Pedro Martinez (from Spain) and Soonwoo Kwon (from Korea) advanced to the second round

Acapulco, Gro.; February 25, 2020.- Grigor Dimitrov was off to a good start in the 27th edition of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, presentado por HSBC, as he won the match against the bosnian Damir Dzumhur in the first round so he could continue fighting for the title.

With a very consistent play, and fully adapted to the weather conditions in Acapulco, the 28-year-old Dimitrov won with a score of 6-3 and 6-3 in an impressive tennis match. On the first set, the Bulgarian broke once, which was enough to win the set. In the second set, Dimitrov, even though he lost his serve, he broke his rival three times so he could win with ease. It is only the 5th victory of the year for Dimitrov and also his 9th victory at the AMT, where he has a lifetime record of 9-2.

Dimitrov, who is currently #22 of the ATP, has fond memories of Acapulco after he got his crown in 2014. For Dzumhur, who has not won any matches this season, this was his second appearance in the Abierto Mexicano since 2016, when he also lost in the first round.

Since the 2016 season, Dimitrov and Dzumhur had faced each other at least once a year, and in four previous matches, the bulgarian always won the match; their last match was in 2019 at the ATP of Vienna on a hard court.

In the round of sixteen, Grigor will face the french Adrian Mannarino, who beat the british Cameron Norrie on his debut.

In another court, the spaniard Pedro Martinez made his debut at the Abierto de Acapulco with a victory in straight sets 6-3 and 6-2 against Radu Albot (from Moldova) in just an hour and a half of play. For Martinez (who is 22 years old), this is his 6th victory of the year, with a quarterfinal in Rio de Janeiro last week.

In the second round, the iberian will have a tough match against the third seed, Stanislas Wawrinka. Albot has been unable to get a win this season, he is on a losing streak (5 matches). A couple of years ago, Albot came to Acapulco and also said goodbye in the first round.

On the other hand, in a duel of Asians, the korean Soonwoo Kwon defeated the japanese Taro Daniel, who entered as a “lucky loser” to the tournament, this was his first professional match. The match ended in three sets of 6-2, 2-6, and 6-3.

This year, the korean tennis player comes from playing quarterfinals in Delray Beach, New York, and Pune, India.

Taro Daniel, who is 27 years old and #110 in the world, has not had a lot of activity on the ATP tour, however, on the Challenger circuit he reached the crown in Burnie, Australia.

Acapulco, February 25, 2020.- Rafael Nadal makes his tournament debut this coming Tuesday at the 27th edition of the Abierto Mexicano de Tenis Telcel, presentado por HSBC.

The #2 player in the world ranking and first seed in Acapulco. He will face on the third match of the day his countryman, Pablo Andujar, to whom he has defeated in the three matched they have had, all on clay courts.

Nadal arrived on Thursday to Acapulco, he commented that he has been feeling better at his trainings. In the last edition, Nadal was eliminated just in the second round by Nick Kyrgios whom went on and won the tournament.

“Last year I lost a match that I should have won, it is part of the sport, but whenever I’m here I always take good memories of the people, I always have a good time regardless of the positive or negative results, but there’s been more positive results”, Nadal said, who has held the trophy of this tournament twice (2005 and 2013)

The always-controversial Kyrgios will try to take the first step to keep his title when he faces french Ugo Humbert in the prime time match.
Nick appears as the sixth seed and this will be his first-time facing Humberto, who right now is occupying the 43rd position of the ATP classification, which is 20 places below the Australian, who is in the 23rd position.

Alexander Zverev, second in the seed, will play against Jason Jung (from Taipei) who is coming from the “qualy”, and they don’t have any previous matches.

Also, the canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime (who came from playing the Marseille tournament finals) debuts against australian Alex Bolt (LL) whom he defeated last month in the quarterfinals of Adelaide.

Venus and Stephens are ready.

In the women’s tournament, the americans Sloane Stephens (first seed) and Venus Williams, former champion in 2009 and 2010) will have their first interactions against the mexican Renata Zarazua and the slovenian Kaja Juvan.

Stephens, former champion of this event in 2016, lost in the second round of 2019, while for Venus this means her return to Acapulco after 10 years.

Acapulco Gro., February 24, 2020.- Gerardo Lopez Villasenor had an unfavorable beginning at the Abierto Mexicano de Tenis Telccel, presentado por HSBC. He lost against the american Marcos Giron by 4-6 and 6-7 (3), but he is convinced that if he keeps working hard, at some point he will be able to take matches in his favor against players of this level.

Villasenor, located in position 518, sees this as a positive thing to be able to play against players with better rankings, like Giron (115), because that is the only way to obtain experience and knowledge.

“This was another match, another year in which I was very close. I’m missing some details that I have to work on to achieve another level, I need to keep working; physically I’m better than last year, I’m mentally more mature. The second set was very even, I fought for it, but I was unable to get the result I wanted,” Gerardo noted with regret.

He also lost in the first round in 2019, but he said that he trained a lot on the physical aspect compared to one year ago. He worked “on strengthening the hip, a year ago I was slower, I couldn’t play long rallies, I was not on that level at the time.”

He is confident that with the opportunities that are offered to the locals in these tournaments, the Mexicans will be able to “be up to the challenge”, “we need to work a little bit more”. He hopes to compete in the “Challengers” that are organized in the country, “and if I keep working hard, I think that at some point I will be able to take the next step”, said the mexican.

In the last match of the first day, the british Kyle Edmund eliminated the spaniard Feliciano Lopez by 6-4 and 6-1 in an hour and eight minutes.

Acapulco, Gro., February 25, 2020.- Giuliana Olmos completed a successful day in the mexican women’s tournament as she got her pass to the second round in the doubles tournament accompanied by the american Desirae Krawczyk.

The second seed team of the tournament defeated the russians Anna Kalinskaya and Anastasia Potapova by 7-5 and 6-4 to move on to the quarterfinals.

Olmos and Krawczyk are playing their third year together. They’re looking to improve their performance from last year in Acapulco, where they reached the final but lost against Victoria Azarenka and Saisais Zheng.

On the second round they could meet the mexican team, Renata Zarazua and Marcela Zacarias, in case they win their match against Cornelia Lister and Yana Sizikova.

On the other matches of today, the ukranian Kateryna Bondarenko and Sharon Fichman (from Canada) defeated 4-6, 6-2, and 12-10 to Renata Voracova and Marie Bouzkova (both czech).

Meanwhile, Nao Hibino from Japan and the british Heather Watson, defeated Danka Kovinic from Montenegro and Dalila Jakupovic from Slovenia, with a score of 6-4 and 6-1.

Acapulco, Gro., February 24, 2020.- The Abierto Mexicano de Tenis Telcel, presentado por HSBC, saw the 2019 champion fall in the first round.

The chinese Yafan Wang, who surprised the public last year when she became the first asian player to raise the trophy in Acapulco, had a bad day and was overtaken by a countrywoman from the “qualy”.

Xiju Wang won the match with the results of 6-4 and 7-6 (8) to get her pass to the second round, in which she will have to face the winner of the match between the italian Sara Errani and the spaniard Sara Sorribes Tormo, whom will play on Tuesday.

Yafan was unable to find a rhythm in her strokes, and she also failed to connect with her first serve; she ended up with only 49% in that area. Her returns also had no effect against Xiju’s best location and power, who on her side had 66% of first serves.

Xiju, who ranks 127 in the WTA, played in the quarterfinals in the Thailand tournament last week; Yafan participated in that tournament and was eliminated in the first round.

The ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko also got her pass to the second round defeating the montenegrin Danka Kovinic 6-7 (7), 6-4, and 6-2. Meanwhile, Tatjana Maria eliminated the third seed, the czech Marie Bouzkova, by 6-4, 1-6, and 6-2. The german got her triumph in two hours and 25 minutes after winning the last five games of the final set.

The slovenian Tamara Zidansek defeated the russian Anna Kalinskaya 6-3 and 6-4. Now she will be able to face Venus Williams (if the american wins this Tuesday).

In doubles, Caroline Dolehide and Astra Sharma advanced to the second round after beating Laura Arruabarrena and Christina Mchale by 6-4 and 6-3.

Acapulco, Gro., February 24, 2020.- The british Heather Watson, seventh seed, opened the activities at the Mextenis stadium in the 27^th edition of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, presentado por HSBC, with a victory in three sets against the american Coco Vandeweghe.

It was a very close game that lasted two and a half hours, where the british had to come from the behind to get her pass to the second round on the female draw. The score was 4-6, 6-4, and 6-4, Watson took advantage of the countless mistakes made by the american player so she could add her tenth victory of the season.

Heather Watson, who is ranked #69 in the WTA classification, plays for the fifth time in the Acapulco tournament where her best results was the second round in 2017, she was eliminated by France’s Kristina Mladenovic.

Vandeweghe has not been very fortunate in the port of Guerrero, where she lost the two games that she played. The first one was in 2014 during her qualifying round, and now in her debut in the main draw. It’s only her second match played in the season, with an equal number of losses, showing a game way below her level which took her to ninth place in the world’s ranking a couple of years ago. Currently she is ranked 193th in the WTA.

On the other side, japanese Nao Hibino, ranked #8, had no trouble beating the dutch Arantxa Rus. With a powerful score of 6-3 and 6-1, this clearly reflects the superiority.

Also, in the first round, russian Anastasia Potapova had an uncertain beginning, but she managed to come from behind and beat Slovak Anna Karolina Schmiedlova by 4-6, 7-5, and 6-1 in three sets. The russian’s next rival in the second round will be the winner of the game between german Tatjana Maria and czech Marie Bouzkova.

In regards to the women’s doubles tournament, the first big surprise was the elimination of the number one seeds, composed by Spain’s Georgina Garcia Perez and Sara Sorribes Tormo, who lost against the american Sabrina Santamaria and the serbian Nina Stojanovic, where they took the victory by 6-3 and 6-1.

Acapulco, Gro., February 24, 2020.- Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic came from behind to defeat the australian Alex de Minaur and moved forward to the second round in the Abierto Mexicano de Tenis Telcel, presentado por HSBC.

In his first appearance in Acapulco, Kecmanovic overcame a negative start. After a good serve and powerful returns, he defeated Alex by 3-6, 6-4, and 6-3.

With only 20 years of age and #50 in the world ranking, Kecmanovic showed confidence against his opponent, who appeared to be the favorite in the main stadium because of his best ranking (25), the european was not intimidated by the ranking.

The only past meeting among these young tennis players was in “The Next Gen ATP Finals” from last year when De Minaur won in four sets.

In the initial set, the australian (only 21 years old and currently number 25 in the world) stroke first since he managed to break the service of his opponent in the fourth game, but Kermanovic recovered the next game immediately when Alex sent back a ball by the base line when the score was 15-40.

In the next two games, they both held their serve until the eight game when De Minaur managed another break to keep the set.

The second set passed evenly. Kermanovic made the desired break to force a third set, in which he saved two break points in the seventh game and in the next one he broke Alex’s serve to take the lead and then ensure the win with his serve.

Now, the serbian awaits the next winner of the match between Rafael Nadal and Pablo Andujar (both from Spain) that will take place on Tuesday. This year he reached the semi-finals round twice (at the tournaments in New York and Doha).

In another first round result, Tommy Paul was the winner of the match against Mackenzie McDonald by 6-7 (4), 6-4, and 6-4. Paul and McDonald (both americans) had never faced each other before.

In his last participation in Acapulco, Paul was eliminated in the first round (2016).

In the doubles event, the bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov advanced to the second round, doubling with Taylor Fritz, and defeated the duo of Marcus Daniell and Phillip Oswald by 7-5, 3-6, and 12-10.

The result was a bit of a surprise since Daniell (from New Zealand) and Oswald (from Austria) came with a better momentum, as they have been playing together since September of last year (Zhuhai, China).

This year, Dimitrov (former champion in singles in 2014) has only played doubles in the ATP Cup with his countryman Alexandar Lazarov. In 2019, he intervened in only four tournaments as a doubles player, in which three of them were in the Masters 1000 category.

Fritz, with a ranking of 125 in doubles, comes from playing quarterfinals at Delray Beach.

Daniell and Oswald came to Acapulco with a great attitude after playing Delray Beach, the New York Open, the Australian Open and Auckland.

Acapulco, Gro., February 24, 2020.- Cameron Norrie goes out in the first round of the Abierto Mexicano de Tenis Telcel, presentado por HSBC. In a tight encounter, the british was eliminated by the french Adrian Mannarino, with the final score of 2-6, 6-3, and 6-3.

The game between the left-handed players had its touch of controversy due to the fact that the line judges called some balls that seemed out as good for Adrian’s cause. This even provoked that the audience at the Grand Stand Caliente to whistle and chanted “out, out!”.

Norrie could not hide his frustration, especially after handing over the second set, he expressed his anger by smashing the racket, and on more than one occasion he turned to the chair umpire to complain about the calls he thought were wrong.

Last year, Cameron reached the semi-finals in Acapulco, and although this time he entered with a Wild Card, it seemed he could go further. Specially since before this match, his record against Mannarino was 2-0, with wins in the Los Cabos tournament in 2018, and the Monte Carlo Masters in 2019

The first set was taken by a more accurate Norrie, who was solid from the backcourt, winning it 6-2 without complications.

The story for the next set was different, when the Frenchman scored a break in the eight game (5-3) to level the score when confirming the break.

And on the final set, Cameron gave up two times his serve. Although he recovered one, Mannarino was the one who advance to the second round.

This win was just the second victory in 2020 for Mannarino, who now has the challenge of overcoming the second round, although he has six participations in this tournament (2014-2019), he has reached this instance in only two occasions.

This Tuesday he will debut in the XXVII edition against Pablo Andujar

Acapulco, Gro., February 24, 2020.- At age 18, being a young prodigy of this sport, in the 2005 season he appeared on the clay courts of the Abierto Mexicano de Tenis en Acapulco. Rafael Nadal, who became the youngest player in history –a record still in effect- raised the coveted silver “guaje”, the trophy to the tournament champion, his third ATP title.

Since then, over 15 years, Nadal became a legend in the sport with 84 victories in the professional tour, including four participations in the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, presentado por HSBC, with two titles (2005 and 2013), one final (2017) and one quarter finals (2019).

In the 27th edition, the AMT will live its last event in the current venue before moving to the new facilities by 2021. Because of this change, the number two player of the ATP had a reflection of the moments he has lived for the mexican public.

“In my four previous participations on this event, in 2005, 2013, 2017 and 2019, I always had positive experiences, always good memories of this event. The only bad memory I can think of was in 2018 when I had to retire, I had to leave the tournament because of an injury just one day before I started. That’s the only bad memory that I have, but I can’t think of another bad moment; last year I lost a match that I should have won, it is part of the sport, but whenever I’m here I always take good memories of the people, I always have a good time regardless of the positive or negative results, but there’s been more positive results”.

Interestingly, the two times he won in Acapulco, Rafael Nadal also conquered Roland Garros. However, he assured that they were coincidences since he doesn’t believe in amulets. “I come because I like being here, I love the tournament, I love the organization that is always very nice to me. The audience makes me feel like at home, the people’s affection is always exceptional, I am here again with the illusion to enjoy one week in Acapulco. In fact, I am already doing it even before the tournament begins, this is an important week for me, it is one of the most important tournaments in the world. And for myself, it is a good test to see how I’m doing, and I hope to be prepared to play at a good level”.

Rafa is the first seed and most favorite to achieve a new title in his career. In the first round this Tuesday, he will make his debut against his countryman Pablo Andujar, to whom he has never lost in four previous matches and they have never played on a hard court.

“We know each other well, we’ve played since we were 13 or 14 years old, he is a good friend. The first games are always complicated, but with the illusion of playing well, I arrived one week before. During the trainings, I have done well and tomorrow the competition starts”, Nadal explained, who at the age of 33 he has a record of 15 wins and only 2 losses in Acapulco. A tri-championship in the Abierto Mexicano could once again give him the top world’s ranking with a combination of results.