, opened the action at the Acapulco sunset on the second main court of the Arena GNP Seguros complex; however, he was unable to dominate Dominik Koepfer’s forehand. The German, who was semifinalist in Acapulco in 2021, claimed his fifth victory against a Top 20 player to improve his record to 5-21 and will now face world No. 7 Holger Rune in the quarterfinals.

Later it was the turn of another left-handed young sensation, Ben Shelton, who played alongside Italian Matteo Arnaldi in a two hour 31 minute duel with a score of 7-6(1), 3-6, 6-3 in favor of the American, who had the local fans on their feet for many moments.

Once again Shelton had in his serve the tool that brought him out in a three-set match, where the first set was defined in tie break. For the second, the world No. 42 won the affection of the public by dominating with 82% of points won with a decisive second serve. He broke in the second game to the No. 17 of the ranking and from there began the parade of spectacular points for a definitive third set where he lost the service twice for one of Shelton who finally with the victory is placed for the second time in the quarterfinals of an ATP 500.

After his victory he couldn’t help but smile “I feel tired but very happy to get a win today for such an amazing crowd, but I’m ready to go to sleep… It’s crazy… It’s crazy! It sounded like an American game out there, honestly one of the best crowds I’ve ever played in front of, similar to a Grand Slam, on the Grandstand where it’s all more glued together in a full stadium. It was a very cool experience.”

Finally the sixth seed, Casper Ruud, closed the activity against the Serbian Dusan Lajovic, who was looking to become the first player to reach the quarterfinals on different surfaces of an ATP 500 this 2024, however the former world No. 2 defined the match in an hour 26 minutes of duel. 

In the first set he paraded the best first serve of his last two weeks and hit five aces. For the second set he closed with 90% of points won with his first serve and clinched his passes to the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 7-5 win.

On court 1, two singles matches were played where British Jack Draper has shown that he is having a solid week and that his first round victory over top seed Tommy Paul was not a fluke. Now, his victim was the Japanese lucky looser Yoshihito Nishioka in one hour and eight minutes 6-3, 6-0.

The world No. 50 will play for a ticket to the semifinals against Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic, who defeated German Daniel Altmaier in just over an hour and a half 6-4, 6-4 to make his record 2-0 in head-to-head matches. Altmaier had eliminated top-seeded Alexander Zverev in the first round.

• Defending champion Alex de Miñaur will face Tsitsipas in the third round in Acapulco. 
• Holger Rune will do the same against German Dominik Koepfer, who defeated American Frances Tiafoe.

Acapulco February 29, 2024.- Australia’s Alex de Miñaur, Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas and Denmark’s Holger Rune, all favorites to win the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presented by HSBC title, advanced to the quarterfinals in Acapulco. 

Australian Alex de Miñaur (No. 9), defending champion of the tournament, will face Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas (No. 12) in the third round, after beating Austrian Sebastian Ofner (No. 37) 6-1, 6-3 in a duel where the defending champion was effective in the key moments from the back of the court. 

“Well, I’m very happy with how I’ve dealt with the last few matches, in the end I had a tactic and I was able to follow it, obviously I don’t think I did anything out of this world; I stayed solid and did what I had to do to win my matches,” he said. 

With this result, the current Acapulco champion became the first defending champion to advance to the quarterfinals after 7 years. The last player who was a champion (in 2016) reached these instances the following year was the Austrian Dominic Thiem in the 2017 edition. 

Stefanos Tsitsipas had the support of the fans at the Mextenis Stadium to prevail 6-3, 7-6 (6) against a surprising Flavio Cobolli (No. 69). 

“It’s great to have the support on my side. It’s a great support. They’ve shown me their love in recent years. When the season ends at the end of the year, I’m looking forward to coming to Acapulco. It’s a lot of fun, the great atmosphere in Mexico brings me a lot of positive things. I have great feelings about being in Acapulco,” he said. 

Holger Rune (No. 7) defeated American Aleksandar Kovacevic (No. 93) 7-6 (5), 6-2 in a match lasting one hour and fifty minutes. Now, the Dane will face German Dominik Koepfer (No. 58), who defeated American Frances Tiafoe (No. 16) by 6-4, 5-7, 6-1. The 2021 semifinalist was solid with a powerful serve as he converted 11 aces and took advantage of the Maryland tennis player’s four unforced errors in two hours and 25 minutes of play. 

“I’m enjoying being here. I have to talk to my team to have a tactical plan to be ready for tomorrow and I will try to fight to the end,” warned Rune.

• Mexican duo Emiliano Aguilera and Manuel Sanchez leave the tournament
• Only Santiago Gonzalez in the next stage in Acapulco

Acapulco, February 28th, 2024.- This Wednesday the quarterfinals of the doubles tournament of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presented by HSBC were defined, after concluding the first round at the tennis complex Arena GNP Seguros.

The duos formed by Romain Arneodo and Sam Weissborn, Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler, and Gonzalo Escobar and Aleksandr Nedovyesov booked the last tickets to the second round of the Acapulco tournament, which distributes a purse of 2.3 million dollars.

In the first match of the day, the Monegasque Romain Arneodo and the Austrian Sam Weissborn had no problems to dispose in straight sets of 7-6(4) and 6-0 of the British Daniel Evans and Henry Patten, who put up resistance in the first set, forcing a tie break, but were deflated in the second, where they were practically erased from the court, in an hour and 23 minutes of match.

In the second round on court one, the Austrian forcefulness of Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler was stronger than the Portuguese flavor of Nuno Borges and Francisco Cabral, to defeat them in two sets by 7-6(9) and 7-6(6).

Borges and Cabral certainly deserved better luck. They did not lower their arms at any moment, even showing a very good game, but the Austrian duo was highly efficient to resolve both sets in tiebreak in their favor, in a duel that lasted a little more than two hours.

Mexicans Emiliano Aguilera and Manuel Sanchez closed the day on court 1, falling by double 4-6 to the finalists of the Los Cabos Open, Ecuadorian Gonzalo Escobar and Kazakh Aleksandr Nedovyesov, in just an hour and 17 minutes of match time.

Despite the defeat, the Mexican couple was pleased with their experience in the Acapulco tournament, which they entered as lucky losers, especially because it was the first time they played together and they never gave up, despite the quality of their opponents.

“It was a very nice match. It was the first time we played together. We understood each other well. Manuel, who has a lot of experience, helped me a lot and that gave me great confidence,” expressed Aguilera. For Manuel Sanchez it was a nice experience to play again in Acapulco and he was left with a good taste in his mouth playing against the finalists of Los Cabos.

The quarterfinal matches were as follows: Santiago Gonzalez-Neal Skupski vs Evans-Patten; Sadio Doumbia-Fabien Reboul vs Escobar-Nedovyesov; Julian Cash-Robert Galloway vs Harri Heliovaara-John Peers, and Erler-Miedler vs Hugo Nys-Jan Zielinski.

• Children between 6 and 12 years of age from the community of El Salto and the Puerto Nuevo Marques neighborhood in Acapulco attended the event. 
• Tennis clinics and recreational activities were held for them.

Acapulco, February 28, 2024.- As an integral activity for girls, boys and parents, the Family Day of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presented by HSBC was held, with the participation of more than 100 girls and boys from the community of El Salto and the Nuevo Puerto Marqués neighborhood of Acapulco. 

From eight o’clock in the morning, the youngest children arrived at the GNP Seguros Arena to participate in tennis clinics supported by instructors, while parents had access to modules of legal advice, medical attention and haircuts. 

“We are very happy this week, we hope we give a lot of joy and that this is a chain of positive actions, the tournament is open to all these activities. The DIF supported us with the selection of the children. Today we have close to 100 boys and girls from the communities of El Salto and Puerto Marqués between the ages of 6 and 12 with us,” said Andrea López, marketing and social responsibility at Mextenis. 

One of the people who attended the Family Day was Jazmín Alejandra Betancur, who, along with her two nephews, left the community of El Salto, located about 12 kilometers from where the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presented by HSBC is being held, to attend these activities. 

“It is a very nice activity because the children come to learn, to have fun and so do we,” she said. 

The social responsibility program is a pillar project for Mextenis, which seeks to promote through sports the development of the local communities where it holds its tournaments and on this occasion, after the passage of Hurricane Otis, the objective was to support those affected, so also the amount collected from the sale of tickets for the Saturday and Sunday qualifying days of the AMT 2024 will be donated through the Construyendo Association.