• The Mexicans made their debut in the doubles draw with their respective partners

Acapulco, February 25, 2026.-  In the doubles competition at the 33rd edition of the Telcel Mexican Open presented by HSBC, Mexican talent saw both victory and defeat.

The young duo of 20-year-old Rodrigo Pacheco and 19-year-old Spaniard Rafael Jódar caused a sensation on a packed Court 2. In an hour and 10 minutes of battle decided in a super tiebreak, the favorites defeated American Austin Krajicek and Croatian Nicola Mektic 3-6, 6-3 (10-6).

“It was an incredible match. I honestly think he (Rafael Jódar) put his foot on the gas at the end and helped me a lot because I was a little nervous and tense to close out the match. I made some good plays, but it was difficult for me, and he really gave me a lot of confidence. I want to congratulate him for that, and I’m very happy to play tomorrow in Acapulco,” the Mexican shared after the match.

The rivals of the new favorite duo for the local fans are another sensational pair, Flavio Cobolli and Grigor Dimitrov. At the same time on court 1, veteran Mexican doubles player Santiago González, alongside David Pel from the Netherlands, went into the second set at a disadvantage against Alexander Zverev and Brazilian Marcelo Melo.

However, by the second set, having studied their opponents’ intentions and style, they managed to win 6-3. In the super tiebreak, Zverev and Melo connected again and won the match 6-4, 3-6 (10-4).

“We knew that he (Zverev) has plenty of physical strength, he’s ranked 4th in the world for a reason, and he has a good partner who just won in Rio de Janeiro. We knew we could make it to the super tiebreak, and that’s what happened, but in the end it got complicated for us,” said González after the defeat.

In other results from the day, the day began with a match between the top seeds. The duo formed by American Christian Harrison and Briton Neal Skupski was surprised in a double tiebreak by Argentine Guido Andreozzi and Frenchman Manuel Guinard 7-6(3), 7-6(6) in an hour and 46 minutes of play. They will now face qualifiers V. Kirkov and B. Stevens in the quarterfinals.

Next up were Austria’s Alexander Erler and American Robert Galloway, who needed a super tiebreak to defeat Germany’s Constantin Franzen and Robin Haase of the Netherlands 4-6, 6-0 (10-7), who will face a tough challenge against the third seeds and finalists of the ATP 500 in 2025, France’s Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul.