• The Mexican lost to fifth seed Flavio Cobolli, while the Bulgarian lost to France’s Atmane and bowed out early from the tournament

Acapulco, February 24, 2026.- At the start of the second day of action in the 33rd edition of the ATP 500 in Acapulco, Italy’s Flavio Cobolli defeated Mexico’s Rodrigo Pacheco 7-6(3), 7-6(3) in a two-hour battle. Cobolli, the fifth seed, will face Czech Dalibor Svrcina in the second round of the Mexican Open Telcel presented by HSBC, who defeated Australian James Duckworth 6-4, 6-1.

The Mexican started the match with confidence, but despite his good performance, he will not be able to repeat his 2025 feat when he reached the quarterfinals.

Pacheco came out to hold his serve and then broke Cobolli’s serve to go up 2-0, but the Italian began to read the local player’s intentions and tied things up at 2-2. In the fifth game on his serve, Rodrigo first served an ace and then returned a ball between his legs, but his opponent still broke him again.

The match seemed to be a battle of scores. Very even. To the rhythm of “Come on, Rodri!”, the Grandstand continued to cheer on the local player, who recovered a break to make it 3-3 and then took a 4-3 lead with a 40-0. Pacheco seemed to have the moment under control, but the match went to 5-5, with each player holding on to their serve, and then came the tiebreak.

Both started with a mini break at 1-1, but Pacheco lost another two points and after 55 minutes, the Italian took the lead in the first set.

In the second set, both players had already set the pace of the match, and it wasn’t until the sixth game that the Mexican achieved the first break and then took a 4-3 lead. He immediately lost it, and the score went to 5-5. Once again, the set was decided in a tiebreak, where Rodri lost two mini breaks.

Despite several highlights that thrilled the Mexican crowd, who supported the Mexican player throughout, the 20-year-old said goodbye to Acapulco in the first round.

“I am very grateful to the crowd. It was a very healthy match, and they supported both of us despite the result. I learned a lot from him in this match. He congratulated me and told me to keep working hard, that I’m not far off. This is the best match I’ve had in a long time,” he said at a press conference.

Dimitrov leaves

Meanwhile, Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov fell to France’s Terence Atmane 6-3, 6-3 in a match that lasted one hour and 22 minutes. It was the Bulgarian’s sixth match since his return from injury last November and his first with Argentine David Nalbandian as his coach.

At 34, Dimitrov, the 2014 Acapulco champion, reflected that he is still in the process of adjusting to the circuit after the pectoral tear he suffered at Wimbledon 2025. He had confessed that he had to change his routine and details of his game as a result, while the No. 63 in the ATP Rankings came out determined to win a match he dominated from the start.

Atmane broke twice in the first set and once in the second, even though neither player was particularly dominant in terms of first serve percentage (71% and 63% respectively).
Now, Atmane will face promising young Spanish player Rafael Jódar in the second round, who defeated Australian Alex de Miñaur on Monday.

At the end of the match, a ceremony was held to honor the Mexican flag.