Feb. 27, 2016

Confirmed: Abierto Mexicano de Tenis will be held in Acapulco next year too said Hector Astudillo Flores, governor of the state of Guerrero, during press conference at Mextenis stadium along with Raul Zurutuza, tournament director. The agreement between the State Government and Grupo Pegaso has ensured the presence of the most important tennis tournament in Latin America at least until 2017.

“We have a contract until 2017. We were able to come to really good terms with the new owners of Princess Hotel thanks to State Government’s intervention. We have cleared some doubts […] personally I don’t see this tournament anywhere but here in Acapulco. We’re working together to reach a good agreement”, said Raul Zurutuza.

“The State of Guerrero salutes and recognizes Alejandro Burillo’s and Grupo Pegaso’s disposition to be in Acapulco. As a Governor, I’m very grateful, this is a vote of confidence during these difficult times we are facing and coming out of. We are committed to keep moving forward during the next few years [security-wise] and State Governor Hector Astudillo is fully committed too and will receive this tournament, that has being celebrated yearly in Acapulco, with open doors”, said state governor.

After balancing out this 23^rd edition AMT results Zurutuza shared to be pleased with the results. “From the sport’s point of view we are very pleased. It has been a very good week. Once again this confirms we are living a [players] generational transition. The clearest example: Victor Estrella’s and Taylor Fritz’ match; one aged 34 and the other 18 respectively where Estrella lost by two sets. The contest is on a good track, we are happy with what we are seeing on the courts”.

He informed this 2016 the average entrance tickets sold were over 50 thousand, “We broke attendance record on Monday and Tuesday, that is very important milestone because those are the toughest days. We have a major commitment with Acapulco’s inhabitants so we granted a 20% discount to local citizens of Acapulco. We had over 50 live-feed hours via ESPN, that makes us one of the most covered events. Social media counts were: over 109,000 Facebook likes, Instagram overall visits increased by 40%, our official website had more than 19 million hits; 29% of these hits were from Japan followed by Mexico with 24% and the rest of the hits from 78 different countries. Pegaso TV produced over 24 videos and 48 hours worth of footage”.

 On Javier Braun’s behalf, CEO of Grupo Pegaso, said this year’s tournament was a hit. “Economically speaking this has been our best event held in Acapulco. Tennis-wise, to have a final event between two young players ranked ATP 15 and 21 ATP means young generations are coming strong and we will bet on them, just like we did with Rafa Nadal years ago. To sum up, we are enormously satisfied with this tournament, with the people, sponsors and players”.

During the annual conference to mark the closure of the event Ernesto Rodriguez Escalona, Secretary of Tourism of the state of Guerrero and Miguel Angel Couchonal, Legal Director of Grupo Pegaso were present.

Feb. 27, 2016

In what could be the best female singles match in Acapulco’s history American tennis player Sloane Stephens (24 WTA) claimed the crown this Abierto Mexicano de Tenis 23^rd edition. In a heart-rising duel that lasted more than three hours Stephens beat Cibulkova who wished to repeat her triumph from two years ago.

It was a thrilling and closed match, full of breakpoints where Sloane took advantage of Cibulkova’s errors during third set’s tiebreaks. Marks were 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(5) in 22 year-old Stephen’s favor who is attaining her second title during this season after wining Auckland at the beginning of the year.

With a divided audience, most on Cibulkova’s side, both players worked really hard to maintain each other’s serve and both made many errors, nevertheless, Florida-born Sloane worked best under pressure during the last set and landed her third title in the WTA circuit.

The first set lasted 49 minutes and was a constant back and forth where Stephens lead; Cibulkova was fierce, reacted and battled strong to reverse the marks during the second set. Third set was a power-duel with both players pushing hard and racing from side to side just like the scoreboard seeking for the victory. With just one break per side it was sudden death that made the Slovakian player hand the crown.    

On her way to the Title Stephens defeated Louisa Chirico during first round, Belorussian Olga Govortsova in third round, Naomi Osaka in quarter-finals, Belgian player Yanina Witchmayer in semi-final and Dominika Cibulkova during final round.

Meanwhile, Cibulkova suffered her first defeat in 10 matches at the Mexican Open, and was left with the desire to become bi-champion of Acapulco’s tournament and score her fifth professional title.

Spanish duo Anabel Medina Garrigues and Arantxa Parra Santoja claimed the title against Kiki Bertens and Johanna Larsson in a battle that lasted no more than 58 minutes leaving partials 6-0, 6-4.
Garrigues-Parra, being more experienced, have conquered several titles as a team but with a different partner. This was Anabel’s 26th trophy in doubles category, both ninth and third titles in Acapulco, although in 2013 and 2017 she partnered up with Lourdes Domiguez-Lino and played, but lost, in semifinal rounds in 2009 and 2011.

During their first set, now champions, Medina-Parra saved two breakpoints that made the difference; Bertens and Larsson weren’t able to maintain heir service so Garrigues-Parra to max advantage during their second 73 percent effective serves.

Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi claim the crown of the AMT, their first as a team in the ATP circuit, after a wining the final round over No. 3 seeds Philipp Petzschner and Alexander Peya 7-6(5), 6-3.

Mirnyi, former doubles no. 1 ATP (2003) has found a good partner in the Philipine player holding a 9-4 record since their debut as a pair in Auckland, this being their best performance after reaching semifinals in Delray Beach and quarter-finals in the Australian Open.

Petzschner-Peya played their third 2016 final and fourth as a team but haven’t being able to come out victorious yet.

Huey-Mirnyi protagonized a very even duel where, during the first set, they demonstrated a 70% first serve efficiency while Petzschner-Peya had a 62% first serve efficiency.

For Huey (35 ATP) this is his seventh doubles title and he hadn’t been able to lift a trophy since 2013 when he won in Beijing teamed up with Horia Tecau.

February 26, 2016

Dominic Thiem, fourth seeded, led an impressive victory and dispatched American player Sam Querrey. This is Thiem’s second final this month.

Thiem is this ATP season’s sensation and imposed himself with a categorical double 6-2 in his first Head2Head meeting with Querrey actual champion of Delray Beach tournament last Sunday. It took one flash 23-minute first set, and breaking three serves during the second set to annihilate his rival in less than an hour. 

The young 22 year-old player was impeccable with his serves and big shots from side to side and let Nishikori’s executioner without a chance.

Thiem (15 ATP) has been very active with semifinals in Brisbane, second round in Sydney, third round in Australia, a Buenos Aires Title and semifinalist in Rio de Janeiro, the player has a positive 17-4 mark holding the highest record to maximum winner, up to this February his record is 12-1.

Acapulco’s final match will be a first Thiem-Tomic ATP circuit Head2Head clash.

Philipp Petzschner-Alexander Peya and Treat Huey-Max Mirnyi will battle in a race for the Acapulco doubles title.

Third seeded Petzschner and Peya triumphed over Oliver Marach and Fabrice Martin after posting a 6-1, 6-3 result while Huye-Mirnyi (no. 4 seed) left Colombian (no. 1 seed) Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah4-6, 6-3 and 10-7.

The winning partnership gets the tournament’s crown will take 94,800 USD in price and 500 ATP points. Finalists will sum 300 will add up 300 points and 44,800 USD.

El binomio ganador del certamen se llevará 500 puntos ATP y 94 mil 800 dólares en premios. Los finalistas sumarán 300 puntos y 44 mil 800 dólares.

Mexican Santiago Gonzalez and Polish Mariusz Fyrstenberg, just as they did in Memphis finals, defeated American Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey in the first round of the men’s doubles of the Abierto Mexicano de Tenis. The sets were 6-4, 4-6 and 10-6 in favor of the Mexico-Polish couple.

In the second phase Gonzalez and Fyrstenberg will face Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi who they have previously defeated during Delray Beach’s R1, so this will be a rematch.

Britain-Luxemburg duo Aljaz Bedene and Gilles Muller had a tough battle against Dutch troopers Wesley Koolhof and Matwe Middelkoop to lead with an exciting super-tiebreak 6-3, 3-6 10-7.

Mexican women doubles couple Victoria Rodriguez and Renata Zarazua fell in two sets to Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Belgian Yanina Wickmayer, with 6-3 and 6-4.

Lastly, closing today’s rounds, British Johanna Konta and Heather Watson, were not able to overcome Dutch Kiki Bertens and Swedish Johanna Larsson, who advanced to the next phase with partials 3-6, 7-6, 10-8.

Grigor Dimitrov has big plans for the Mexican Tennis Open. No. 7 seed lead over American Denis Kudla 7-5, 6-1 ensuring his presence in the second round.

Dimitrov was happy for the victory, “It’s never easy to start a tournament, I felt a bit nervous and was missing focus during the first set but I did better on the second set and I’m happy about it. It is a good start. (Denis) put a lot of balls in play, but my second set was better so that gave me confidence”, he said.

The Bulgarian, who is playing his third consecutive tournament in Acapulco, will play the next round to American Donald Young, whom he described as a strong opponent, but that will not make him lose his focus. “If you look at it coldly, all rivals are playing well and if you loosen your mental game you lose the game.”

Grigor maintains a good step, after reaching the semifinals in Delray Beach the player said that winning the most matches is one of his goals. “I’m trying to mantain my rhythm,” he shared.

The Bulgarian athlete mentioned Acapulco brings good memories, “It is amazing, 2014 is one of the best years I’ve had, but now I am enjoying my matches and trying to get back to my level”.