Acapulco, Gro., February 26, 2020.- It was a difficult match. It was more than two and a half hours of an entertaining competition, but Grigor Dimitrov was able to recover. He saved two match points and moved forward so he could place himself at the quarterfinals of the Abierto Mexicano de Tenis Telcel, presentado por HSBC.

The Bulgarian, former champion of this tournament in 2014 and seventh seed, surpassed the french Adrian Mannarino 6-7 (8), 6-2 and 7-6 (2) with a little bit of anxiety. On the other only former match between these players, he also came out on top. It was at Delray Beach, the same year he became champion in Acapulco.

“The only thing I had to do was to stay in the match and fight. I don’t know why I have to make it so hard, but it is what it is. Once again, the atmosphere was fantastic, I had to cherish this moment”, said Grigor.

Mannarino had his chances to go get his pass to the quarterfinals after winning the first set, because in this season, out of the six tournaments he has participated, he has fallen in the first round, but Grigor shattered that illusion. Dimitrov came from losing in the second round at the Rotterdam tournament against Felix Auger-Aliassime.

The Frenchman, 31 years old and #42 in the ranking, lost his chance of getting the first set in the tenth game, he was serving with a score 5-4, but Grigor held on, then got the break to even the score at 5 games all. After that, he forced a tiebreak in which Mannarino had another chance to secure the set when he got up 7-6 and his serve, but Grigor managed two mini breaks and had a set point (8-7) but he couldn’t hold his serve. Adrian turned the score around after an hour of battle.

In the second set, the first break was for the bulgarian (3rd game) after a long rally that left both players exhausted. He got another break in the fifth game to put himself in a comfortable position, 4-1, and then won the set with confidence.

For the last set, Dimitrov showed signs of strength. He was consistent with his drive and backhand, which allowed him to break in the third game in which Mannarino didn’t win a single point with his serve. The Frenchman started to make mistakes and lost his serve again in the fifth game (1-4), but then came a distraction by Dimitrov which allowed him to win four straight games (two breaks) and turned around the score and got to 5-4.

Grigor put himself into trouble by conceding two match points with his serve, but two good serves saved him, and they went on to another tie break. Dimitrov didn’t miss this time and with three mini breaks and with a precise backhand winner, he got himself into the quarterfinals.

Taylor Fritz is one of the quarterfinalists after his victory over the french Ugo Humbert by 6-4 and 6-1. The young American matches his best performance in Acapulco (third participation), because 2016 also got himself within the eighth best players.

The world’s number one couple advanced to the second round

Acapulco, Gro., February 26, 2020.- They are the number one couple in the world, the champions of Wimbledon and the US Open, they are the athletes of the year 2019 by teams in Colombia. Robert Farah and Juan Sebastian Cabal got their first victory of the season at the Abierto Mexican Telcel, presentado por HSBC, letting everyone know that they are back after a difficult start of the year because of a doping investigation problem against Farah.

The #1 seed couple got their pass to the second round with a convincing victory against the british Luke Bambridge and the japanese Ben Mclachlan in straight sets 6-0 and 7-5. The “cafetaleros” players started the game very strong, breaking their rivals’ serve on three occasions. In the second set, the break in the 5-5 was enough to close the match, giving the Colombians fans, that gathered on court one, a night to remember.

Last week at the ATP 500 in Rio de Janeiro, Cabal and Farah had their first match of the year as a team, they were unable to play together at the Australian Open and were eliminated in the first round.

Today’s triumph gave them a lot of confidence and a great moral boost to face a very important season (this includes the Tokyo Olympic Games 2020).

“We’re happy to get our first victory of the year. The beginning of the season had a lot of obstacles, but with this winning momentum we are eager to compete”, assured Robert Farah, who was suspended for 20 days until the investigation was over for not finding elements incriminating him.

“It was a complicated start because of things out of our hands. This is our second tournament, which is much better than last week, and we are getting back our level little by little to perform our game. We have a lot of goals already set: The Masters 1000, the Grand Slam… but this year, our calendar is focused on the Olympic Games. We hope that everything will be resolved with the coronavirus, but Tokyo 2020 is our priority until the middle of the year”, said Juan Sebastian Cabal.

Although he was already acquitted of all responsibility for the consumption of boldenone in the food, Robert Farah said that he lived a very complicated moment in his life, which he hopes to leave behind soon.

“Fortunately, I was able to fix the problem (the misunderstood), and I’m going fight that is never happens again, since the ITF and the WADA are asking for something very difficult for the players, which is to monitor everything consumed by the players at all times. I’ve always been a person who likes to do things right, to be an example, but when you are suddenly pointed out that you’ve done something wrong, you have to keep reminding yourself that you’ve done things right. That was the hardest thing I had to deal with, I hope that time will gradually cure this annoyance. I never thought of retiring, I had to fight and move forward”, said Farah who, accompanied by Cabal, next week will dispute the Davis Cup against Argentina in Bogota.

Acapulco, Gro., February 26, 2020.- The mexican Gonzalez and his british partner, Ken Skupski, take their revenge against the australians Max Purcell and Luke Saville, fourth seed, in their presentation of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, presentado por HSBC.

Santiago and Skupski were very close to losing the match, but they finally came on top with courage and beat the runners up of the Australian Open by 4-6, 7-6 (0), and 10-12, taking revenge for the defeat they suffered in the quarterfinals in Melbourne.

Santiago, who turned 36 this week, recognized that for some moments his rivals played better than them, but at the end, luck was on their side.

“The match looked complicated today, we were one set down, they were serving 5-4 for the match, we held on and then they broke us again, they had 40-30 with two match points, they had everything to win. The truth is that those first two sets, they played better than us, but we didn’t stop fighting, we overcame those two points and in the super tiebreak they came down. We went up and we’re leaving very happy, we took revenge from the match in Australia”, commented the mexican player, who is #43 in the world doubles ranking.

The Gonzalez-Skupski duo will have the serbians Nikola Cacic and Dusan Lajovic as rivals in the second round, who easily defeated the team formed by the canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime and Hugo Nys of Monaco, 6-3 and 6-2.

In other news, the second seed, Lukasz Kubot from Poland, and the brazilian Marcelo Melo reached the second round, with a win in two sets 7-5 and 6-4 against the Spanish couple Marc and Feliciano Lopez.

Women’s doubles

Sara Errani (Italy) and Daniela Seguel (Chile) beats Monique Adamczak (Australia) and Maria Sanchez (USA), seeded #4, 6-4 and 6-0 and move on to the second round. Meanwhile, the australian Ellen Perez and Storm Sanders, ranked third, defeated China’s Yafan Wang and Lin Zhu 6-1 and 6-2.

Acapulco, Gro., February 26, 2020.- Felix Auger-Aliassime was eliminated from the Abierto Mexicano de Telcel, presentado por HSBC. The third seed of the tournament, and number 19 in the world, was not very accurate with his game, and was surprised by the british Kyle Edmund, who got his pass to the quarterfinals in two sets (6-4 and 6-4).

Auger-Aliassime is the youngest player in the main draw. In the past two weeks, he won nine of his last 11 matches, with two finals in a row. On his first appearance in Acapulco, the Canadian left a 1-1 record.

Edmund, #44-ATP, who is coming from winning a trophy at the New York Open, improved his results in this tournament (in 2017 he lost in the first round against Sam Querrey).

The british was confident with his serve and won 27 out of 34 points when he managed to connect his first serve; Auger-Aliassime won 31 out of 45.

Edmund arrived at Acapulco as the New York Open champion, a tournament where he won a couple of weeks ago and showed confidence against the young rising star of the new generation of tennis players.

Although the match lacked rhythm, since there was little exchange of strokes in the games, Edmund was confident when he turned to his forehand.

Auger-Aliassime had an unpleasant beginning and he immediately gave up his serve; Edmund confirmed the break and he no longer lost the lead on the set.

In the seventh game, with a 4-2 lead for the british, Felix was at risk of losing his serve again but saved it twice. One of them was thanks to the courtesy of Edmund, who took for granted one serve as an ace that the line judge called out, which Felix argued because that would have put the score with the third deuce of the game.

Kyle secured his set without complications started the alarms with the third favorite player in the tournament and with the crowd at the Grand Stand Caliente.

Auger-Aliassime couldn’t find the accuracy of his strokes from the base line, neither was accurate when he tried some dropshots.

In the third game of the second set, he opened with a double fault, then he smashed the ball into the net when trying a dropshot. With 15-40, he repeated the mistake and lost his serve.

Just like in the first set, that advantage was enough for Edmund who gave up a breakpoint in the sixth game, but Felix did not take advantage of this.

The #8 seed is out of the tournament

The corean Soonwoo Kwon also advanced to the quarter finals with an unexpected win over the serbian Dusian Lajovic, 8th rank in Acapulco. Kwon defeated Lajovic by 7-6 (2) and 6-0 in an hour and 27 minutes.

The Asian won 79% in the games where he got his first serve in, meanwhile Lajovic only half of that, 21 of 41 (51%)

With a ranking of 76, the best ranking he has up to this day in his career, the 22-year-old corean moved to quarterfinals like he did in Delray Beach, Ney York Open and the tournament of Pune, India.

Acapulco, Gro., February 26, 2020.- Moving day is almost here. The Abierto Mexicano de Tenis Telcel, presentado por HSBC, will have a new home and it’s about to open its doors. This Wednesday, we tracked the work progress on the new stadium. Jose Moyao is the architect in charge of the new Arena Mia.
There will be 20 years of stories left behind, all kinds of anecdotes that helped strengthen a project that will meet the need for growth. All the work and endeavor to build this new complex, with an investment of 15 million dollars (9M from Juan Antonio Hernandez, president of Mundo Imperial, and 6M from Alejandro Burillo, president of Grupo Pegaso), began back in October 14, 2019; the foundation, the most important part to bear the “giant” were installed according to plan. The progress so far is 20%.
The Guerrero’s governor, Hector Astudillo, the municipal president, Adela Roman Ocampo, the president of the board of directors of Mextenis, Renata Burillo, and Raul Zurutuza, director of the Abierto Mexicano de Tenis Telcel, presentado por HSBC, attended the event.
The new complex, located in Paseo de los Manglares and Boulevard de las Naciones, measures 86,340 square meters, which 17,725 corresponds to the main stadium. The main stadium’s location will have panoramic views of the golf course and the stands will have a view of the bay area.
There will be two Grand Stands aside from the main stadium, one with 3,000 spectators and one with 1,500; there will also be 4 secondary courts, a general parking for 800 vehicles, recreation area, stands and food areas, medical attention, a broadcasting area and general services, a press building, additional services for the public, and a box office.
As for the main stadium, it will have 1,746 seats in private boxes distributed in the north, east, west and south grandstands. It will have 7,729 seats in the bleachers, a total of 10,229 seats and 213 for people with disabilities.
The court area is a multifunctional space that will allow other events to be held here and manage different configurations, so this area will be useful throughout the year.
“On behalf of Alejandro and Renata Burillo, I would like to reiterate our commitment to the sport, our commitment with a major investment so we could stay in Acapulco for many more years. This is to reiterate the conviction and remind ourselves that we are in the right place… 20 years ago, Alejandro Burillo took on the challenge by moving to Acapulco with the tournament and time has proved him right”, said Raul Zurutuza.
Governor Hector Astudillo and municipal president Adela Roman spoke about the government’s efforts to guarantee safety in the port, and to ensure that Acapulco and assure that everyone speaks well of Acapulco worldwide.
The finish date for this new complex is planned for January 2021, so it can be premiered with the 28th edition of the most important tennis tournament in Latin America.

Acapulco, Gro., February 25, 2020.- Rafael Nadal didn’t disappoint on his presentation at the Abierto Mexicano de Tenis Telcel, presentado por HSBC. The number 2 in the world, and the first seed in Acapulco, eliminated Pablo Andujar by 6-3 and 6-2 to advance smoothly to the round of sixteen.

It was the fourth match between the two in their careers, but they haven’t played since the tournament in Rio de Janeiro (2014). All matches were in Nadal’s favor.

In his first tournament after the Australian Open, Rafa imposed his conditions on Andujar, who lost in the first round of the event in Buenos Aires and in the round of sixteen in Rio de Janeiro.

Nadal had an unexpected beginning. Just before the second game, he lost his serve to go down 0-2. On the third game, Andujar generated a new opportunity to break, but Rafa took the game at the end and avoided a mayor disadvantage.

“The beginning was slow, the first game was not positive, neither was the second one, the third game was 0-30, then 30 all, and then came a tight point in which he won to get a break point. It is true that Pablo doesn’t have a great serve, but he has other virtues. I knew it was important to not have a double break, because the 0-3 would have been a complicated situation. Once the game was over there is still a long match ahead, and I had to get back on my game and find my regularity. I know these types of things can happen at the beginning, it is known that if it’s been a while since a competing, the beginnings can always be complicated. But you’ve got to accept it and move forward with a positive attitude”, explained Rafa regarding the first set.

The second set was different because it was 2-0 with a break in the beginning and with one more in the seventh game, that paved the way to get into the round of sixteen, where he will face the serbian Miomir Kecmanovic (50-ATP), who eliminated the australian Alex de Minau on Monday.

Nadal admitted that he expects a complicated match. “He is a good player; he has a strong forehand and it will be difficult. It is always difficult to play against young people because they have a special energy and I must be prepared for it”.

Acapulco, Gro., February 25, 2020.- Renata Zarazua stole the second round of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, presentado por HSBC, with an epic victory against the american Sloane Stephens, the #1 seed in the tournament and player #35 in the WTA ranking.

It was a magical night for the mexican women’s tennis tournament, as Renata (ranked #270 in the world) got the crowd excited with her dedication and her extraordinary strategic work, which was elaborated with her team led by her brother.

Zarazua, 22-years-old, had a total of 15 winning strokes against Stephen’s 10 strokes, who was surprised and at times annoyed for not being able to play her usual game.

Although she already won a first-round match in the Abierto Mexicano two years ago against the czech Kristina Pliskova, this is Renata’s biggest victory in her career since she faced one of the best players in the world in recent years (Sloane was #3 in the WTA and she won the US Open once).

In addition, this meant a rematch for her since the mexican lost her match against the chinese Saisai Zheng in the 2019 edition when she had a match point to win her ticket to the second round.

“It was a mentally tough game, I’ve never played with her before, but I know her weakness. The idea was to move her, to never let her be well planted, to not let her feel comfortable. This game was super special because of who she is, and that means a lot to me. I entered the court thinking I could win; it was important to know and believe that I could. I’m grateful with my coaches and the people who support me because they help me move forward”, said the mexican player. In the second round of the tournament, she will face the american Katie Volynets, who defeated her countrywoman Shelby Rogers with a score of 6-2 and 7-6 (5).

In another result, the young canadian Leylah Fernandez (#190-WTA) had no complications defeating the serbian Nina Srojanovic in two sets in order to keep ascending in her career. Fernandez (Ecuadorian origin) won in straight sets of 6-4 and 6-1 in an hour with 10 minutes of action.

Leylah, winner of the Roland Garros Jr. and the Australian Open Jr. (both in 2019), entered this season as a professional, where she already had some important victories, especially representing her country in the Federation Cup. In the second round, Leylah Annie will play against the japanese Nao Hibino.

In other news, the italian veteran, Sara Errani (coming from the “qualy” and leaving behind her extra-court problems) managed to continue to the round of sixteen with a triumph in two sets against the spaniard Sara Sorribes Tormo, by the score of 7-5 and 6-4.

The americans Christina Mchale and Carolina Dolehide also moved on to the second phase. Mchale had to battle through three sets to eliminate her countrywoman lauren Davis, while Dolehide defeated Usue Maitane Arconada (also from the United States) by a double 6-2.

The Australian retired due to an injury on his left wrist

Acapulco, Gro., February 25, 2020.- The Abierto Mexicano Telcel, presentado por HSBC, was left without their defending champion because of a withdrawal due to an injury at the end of the first set against the french Ugo Humbert.

The match between the two players at the ATP tour ended when the Australian was unable to continue the game due to an injury on his left wrist. Even though he received medical attention, Kyrgios preferred not risking a mayor injury. He decided to leave the game after losing 6-3 in the first set after 30 minutes of action.

This was his second defeat in 10 matches played on mexican territory, he will not be able to defend the title he won last year against the german Alexander Zverev.

Kyrgios, who will lose the points he won at last year’s championship, explained at the end of the match that he already had a strong pain in his left hand from previous days, but he wanted to see if he could play since he wanted to compete. At the end, it was impossible for him to continue with the match.

For Ugo Humber, who is 21 years old and #43 in the ATP ranking, this was his debut in Acapulco, where he arrived as a champion from the Auckland Tournament. He is looking for his second title in the season.

Ugo Humbert’s rival in the round of sixteen will be the american Taylor Fritz, who defeated the australian John Millman in three sets, 7-5, 3-6, and 6-1 in just under two hours. The 22-year-old Fritz is participating for the third time in Acapulco, he got to the quarterfinals in 2016. With this victory, he improved his record to 3 wins and 2 losses.

On the Grandstand stadium, John Isner (USA’s giant and fifth seed) achieved a quick victory in little more than an hour of match against the german Mischa Zverev so he could get a place in the round of sixteen of the Abierto Mexicano.

Isner, who is 34 years old, is on his second consecutive participation in Acapulco, last tournament he got all the way to the semifinals. The #20 player of the ATP, as usual based his victory with his serve, he had 22 aces and a level of 92% of points earned with his first serve. In the second round, Isner will play against his countryman Marcos Giron.

Acapulco, Gro., February 25, 2020.- Although he had an uncertain beginning, Alexander Zverev was able to move on to the second round of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, presentado por HSBC, by defeating Jason jung (representing Taipei, China) a fearless competitor, who put the german through some difficulties in the first set.

Jung surprised Zverev (#7 in the world) with this quick play and went up 4-1 in the first set. However, Sasha made the necessary adjustments to even the score and then win the tie break.

The second set was single-sided, Zverev was being dominant with his serve, in which he connected 12 aces, plus he achieved three breaks to reach the round of sixteen for the second consecutive year. The final score was 7-6 and 6-1. The german, second seed of the tournament, assures his place to the round of sixteen, where he will play against the american Tommy Paul.

Alexander Zverev, finalist in 2019, has already won eight times in his participation in Acapulco. He is looking for his second consecutive final, since last year he lost the match for the title against the australian Nick Kyrgios.

“I mean it was expected, it’s my first match back after Australia I think, you know, it’s never easy. Obviously, you can play well while training, but during the match it’s different, here I already played 2 matches this week, but at the end I’m happy I went through”, said popular Sasha, who is also defending the title of doubles alongside his brother Mischa.

Acapulco, Gro., February 25, 2020.- The canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime remains focused. After being a finalist in the Marseille tournament, the young man changed his state of mind so he could play under different conditions. He scored his first win at the Abierto Mexicano de Tenis Telcel, presentado por HSBC, by eliminating the australian Alex Bolt by 6-3 and 7-6 (5).

It was the second victory of the fourth seed in Acapulco against Bolt, who he also overcame in the Adelaide tournament last month.

“My serve was very helpful today, they’re different courts, different balls. I just arrived yesterday. I trained and I tried to maintain my consistency on my serve and today things went well”, said Felix.

The Grand Stand Caliente summoned a considerable number of people who were eager to see that 19-year-old boy who is ranked #19 in the world, all thanks to his great talent.

Auger-Aliassime did not give any signs of tiredness due to his long journey, he was left with the first set of 6-3 against Alex Bolt (#127 in the world), who entered the main draw as a “lucky loser”.

In the second set, Bolt made things a little more complicated for the canadian, who endured the attack and was able to keep his ticket for the second round in the tie break.

Felix, being so young, explained how he has managed to keep his mind focused during the matches. “It wasn’t always like that, sometimes I feel frustrated and I’m close to exploding, but I’ve worked really hard to control myself”, he said.

In the second round, the canadian will play against Kyle Edmund.

The korean Soonwoo Kwon also got his pass to the last sixteen by defeating the japanese Taro Daniel by 6-2, 2-6, and 6-3 after almost two hours.

Kwon will compete in the quarterfinals against Dusan Lajovic (eighth seed), who beat the American Steve Johnson by 6-7 (5), 6-4, and 6-3.