Acapulco, Gro., February 28, 2020.- The mexican Giuliana Olmos will have a new opportunity to win the doubles final at the Abierto Mexicano de Tenis Telcel, presentado por HSBC. About a year ago, Giuliana advanced to the final accompanied by the american Desirae Krawczyk, after beating the couple, formed by the american Caroline Dolehide and the australian Astra Sharma, 6-4 and 6-2.

In the final match, their rivals will be the ukranian Kateryna Bondarenko and the canadian Sharon Fichman (the couple eliminated the australian duo, Ellen Perez and Storm Sander, 6-3 and 6-4.

Olmos and Krawczyk, second favorites in the tournament, didn’t commit any double faults on their serves, while their rivals had a total of four; they won 25 out of 35 points with the first serve, and saved 4 out of 5 break points.

After 1 hour and 12 minutes, they won the match, and they will be in the semifinals again. Last year, they lost the final against Victoria Azarenka and Saisai Zheng. They are looking to win their second tournament of their career; they are former champions in the Nottingham tournament in 2019.

Bondarenko and Fichman won their match in 1 hour and 9 minutes. The ukranian has won 3 doubles tournaments in her career, including one Grand Slam, the Australian Open (2008), but she was not accompanied by Fichman, who has also won two tournaments, also with a different partner.

Acapulco, Gro., February 28, 2020.- A 17-year-old teenager ended the mexican Renata Zarazua’s dream. The canadian Leylah Fernandez is now a finalist at the Abierto Mexicano de Tenis Telcel, presentado por HSBC, who defeated the mexican 6-3 and 6-3.

Leylah is the first player from the qualy to reach a place in the finals at Acapulco. This will be her first final as a professional, but she is a former champion of Roland Garros (junior category).

Zarazua couldn’t maintain the winning momentum, however, her result remains historic in the last edition of the tournament in this complex. The mexican, who entered the tournament with a wild card and a 270 raking, will add 110 points for her result, jumping about 100 places approximately. Her best ranking was 186 in June 2018.

“I started a little nervous, I feel like she played very well, and I didn’t have time to adjust, But I’m very happy. Playing in a stadium with so many people watching is an experience that you don’t live every day, I’m very grateful. What I take home from this week is the confidence to know that I can take-on good players and beat them, I will remember this for the next tournaments”, Renata said.

The first set opened with an exchange of serve breaks, in the first four games.

In the fourth game, the mexican could not win a single point with her serve, and then in her next serve, the left-handed canadian got in deep shots and finally managed to keep hers, 3-2.

With a backhand, that almost went down the sideline, Renata got 30-40 in the eight game, saved the first break, but with two double faults she lost her serve again. This gave the canadian the opportunity to win the set.

The Canadian showed consistency, speed, power in her shots, and was aggressive coming to the net when she saw the opportunity. The pressure was not a problem for her, she remained focused, without losing any concentration, and always jumping on the tips of her feet so she wouldn’t lose her rhythm.

In the ninth game, Leylah survived two break points, and after 45 minutes, she won the first set.

In the second set, Zarazua was not on top of her game, and with some difficulty, she held her serve in the first game. However, in the third game, Leylah broke her serve, she did the same thing in the fifth game, where she was able to take an advantage that the mexican found impossible to come back, even though she recovered one of the breaks. The match ended with a double fault from Renata when Leylah had math point.

In spite of this, Zarazua got a standing ovation even though the miracle didn’t happen.

“I’m very happy about this, but I want to congratulate Renata on the match. Tomorrow’s match will be very difficult, but I’m ready to fight”, said Leylah.

Acapulco, Gro., February 28, 2020.- For the first time in history, two americans (John Isner and Taylor Fritz) faced each other at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, presentado por HSBC.

For the second time in four matches, Fritz took the victory and surpassed his best performance in Acapulco. Fritz (22 years old) defeated the giant (34 years old and 2.08 meters tall) 2-6, 7-5, and 6-2 in an hour and 41 minutes. Fritz won in two tiebreakers in the last duel they had, played back in Auckland 2019.

Isner dominated the beginning of the match, who got 2 breaks and 8 straight first serves, he won the first set in only 28 minutes. He kept his pace during the second set, Isner dictated the match with his powerful serve, and placed himself 4-2 against his rival’s bewilderment who was unable to find a way to counter back his powerful serve. In the 8th game of the second set, the tables turned when Fritz broke Isner’s serve to start his comeback.

At the beginning of the third, Fritz broke first with an early break, which John Isner was unable to recover from, and showed signs of discouragement.
The match ended and Fritz was ahead in the statistics, with 15 aces against 13 from his rival, and a 80% of points gained with his first serve. “It’s really tough when you loose your first and get a break, that could be it. I don’t know, I got really lucky today. I got the break in the second, to be able to come back and I still don’t really know how it happened”, said Fritz (35-ATP), who moves on for his second final in Mexico. Last year, he played in the match for a titule at the ATP 250 in Los Cabos, where he lost against the argentinian Diego Schwartzman.

“This is my second final in Mexico and I obviously like playing in Mexico and coming here. I really enjoy both tournaments, Cabo and here, I like playing late matches, in both tournaments, all matches start really late. I like how everything works in the tournaments here. Maybe that’s why I’m doing well”.

The bomber from North Carolina (20-ATP) once again is left out at the Abierto, he got eliminated in the semifinals in 2019 when he lost in the same round against the australian Nick Kyrgios, that left him out in three sets.

Acapulco, Gro., February 28, 2020.- Heather Watson achieved her goal. The british won her pass to the final at the Abierto Mexicano de Tenis Telcel, presentado por HSBC, after beating the chinese Xiyu Wang 6-4 and 7-6 (6).

This is Watson’s first final of the year, the first since Tianjin in October 2019. Heather has three titles in the circuit. The most recent one is in the Monterrey tournament (2016), and she also won in Hobart (2015) and Osaka (2012).

Heather knows what it’s like to be a champion in Acapulco, at least in the doubles tournament, she was the champion in 2018, alongside of the german Tatjana Maria.

Watson, seventh seed and 69-WTA, stopped the streak of the 18-year-old Asian girl (127-WTA), who came confident after reaching this round from the qualy and after defeating her countrywoman, Yafan Wang (last year’s favorite champion and second favorite in Acapulco), in the first round.

Heather, the only seeded who managed to stay focused, and the oldest of the four semifinalists (27 years old), took advantage of her second chance at match point in the tie break in order to win her place in the final.

Her best result in this season was the semifinals of the Hobart tournament; she fell in the second round at the Australian Open. She also played the Federation Cup, with Great Britain against Slovakia, in which she had a win and a loss.

The match this Friday was the first encounter between Watson and Wang. The chineses turned out to be a more complicated rival that Heather expected.

However, she was able to manage the rhythm of the game. In the first set, she took the lead, but in the second set she got a break in the first game. Wang recovered in the fourth and from there, both retained their serves to force a tiebreak, in which seven mini breaks occurred.

Acapulco, Gro., February 28, 2020.- While Renata is making history for mexican tennis, Patricio, Renata’s brother and coach, is one of the people responsible for the “Renata-mania” here at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, presentado por HSBC.

In order to participate in the XXVII edition of the tournament, Zarazua (22 years old) needed a wild card, because her ranking is 270-WTP did not allow her to access the main draw directly.

After the draw ceremony, things did not look good for Renata, she had to play against the favorite, Sloane Stephens (first seed, former #3-WTA in 2019, and 35 current ranking, former champion in Acapulco 2016, US Open monarch in 2017, runner-up for Roland Garros and the WTA Finals 2018), in the first round. Her chances to win were almost none.

However, Renata played the best match in her life and to everyone’s surprise, she eliminated Stephens. During the game, the mexican player was assisted by a young man, whom we didn’t know much of, Patricio, her older brother who joined the team at the end of last year.

“In November, my sister and I had a talk alone where we made tough decisions, things that I felt we had to change in order to get to bigger things. We formed a great team, I support her in the tournaments by traveling, also in the emotional part because, although I’m her coach, I’m her brother first. I will always want the best for her as a person and as a player, she has a lot of confidence, we’ve always been very close. Renata’s physical trainer is Carlos Aranda, who has a lot of experience and has trained players with a very good level. Her main tennis coach is Hugo Armando, who is a former top 100 professional tennis player from Argentina, he has been of great help for everything that is going on”, says 24-year-old Patricio, a graduate of Business Management at Palm Beach Atlantic.

For Patricio, the psychological aspect, a topic that has been highly criticized in the mexican athletes so they can succeed in sports, is of the highest importance for their development and the results.

“I think the mental part, especially in young girls, is to understand how they are mentally, how they are as a person and see the things that they need in order to understand their game. My sister has a strong character, but that’s a good thing since she uses it in a positive way in matches when she has to fight for the win. She is very mentally strong; she is the type of person that works hard for what she wants. To say in another way, it has its advantages and disadvantages, like we work on her forehand or her backhand, we also need to work on her character so when she steps up to the court, it’s the ideal one.”

“My job is to make her understand that things won’t always go her way in matches. At important and key moments, I try to make her feel supported and keep her calm. I’m very proud of her, we’ve worked together for many years, with this new team we have set ourselves for big goals, and she is giving us results”.

Renata and Patricio belong to a family with a long history in tennis, led by the former David Cup Player from Mexico, Vicente Zarazua.

“Vicente Zarazua is my great-uncle, he started the love for tennis in the family. After him, my grandfather was a tennis player as well with a very high level, then came my father, who played tennis as a child and decided to go to a university to keep playing. My parents’ support for Renata’s career was key because they knew what it takes to get to things like this.”

“I started playing tennis as a kid and I decided to go to a university in the United States to play tennis for four years. I’m very satisfied with what I did in my life, it was a very fun experience, but I knew that I wanted to dedicate my work to my sister since she had the qualities it takes for something big. Now I know that this is what I want to do, some say that you have to follow your instincts, and I knew that’s what I had to do so my sister could succeed”.

The limits do not exist for Renata in this sport, the road is traced, the objectives are clear, and she has her eyes on them. She already made history at the Abierto Mexicano, she is part of the National Federation Cup team that is looking for a place in the World Group, but tennis is lived one day at a time.

“The match against Stephens was the best triumph in her career so far, but we always try to focus one match at a time. It was obviously a great victory in the first round and the next two rounds, it’s okay to enjoy it, but we must remember that we won’t stop there, and we keep her focused in her next match”, said Patricio. The next match in the search for the pass to the grand final will be against the canadian Leylah Fernandez.

Acapulco, Gro., February 28, 2020.- One of the semifinals at the Abierto Mexicano de Tenis Telcel, presentado HSBC, will be played by two former champions of Acapulco. This evening, the spaniard Rafael Nadal (former champion in 2005 and 2013) and the bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov (former champion in 2014) will face each other, and only one of them will get his pass to the final.
The other semifinal will be between the americans John Isner and Taylor Fritz. This is Isner’s second semifinal round in a row, while this is Fritz first appearance in this phase.
The Spaniard is the favorite against the bulgarian, since he has a mark of 12-2 against him. Dimitrov´s only triumph was in 2016 in Beijing. His record in Acapulco is 18-2. On his way to the semifinal, he has allowed his rivals to win 15 games. “We know each other well, I think I know how he´s going to play and vice versa”, Nadal said in regards of the match against Dimitrov.
The Spaniard´s road to the final has been smooth. He has won matches against Pablo Andujar, Miomir Kecmanovic and Soonwoo Kwon. Dimitrov´s road has been the opposite since in the second round he managed to save two match points against Adrian Mannarino, so he could eliminate Stan Wawrinka later.
So far in the tournament, Nadal has the best percentage of serves returned, with 14 out of 25 (56%), and has 14 out of 22 break points won (64%).
In the other match, Isner (who leads the category aces) will face his countryman Taylor Fritz. This will be their fourth “head-to-head” between them, with a favorable record for Isner (2-1).
The four players of the semifinals are looking for the first title of the season.

This Friday he will face Grigor Dimitrov

Acapulco, Gro., February 27, 2020.- 15 Years ago, today, Rafael Nadal won for the first time the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, presentado por HSBC. The spaniard reached the semifinals of the 27th edition with a commanding victory over the corean Soonwoo Kwon.

Nadal (#2 in the world and first seed) needed just one hour and a half to get his 18th victory in Acapulco so he could place himself one victory away of his 4th final. Rafa won by 6-2 and 6-1 in what it was his first ever match against the asian player.

The spaniard, who feels very comfortable in the court at the Mextenis stadium, was able to break Soonwoo Kwon’s serve in two occasions during the first set and two more in the second set to take the match with ease. The corean, regardless of having 8 opportunities to break Nadal’s serve, was unable to take advantage of them. Nadal won 75% of the points with his first serve and only 64% with his second serve.

Kwon (22 years old and #76) couldn’t get through the quarterfinals for the fourth time this season. He was eliminated on the tournaments: Pune, New York, Delray Beach, and now Acapulco.

This coming Friday, in semifinals, Nadal will face the bulgarian Dimitrov (#22-ATP), who he has played on 13 prior occasions with 12 victories and just one defeat. The last time they played, Nadal won in the Masters 1000 of Montecarlo 2019, in two sets and on a clay court.

“A lot of things have happened in the last matches, each year is a different story, he is arriving with positive attitude because he has won great matches; yesterday he won a very tough match that had match points against him, today he played a very serious match against one of the best in the world, which took him to semifinals. It’s going to be a tough match just like it has to be a game of semifinals in a tournament like this. It’s going to be a nice game to play and to fight it. Today I felt good, every day I feel better, I hope I’m prepared so tomorrow I can play a good match to reach the final”, said Nadal about the match between former champions of the AMT that he will have against Dimitrov, who won the tournament back in 2014.

Acapulco, Gro., February 27, 2020.- It was a great night for Mexico. After the historical pass to the semifinals by Renata Zarazua in the Abierto Mexicano de Tenis Telcel, presentado por HSBC, the other mexican player, Giuliana Olmos, advanced in the doubles tournament with her partner Desirae Krawczyk.

Olmos and Krawczyk, second seeds, defeated the dutch Arantxa Rus and the slovenian Tamara Zindasek 6-3, 1-6, and 10-3. Zindasek takes a bad experience playing against the Mexicans since she was eliminated hours before by Zarazua.

In 1:07 hours of play, Olmos and her partner took another step to match their last year’s performance when they reached the final, whom eventually lost to Victoria Azarenka y Saisai Zheng.

The couple they will face in the semifinal are the american Caroline Dolehide and the australian Astra Sharman, they advanced after the Italian, Sara Errani, and the chilean, Daniela Seguel, retired when they were down 1-4 in the first set.

The other semifinal will be played by the australian couple, Ellen Pérez and Storm Sanders (#3) against the ukranian Kateryna Bondarenko and the canadian Sharon Fichman. The australians defeated the japanese Nao Hibino and the birtish Heather Watson 6-3, 5-7, and 10-7. Meanwhile, Bondarenko and Fichman defeated Sabrina Santamaria and Nina Stojanovic 7-6 (5) y 6-2.

The mexican achieved a historic pass to the semifinals

Acapulco, Gro., February 27, 2020.- On Thursday, Renata Zarazua marked a huge milestone in the Mexico’s women’s tennis history and became the first tennis player to reach the semifinals of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, presentado por HSBC.

Once again, the Grand Stand Caliente was crowded with people who wholeheartedly supported the mexican player. The game started with great intensity, and she managed to break her rival’s serve in the very first game. There was another break in the seventh game which ensured the lead and the set.

The second set seemed to be the same as the first one until Zindasek (74-WTA) was able to break the mexican’s serve in two occasions, this evened out the score. In the third and definite set, Zarazua was determined to take it all, and in the sixth game, the mexican put Tamara in trouble with a break, which meant the end of the match.

“I was determined to win the third set; I’ve lost a lot of matches because I was not confident enough to seal the victory, so this helped me remind myself that no matter what happens, I have to give my everything and took one point at a time. The last game was mentally hard, it was hard to control my nerves and the pressure. In match point, I was very nervous, I’m not sure how the ball went over, but it did”, said Renata, who is also the niece-granddaughter of the mexican tennis legend: Vicente Zarazua.

During, and at the end of the match as well, one could hear the song “Cielito Lindo” throughout the stadium. The fans did not hide their excitement for the historical event. Renata surpassed Melisa Torres, who reached the quarterfinals back in 2007, but lost against the german Julia Schruff, who took away Melisa’s dream.

In addition, Zarazua has already equaled Oliver Fernandez, Mexico’s only tennis player (man or woman), to reach the semifinals in this tournament, as he did in 1993 (AMT’s first edition).

“The people helped me a lot, I was a little tired today, but as soon as I entered the stadium, I could feel the energy. After that, I completely forgot about being tired, it didn’t even cross my mind and it was all thanks to them. I do not know if I could’ve won this anywhere else, I am very grateful. I don’t know how they did it, but their energy have a lot of merit in this victory”, said Renata, who took revenge on Tamara Zindasek (she defeated Renata a couple of years ago in her first round of Roland Garros).

In the semifinals of the Abierto Mexicano, Renata Zarazua’s rival will be the canadian 17-year-old Leylah Fernandez, who in the last quarterfinals surpassed the Russian Anastasia Potapova 6-3 and 7-5. Fernandez, filipino-ecuadorian origin, is the junior former champion of Roland Garros 2019 and runner-up of the Australian Open Jr. 2019 tournament. This will not be an easy match for the mexican.
If Renata wins, she will also overcome Angelica Gavaldon’s achievement, who is the only mexican semifinalist in a WTA event back in 1993 during the San Juan tournament.

The british Heather Watson moved on to the semifinals in the women’s tournament

Acapulco, Gro., February 27, 2020.- Taylor Fritz became the second American with a pass to the semifinals of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, presentado por HSBC, he got a valuable triumph against the british Kyle Edmund in straight sets.

This ensures the participation of an american player in the grand finale this coming Saturday.

Fritz broke three times on the first set which made all the difference. The californian once again broke Edmund’s serve twice on the second set, this was enough to win the semifinalist ticket. This also surpassed his best performance in Acapulco, where he made it to the quarterfinals in 2016.

Fritz, 22 years old and #35 in the world, got his second triumph against Edmund in direct duels (Last year he won in the semifinals in the Eastbourne tournament).

Isner and Fritz have faced each other three times in their careers. Isner has a 2-1 lead, but Fritz won the last match in Auckland, New Zealand (2019).

In the woman’s tournament, the british Heather Watson, seventh seed, got her ticket to the semifinals after defeating the american Christina McHale. The match ended 6-3, 1-6, and 6-1 in one hour and 52 minutes.

Watson (69-WTA) was on top of her game with her serve. She managed to connect 6 aces against 2 of her rival’s, however she also committed 5 double faults against 3 of McHale, finalist in the Abierto Mexicano (2016).

It was Watson’s second victory over McHale in four matches, and also her revenge against the american since she defeated Watson four years ago.

Watson’s rival in the semifinals will be China’s Xiyu Wang, #127 in the WTA and who is coming from the qualy. This will be the first encounter between these 2 players in the women’s professional tour.