Home
Defending champion Alex de Minaur advanced to the final of the Mexican Open after Jack Draper retired in the third set of their last-four clash on March 2.
The third-seeded Australian won the first set 6-3 but dropped the second 6-2. In the third set, he was leading 4-0 when Draper, visibly struggling physically, decided to retire.
De Minaur to face Casper Ruud in the final
De Minaur will now face Casper Ruud in the final, who pulled off an upset by defeating second-seeded Holger Rune 3-6, 6-3, 6-4..
“I'm happy to be in the final, but I´m hoping that Jack is doing fine. He has a tremendous talent and hopefully, he can recover for the upcoming tournaments,” de Minaur said. “It's hard to play when your opponent is not OK physically, but you need to remain focused.”
ALSO READ: French President Macron promises to swim in cleaned River Seine ahead of Paris Olympics
De Minaur matches David Ferrer's feat
25-year-old de Minaur extended his winning streak in Mexico to nine matches and became the first defending champion to reach the Acapulco final since David Ferrer in 2013.
De Minaur boasts seven career ATP titles, with his most recent victory being at Acapulco last year.
Draper, representing England, reached his first semifinal of an ATP 500 tournament.
In the other semifinal match, Ruud dropped the first set and was trailing 3-1 in the third with Rune serving. However, he managed to break serve a couple of times and hold his own service game to secure the win.
“I did not get the best start, and the third set looked really bad, I just tried to stay in there and it seemed like Holger was struggling and at the end it worked for me," said Ruud.
The 25-year-old Norwegian aims to claim his 10th career title, which would be his first in an ATP 500 event.
Ranked seventh in the ATP rankings, Rune suffered a defeat in the Acapulco semifinals for the second consecutive year.
(Powered by AI, Inputs by PTI)
MORE ON SPORTS TAK:
Big blow to Sunrisers Hyderabad ahead of IPL 2024, South African legend asks for a break: Report
