ATP Acapulco: Favorite wins! - Daniil Medvedev, Rafael Nadal and Stefanos Tsitsipas continue
Australian Open champion Rafael Nadal , Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas all achieved two-set successes in the first round of the ATP tournament in Acapulco. Matteo Berrettini had to retire due to injury.
by Stefan Bergmann
last edit:
Feb 23, 2022, 09:09 am
No favorites died at the ATP World Tour 500 event in Acapulco: Neither Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas nor Rafael Nadal had to give up a set at the start of the hard court tournament. All three top stars followed Alexander Zverev into the round of 16, who caused a stir in the Mexican tourist city yesterday with his record match.
Daniil Medvedev opened the show of tennis greats, who opened the hunt for number one position in the ATP ranking with his 6: 3, 6: 4 win over the fickle Frenchman Benoit Paire. If the Russian continues to have no major problems during the tournament and even wins the title in the end, he would also take the lead in the men's world rankings if Novak Djokovic were to win the tournament in Dubai.
"Rafa" fully back
Only in the second set did the top seed from Moscow fall behind with a break at the beginning, but he was able to make up for this in a very short time. After winning the game, Medvedev noted that there was still a little sand in the gears: "It's never easy to come back after a period of recovery and a tournament-free period." -Local hero Alex Hernandez duped with a 6-0, 6-1 win.
Australian Open winner Rafael Nadal reported back a bit more impressively after a tournament absence of almost a month. The "Bull from Manacor" finished off the American Denis Kudla 6:3, 6:2. The Spaniard showed no real weaknesses and clearly announced his favorite status for the $1,832,890 event in Central America. Nadal holds a match record of 11-0 this season.
It seems plausible that the Mallorcan could continue in a similar vein, since he is up against the US lucky loser Stefan Kozlov in the round of 16. However, the 24-year-old number 130 in the ATP ranking should not be underestimated, as the native Macedonian surprised none other than Grigor Dimitrov in his opening game. The Bulgarian suffered a 6:7(8),-7:5,-3:6 defeat.
Berrettini again plagued by bad luck with injuries
The Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, who had the hardest fight against the Serb Laslo Djere, ended the top round on Center Court in Acapulco. In the end, however, the fourth in the world rankings prevailed with 7: 6 (7), 7: 6 (4) and thus celebrated his 200th match success of his career on the ATP tour level. The man from Athens will face US qualifier JJ Wolf in the round of 16. The 23-year-old piñata from Cincinnati defeated Lorenzo Sonego from Italy 3: 6, 7: 6 (7) and 6: 2.
The Italian Matteo Berrettini had a bitter pill to swallow. The Romans in fifth place had to go to the net early after winning the first set with a score of 6:4 and 1:5. The current world number six complained of pain in the upper abdominal muscles.