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.

Acapulco, Gro., February 27, 2020. John Isner had a tough match against his countryman Tommy Paul, but he was able to win the match after almost two hours. This is his second consecutive year in the semifinals in the Abierto Mexicano de Tenis Telcel, presentado por HSBC.

Since Yoshihito Nishioka in 2017, Paul, first player coming from the qualys to reach the quarterfinals, amazed everyone on Wednesday when he defeated Alexander Zverev; this was his first victory against a top ten.

Isner, fifth seed, won the match 7-6 (3), 3-6 and 6-2 in an encounter in which he finished with 22 aces.

“I’m happy to be back in the semifinals, I won in three sets today and whoever is my next rival will be tough. I feel better with each game, the third set was perhaps the best tennis I have played this year and that gives me confidence”, said Isner.

Paul, who lost against Isner at the Cincinnati Masters in 2017, made three straight aces. The 22-year-old looked confident when he served, but Isner got his first opportunity to break in the sixth game, but he couldn’t do it.

Each of them kept their serves in the following games, then it was time for a tiebreak in which Isner used his best weapon, his powerful serve, so he could get ahead in the game.

On the second set, Isner had his first opportunity to break Paul’s serve with a straight return, but Paul saved his game. Right after the next game, Isner got into trouble when his best weapon failed him, committing a double fault that gave Paul a break, who did not miss it. The break was enough to keep the set.

Paul’s (#66-ATP) confidence seemed to increase, but Isner took it all away by breaking Paul’s serve in the sixth game and in the eighth game to end the match.

Isner broke the losing streak he had in Acapulco, in four previous participations he lost in the first round.

On the woman’s tournament, in a chinese duel, Xiju Wand, player from the qualy, eliminated Lin Zhu 6-2, 6-2 and moved forward to the semifinals. This is the best result of the season so far for the Asian (#127-ATP). Last week she got to the quarterfinals in Thailand. Wang has five wins in a row in Acapulco, including the qualy.

Acapulco, Gro., February 26, 2020.- Renata Zarazua, with another sensational performance, has the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, presentado por HSBC, crazy about her. She moves on to the quarterfinals, matching her countrywoman, Melisa Torres, performance in 2007.

With the Grand Stand Caliente at its full capacity, which proved insufficient for the fans who wanted to see the mexican player, Renata Zarazua did not disappoint and based on her relentless style, came from behind to beat the american Katie Volynets (384 player in the world) 4-6, 7-5, and 6-0. Both of them got into the main draw with a wild card.

Volynets, 18 years old, dominated the first set breaking Zarazua’s serve. Now up a set, the north american continued to play well and got up to 4-2 in the second. Volynets took advantage of the mexican’s lack of control, who was not in her best shape since she requested medical assistance for cramps and discomfort in her right arm during the set.

Patricio Zarazua, who is Renata’s brother and current coach, did not let her get discouraged. With a lot of dedication and heart, the national player had a spectacular comeback cheered by the public that got into Volynets’s head, who forfeited the set with three consecutive double faults.

The third set was one-sided with Renata becoming more and more confident while her opponent couldn’t get her rhythm. With three more breaks, the last of those, with some double faults, sealed the victory for the mexican.

“It was a very difficult game since my right arm was cramping during the second set, but the support of the people motivated me to ignore it and keep going so I could win. She was playing very well, and I couldn’t find a way to make myself feel good, I was a little nervous. I was still excited from yesterday and I had a hard time changing my state of mind for today. However, I knew how to control myself, I wanted to save as much energy as possible and I’m super happy and thankful for everything that happened. I’m living a dream and I want to continue; I don’t want to be satisfied with this result, I can only think about the next round”, Zarazua stated.

In the quarterfinals, Renata will have to face the slovenian Tamara Zidansek in pursuit of her historical pass to the semifinals. In the slovenians’ duel, Zidansek had no problem beating her countrywoman, Kaja Juvan (Youth Olympic Champion in Buenos Aires 2018) 6-2 and 6-2. Juvan had eliminated the legendary Venus Williams one day before.

In another match, the italian’s dream, Sara Errani, ended as she got eliminated by losing in three sets against the chinese Xiyu Wang, 7-5, 6-7 (3), and 6-1. Errani, 185 of the WTA and the one who dominated the Abierto Mexicano in 2012 and 2013, suffered a lot with the intense heat and she couldn’t keep up with the youth of the chinese, in a confrontation of tennis players who came from the qualifying round.

In other news, Heather Watson from Great Britain (seventh seed) defeated the ukranian Kateryna Bondarenko by sets 7-6 (2) and 6-2.

The Chinese Lin Zhu (sixth seed) overcame a very difficult game against the british Katie Boulter, who was defeated by 7-6 (2) and 7-5.

The next big player is the young canadian Leylah Fernandez, who won her second match of the draw after playing the qualy, who left out the eighth seed, Nao Hibino, with a score of 6-3 and 6-0. Anastasia Potapova had an easy win against the german Tatjana Maria by double 6-3 to move on to the quarterfinal round.

Acapulco, Gro., February 26, 2020.- Rafael Nadal keeps amazing the crowds at the 27th edition at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, presentado por HSBC, and with his tenth win of the season, he got himself into the quarterfinals by defeating the serbian Miomir Kecmanovic (50-ATP).

Playing with a lot of intensity, the spaniard won by 6-2 and 7-5 to a rival who is 13 years younger than him, this was their first encounter. The match got one-sided form the beginning when Nadal broke the serbian in two occasions.

The second set was very even with an exchange of breaks. The spaniard had the chance to close the match at 5-3 and his serve, but he couldn’t do it and the match lasted a little bit more. It was Nadal’s 17th win in Acapulco with only two defeats. In quarterfinals, the number 2 player in the world will meet against the surprising corean Soonwoo Kwon, who already took out a seeded player, the serbian Dusan Lajovic (eighth seed).

“I played a great first set and the start of the second set was also good; it had a special value because in front of me I had a player with a great level, the reality is that he also started playing much better; I didn’t take the advantage at 5-3 serving for the match, but everything else was pretty good”, said Nadal, who also gave his opinion about the new Acapulco complex to be opened next year, if it can be a Masters 1000.

“I don’t want to disappoint you, but I want to be realistic, that is very hard because all Masters 1000 are well established and I don’t know which one of them is going to give it up to Acapulco. I would love to see Latin American get a Masters 1000, and I would love to help make that happen, but we don’t have to mislead anyone and it’s very complicated. Acapulco has a fantastic 500 tournament, it has been named the best one for several years, players want to come here. It’s a very special tournament because of many factors, but Mexico has to be very satisfied for having a tournament like this; it is true that everybody wants more, but acquiring one is very complicated, they are not cheap”, he said.

In other news, the swiss Stanislas Wawrinka, third seed, played for an hour and a half to win his second match of the week in Acapulco. “Stan the man” defeated the spaniard Pedro Martinez 6-4 6-4 and put his name in the quarterfinals.

With a high percentage of points won with his first serve (90%), including 9 aces, Wawrinka stood his ground against the 22-year-old young Spaniard. In total, Stanislas, who is the 16th ranked player in the world, broke his rival’s serve in four occasions.

In the round of quarterfinals, Wawrinka will look for his pass to the semifinals when he faces a very attractive match against the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, to whom he has played 11 times before with 7 victories and 4 defeats (the last 5 wins have been consecutive).

Acapulco, Gro., February 26, 2020.- Tommy Paul scored a great victory in his career. The American, coming from the “qualy”, defeated the german Alexander Zverev (7-ATP), second favorite of the Abierto Mexicano de Tenis Telcel, presentado por HSBC, by 6-3 and 6-4.

The finalist in Acapulco in 2019, left the court (in the Mextenis stadium) annoyed since he was not able to connect his first serves, this was an important factor for his defeat. With his second serves, he only won 11 out of 27 points. In the first three games he accumulated four double faults (a total of 9 in the match).

“It just didn’t work”, the german said in reference to his serve. “When I play like this, it is not hard to defeat me. It wasn’t going up to the to the net, it wasn’t my backhand, it was my serve… a shot that didn’t work”, he added.

Zverev, who has repeatedly commented on how much he enjoys playing in Acapulco, regretted not being consistent with his serves, which made him lose the set against Tommy Paul. Paul is a player from the qualifying round, and he is participating for the second time here in Acapulco (he lost in the first round in 2016).

In the second set, the german had more regularity but Paul did not give up, both maintained their serves in the first seven games.

Doing his serve, Paul dominated the actions, moving Zverev from side to side with high shots that were impossible to reach.

In the ninth game of the second set, the American got his first break opportunity, with a quick return from Alexander, who barely returned the serve but sent it out. The opportunity was capitalized by Paul, who then served for the match.

“I think this was a good day for my returns, it’s a big win and I hope to keep playing well this week”, he said after his win.

Now Paul will go up against his countryman John Isner (fifth seed), who had no trouble eliminating Marcos Giron 6-3 and 7-6 (4). Isner will seek his pass to the semifinals for the second consecutive year in the Acapulco tournament.

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.