ATP Acapulco: Fritz, Rune, Shapovalov after hard work in the round of 16
Taylor Fritz , Holger Rune and Denis Shapovalov each had to go over three sets in their first matches at the ATP Tour 500 tournament in Acapulco. Routiner Feliciano Lopez caused a surprise.
by tennisnet.com
last edit:
Feb 28, 2023, 07:48 am
The matches in Acapulco are sweaty affairs, so it helps a little that the matches don't start before 6 p.m. local time. At the 500 event, which was always well attended, some of the favorites had to work hard on the very first day. First of all there is Taylor Fritz, the current US number one, who dueled over three hard sets with John Isner, who held the top position in US tennis for years. Fritz finally won 3:6, 6:3 and 6:4.
Holger Rune, seeded fourth in Acapulco, also had to go the full distance against Ben Shelton, defeating the quarterfinalists of the Australian Open 2023 6:7 (7), 6:4 and 6:2. This encounter was also interesting in that Rune and Shelton met for the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Indian Wells to double together. Rune meets either American qualifier Nick Cahpell or Portugal's Nuno Borges in the round of 16.
Oldie Feliciano Lopez surprised
Denis Shapovalov was once again able to celebrate a sense of achievement. The Canadian prevailed against Miomir Kecmanovic 6: 7 (4), 6: 0 and 7: 5 and is now Taylor Fritz's next opponent.
Feliciano Lopez, who is actually already a tennis pensioner and only came into the main field of Acapulco with a wild card, caused a surprise. The Spanish left-hander defeated Christopher Eubanks 7-6 (4) and 6-3 and will play Frances Tiafoe in round two. In turn, he was able to assert himself against Yoshihito Nishioka at the beginning.
It will be interesting to see if Carlos Alcaraz, the tournament's number one, will actually compete. Alcaraz is scheduled to play the second match on Center Court today against Mackenzie McDonald, but suffered serious health problems in Sunday's Rio de Janeiro final against Cameron Norrie.