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.

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”.