De Minaur Breezes through Opening Two Rounds
Alex De Minaur had a bit of pressure on him coming into the Mexican Open this year. Being the reigning champion of course comes with its own pressure, but he was also coming off a disappointing showing at the Los Cabos Open where he lost to Alex Michelsen in straight sets in the round of 16.
He quickly illustrated however that he was not phased and didn’t plan on bowing out early. He was matched up with world no.64 Taro Daniel in the opening round and made quick work of his opponent.
De Minaur didn’t drop a service game and converted on four break points as he easily cruised to a 6-2, 6-1, straight sets win.
He then faced a slightly tougher task against world no.37 Sebastian Ofner. However, being ranked ninth in the world and the third seed in the tournament De Minaur was still the heavy favourite.
Again, he delivered. De Minaur won a whopping 90% of his first serve points and broke Ofner five times in the match to again win in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3.
De Minaur gets his First Win Against Tsitsipas
The quarterfinal represented a significantly tougher task for De Minaur. Not only is Stefanos Tsitsipas the 12th ranked man in the world, but he has also been somewhat of a boogeyman for De Minaur.
The pair had previously faced off 10 times with Tsitsipas claiming victory in each and every match.
The opening set had a grim outlook for the Aussie, and it looked like 0-11 was well on its way as Tsitsipas won the set 6-1 in just 28 minutes. De Minaur failed to hold his serve once, finding his only game by breaking Tsitsipas.
He would quickly put the set behind him however and came out strong in the second. He finally held serve in the opening game before breaking Tsitsipas to take the 2-0 lead.
It was extremely windy in Acapulco which seemed to make things difficult for the servers as they would go on to trade a pair of breaks each until De Minaur was up 4-2.
They would then both hold before De Minaur served out the set, winning it 6-3.
Set three was the cleanest of the match as both men seemed to fix some of their service issues. They would go back and forth at the start of the set, knotting it up at 2-2.
Then, up 40-30 on Tsitsipas’ serve, De Minaur needed only one break point to take charge of the match. After breaking, he quickly consolidated, holding serve at 15.
De Minaur found himself up 5-3 with Tsitsipas serving to stay in the match. Fittingly, given how the match went, it would end with a break as De Minaur took the set 6-3 and the match 1-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Draper the Next Challenge for De Minaur
Alex De Minaur continues his title defense today with a semifinal match against Jack Draper.
He is the world’s 50th ranked player and upset Tommy Paul in the opening round. He then beat Yoshihito Nishioka and Miomir Kecmanović to reach the semifinal.
De Minaur is the heavy betting favourite but will still have to play quality tennis if he hopes to beat the young Brit and advance one step closer to defending his title.
