The Abierto Mexicano Telcel had a day full of intense matches. Center Court was sold out to watch the debut matches of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Juan Martin Del Potro and they were delighted with the best quality of tennis. On other courts, Dominic Thiem moved to the second round and so did Marin Cilic. The only upset of the day was Jack Sock, the seventh seed who lost in three sets.
Marin Cilic books his spot in the second round after three set battle to Dolgopolov
Last year, Marin Cilic suffered a first round loss in this tournament, but today the story didn’t repeat as he moved to the second round after defeating Alexandr Dolgopolov. In the first set, the Croatian began making a lot of unforced errors while the Ukrainian was firing up powerful shots. Thanks to his serve, the Croatian didn’t struggle to hold his serve. However, in the seventh game, Dolgopolov had his first chance to break but the Croatian saved it with an ace to eventually take the game. The first one to take his chances was Cilic who only needed one break point to convert it and then serve the set on his serve.
The second set was not very different from the first set as both players held their serves respectively. In this set, neither player had break opportunities until the tenth game when Alexandr Dolgopolov got his first break opportunity which would also give him the set. The third seed saved it, but wasn’t able to do the same and was broken. The Ukrainian forced to a deciding set after taking the second 6-4.
Unlike the two previous set, the last set only lasted twenty-three minutes. The Croatian started breaking and then consolidated such break with a hold to love. After another break and another solid hold to love from Cilic, the match was sentenced when the Croatian broke for a third time to lead 5-0. The fate of the match was now on Cilic who had to save for the set, but Dolgopolov tried to fight back. After three match points, Marin Cilic won his first match in Acapulco.
Tough start for top seed, Novak Djokovic
After a second round loss at the Australian Open, world number two, Novak Djokovic was back in action when he faced Martin Klizan. The Serbian played one match at the Davis Cup after his early exit in Melbourne and yesterday he made his comeback to the ATP World Tour at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel. In front of a packed stadium, the top seed started the match with a hold to love to open the scoreboard and lead 1-0. The Serbian saw chances in the second game when he got the first break point, but the Slovak saved it to later win his serve.
Back on serve, it was now Djokovic who struggled to keep his serve as he soon saw himself down 15-40, two points later the Serbian forced a deuce where again Klizan created another break opportunity but once again the top seed saved it before taking the game. The Slovak went on to hold to 15, before putting Djokovic again in a tough position as the Serbian was forced to save another break point to go up 3-2.
Despite being Klizan who created the more chances, it was Djokovic who took the first opportunity to get the lead when he broke the Slovak’s serve to lead 4-2. The break was later consolidated with a hold to love to put Djokovic one game away from taking the first set. Klizan was able to hold his serve, but the world number two only needed two set points on his serve to close the set 6-3.
Things were starting to look in favor of the Serbian as he broke in the opening game of the second set and the confirmed the break with a hold to love to lead 2-0. However, the momentum quickly changed and Martin Klizan recovered the break to level things at 2-2. Now it was Djokovic who was in trouble as the Slovak made his way to break him again and now lead 4-2. The top seed’s experience in this kind of situations helped to get through and get a break to love to level things again after he held his serve to be 4-4. After this game, neither player was willing to give up his serve and after two exchange of holds, the set was forced to be decided in a tiebreak.
The Serbian struck first with a mini break to later consolidate it with his serve and lead 3-0. However, the Slovak wasn’t going to leave without a battle and after holding his two serves he went on to break the Serbian to equalize things to 3-3. Another break from the top seed and he found in the comfortable position of serving for the match, Djokovic completed his first round match after hitting a lob that Klizan was barely able to return, the world number two finished it with an open court volley.
Nadal too strong for Mischa Zverev
Back in Australia, the Zverev brothers made headlines. The youngest, Alexander almost pulled an upset on Rafael Nadal, while Mischa Zverev defeated the world number one, Andy Murray. Now in Acapulco, the second seed, Rafael Nadal had to face once again another Zverev, this time Mischa. It was a tight first set for both players as neither of them gave away opportunities, Zverev known from his serve-volley style tried to finish the points early at the net, but he couldn’t find a way to go through the Spaniard as he replied with passing shots to end the points.
At 4-3, Nadal saw the chance to break and serve for the opening set, but Zverev saved those break points to level for 4-4. The Spaniard went on to hold his serve and put the pressure on Zverev who know was serving to stay in the set. Not able to get back his confidence from his previous service game, he faltered and was broken to lose the set when Nadal fired up a return winner.
After saving one break point in the start of the second set, Nadal went on to take the break and up 3-1 and the consolidate the break with a solid hold to love. The German went and did the same, but he still was a break down. Up 4-2, the Spaniard was close to winning and he put himself closer when he served to lead 5-2. Zverev was not willing to let the match finish on his serve and he held to 30. The game opened with a stunning 16-shot rally before the Spaniard claimed the point and just a few points later the match.
Del Potro sets up second round clash with Djokovic
Playing his second event of the season, Juan Martin Del Potro faced a tough first round. His opponent was 19-year-old Frances Tiafoe. In the first game of the match, the young American faced a break point but was able to save it to open the scoreboard, leading 1-0. The Argentinian went on a did the same before an exchange of holds to leave the match at 2-2. Del Potro broke Tiafoe, but the American broke back to erased his lead. After another exchange of holds, it was Juan Martin Del Potro who broke again to now serve for the first set. The Argentinian sealed the first set after firing up a forehand winner.
The American was not disheartened after losing the first set, instead, he came back in style as he held his serve and then went on to break Del Potro for a 2-0 lead. The former US Open champion was not able to get the break back and the young American was not ready to yield his advantage. Serving for the second set, Tiafoe faced one break point but saved it to later have three set points. A backhand down the line confirmed the need of a third set to define the winner as Tiafoe took the second 6-3.
In the third set, neither player was ready to give the other the advantage. There was only one break opportunity as Tiafoe had the chance to go up on the scoreboard, but the Argentinian saved it to go up 4-3. At this point, both players were playing their best and despite that set back in the last game, Del Potro wasn’t going to yield his serve. And so, the match had to be decided in a tense tiebreak where it could go any way. In the tiebreak, it was Del Potro who captured all his opportunities and got the first mini-break to go up 2-1.
The match was sentenced after the Argentinian held his serve and then broke both serves from the American to get a match point. Del Potro ended the match hitting his ninth ace of the match to set up an anticipated second round against Djokovic.
Thiem starts his quest to defend the title
On the Grandstand, Dominic Thiem put on a great performance against Gilles Simon. The defending champion was the first one to be in trouble as Simon quickly created two break opportunities, but thanks to his serve the Austrian was able to save both of them and then saved one more to level things up at 2-2. The Frenchman was not discouraged for not having taken the break and held his serve to love to go up 3-2.
The defending champion was firing powerful shots but Simon was a wall and returned everything with the same pace or even faster which started to make Thiem frustrated as his eagerness to finish the points early led him to the error. The set could go to any player as both were playing solid tennis, while the Acapulco’s crowd cheer every long rally. After four exchange of holds, the first set was forced to be decided in a tiebreak.
Both players started the tiebreak losing their serve, but it was Simon who trailed off with a 4-2 advantage after breaking Thiem once more. A few points later, the fourth seed recovered the break before he leveled the scoreboard to 5-5. Another exchange of breaks gave both players the chance to get a set point as the tiebreak stood at 6-6.
It was Simon who took the chance and had the great opportunity of serving for the opener. After a great backhand down the line that Thiem was barely able to return and left the ball close to the net, but in an attempt to finish the set with a volley, Simon smashed the ball into the net to give Thiem a second chance. The Austrian didn’t waste this chance and ended up breaking Simon to the take the first set, 7-6 (7).
The second set was shorter as Simon was not able to recover from missing that easy volley at the end of the previous set. The Austrian kept his composure as the Frenchman started to lose his cool when a ball was called out. Up until the fifth game, neither player gave away his serve. It was Thiem who faced the first break point of the second set, but she erased it after hitting an ace. In the next game, the fourth seed needed four break points to take Simon’s serve and lead 4-2. The Austrian consolidated the break and put himself one game away from the second round. After a solid hold from Simon, the fourth seed claimed the match with a hold to love to seal the first round with a 7-6, 6-3 win.
More action: Tomic retires, Kyrgios struggles to win, Querrey defeats Edmund in three, Lorenzi is through and Nishioka upsets Sock
Bernard Tomic takes on Donald Young in the first turn of Court 2. It was a solid set of tennis from both players until the six-game when the Australian faced three break points in a lengthy game of serve, but Tomic came out victorious and leveled things to 3-3. Those wasted opportunities didn’t have a negative effect on the American who went on to hold to love and be up 4-3, but it didn’t take long until Tomic leveled the scoreboard to 4-4. In the ninth game, the Australian had a chance to break but Young saved it to keep the lead at 5-4. Another solid hold from Tomic and an exchange of holds forced the firsts set to be decided in a tiebreak.
Just like half of the opening set, both players held their serve but this time it was Australian the one to suffer the first mini break as young went up 4-3. One point later, Tomic recovered the break and then held to lead 5-4. But the American wasn’t giving up and broke once more to get the first set point. Tomic won his next point but still faced a set point, which the American didn’t hesitate to take. Donald Young took the first set in 51 minutes, 7-6 (5). After losing the first set, Bernard Tomic retired from the match, the Australian reportedly never asked for the trainer and has been rumored that reason he retired was that the weather conditions were too extreme.
On court 3, Paolo Lorenzi took on Yen-Hsun Lu. The Italian came up victorious after 2 hours and 11 minutes match where he needed three sets to go through the second round. Lorenzi needed two breaks in the first set to win 6-4, but Lu struck back in the second after recovering from losing his serve in the opening game, the Taiwanese broke in the best moment as he put himself one game away from forcing a decider. Lu closed the second set 6-3. Just like in the second set, Lu began the third set losing his serve, but this time he wasn’t able to quickly recovered as Lorenzi broke again to lead 3-0. In the next game, the Taiwanese recovered one break but Lorenzi was not ready to give away his advantage. In the ninth game, Lorenzi had a match point but Lu saved it to leave the pressure on the Italian who now had to serve for the match. Lorenzi only lost one point on his serve to take the match 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
Let’s recap now some of the action on Court 2 where Sam Querrey and Kyle Edmund featured in the first match. After a hold to love in the first set, Querrey had once chance to lead but the Brit saved two break points to level things to 1-1. The American finally broke to lead 3-1. After an exchange of holds, it was now the American who had to work to save his serve. Known for his fast serve, Querrey fired up an ace to save the break point and go up 5-4. The second break of the match came at the best time for the American who broke the Brit to take the first set 6-2. In the second set, Edmund only needed one break to eventually force the match into a decider after taking the second 6-4. The American broke early in the third and while the Brit had several chances to recover the break, he was not able to do so. And so, Querrey only lost one point on his serve before sealing the match with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 win over Kyle Edmund.
After Querrey’s victory, Nick Kyrgios took on Dudi Sela in a three-set grueling battle. The number 75 stunned the sixth seed in the first set as he broke the Australian in the fourth game. Despite having a break point in the next game, Kyrgios was not able to convert and soon found himself down 1-4. That break was enough for the one from Israel who closed the set with his serve. But the Australian didn’t waste much time before coming back in the second set when he struck first, breaking in the second game. Just like in the first set, Sela was not able to recover the break and the Australian took the second set 6.3. Things started to look better for the young Australian as he broke in the third game for a 2-1 lead. Being the serve his biggest asset, Kyrgios found no problem to keep the break in this third set. Up 5-3, the Australian found once more the break to take the match 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
In the last match on Court 3, the recent winner of Delray Beach, Jack Sock took on Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka. Coming from winning a title, the American started the set full of confidence and was the first to cause harm as he broke in the fourth game to lead 4-1, however, the Japanese did the same in the following game to erased his lead. After a grueling game of serve, Sock was able to hold to be up 3-2. The Japanese then saved four break points to level to 3-3.
The third break of the match was made by Sock who broke to love to serve for the first set. Only one set point was all he needed to claim the first set 6-3, In the second set, it was the Japanese who stunned the American as he went on to break in the fourth game and lead 3-1 to later consolidate the break with a hold to love. Just like in the first set, the Japanese found the break at the right time as he broke Sock when he was serving to stay in the set.
After losing the second set, Jack Sock was not able to recover, losing his serve almost immediately. Then he had one chance to break back, but the Japanese stayed strong and held. Up 4-1, the Japanese broke the American again to lead 5-1 and serve for the match. Not yielding a point, Nishioka served the game and the match. A win from the Japanese over Jack Sock, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1.
Day Three
On day three, the ATP Abierto Mexicano Telcel brings exciting matches as it will open on Center Court with Marin Cilic who takes on countryman, Borna Coric followed by Rafael Nadal and Paolo Lorenzi. Not before 10:00 pm, the match of the night will take place as Novak Djokovic takes on Juan Martin Del Potro.
On Grand Stand Caliente, David Goffin will open when he plays Sam Querrey. After two WTA matches, the defending champion, Dominic Thiem will play against Adrian Mannarino.
On Court 2, the action will start as Donald Young takes on Nick Kyrgios followed by Jordan Thompson against Yoshihito Nishioka. ATP singles activity will end in this court as Steve Johnson takes on wild card, Ernesto Escobedo.