Alex de Minaur, ranked third, triumphed over Casper Ruud in the Acapulco final match on Saturday, effectively defending his Mexican Open title.
With his eighth ATP Tour title—his seventh on hard courts—and a four-match losing streak in the finals, the 25-year-old Australian was able to cement his spot in the top 10 of the world rankings, which will be updated on Monday.
“This week has been incredible,” stated De Minaur, who lost to Jannik Sinner, the winner of the Australian Open, in Rotterdam last month.
“It’s probably a week that I wasn’t prepared for. I just kept encouraging myself to keep giving myself opportunities even though I wasn’t feeling well when I arrived in Mexico. I believe that I played by far my best match of the competition today. For me and my tennis career, Acapulco has been a very positive environment.
It’s my first time ever winning an ATP 500 match and defending a title in my professional career. This place makes me feel at home.”
The sixth-seeded Norwegian Ruud, who had to contend with hard three-setters against Ben Shelton and Holger Rune in the previous two rounds, looked a little off the pace as the world number nine pulled off a 2-1 lead in the opening set.
However, much as he did in both encounters, Ruud rallied to take an early lead in the second set, only for De Minaur to equalize the scores at 2-2. Ruud then took the lead in the seventh game with a blistering forehand winner.
De Minaur, who was riding high at the moment, completed the match with a strong serving performance and celebrated becoming the first man to win the Acapulco title in twelve years.
De Minaur, however, announced that he will be flying to San Diego to watch his girlfriend Katie Boulter of Britain play against Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk in the championship match. This means that he will be stopping any more partying.
“I’m excited about that,” he continued.