Alex de Minaur of Sydney, Australia, is an ATP men’s singles champion for the seventh time. However, it is the first time de Minaur has won an ATP title that was 500 points or more, as his previous six men’s singles titles were at the 250 level.
Seeded eighth in Acapulco, de Minaur defeated the seventh seed American Tommy Paul, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. Paul made tennis headlines earlier this year when he reached the semifinals of the 2023 Australian Open as an unseeded player. In the final, the serve was a bit of a problem for Paul as he had four double faults, compared to only one for de Minaur.
In all, de Minaur beat two seeded players in Mexico. In addition to beating Paul, he beat Holger Rune of Denmark 3-6, 7-5, 6-2. In an interesting note, de Minaur lost the first set 6-3 on both occasions to Rune and Paul, but came back to win the match.
This is the third time that de Minaur has beaten an American in an ATP men’s singles final. He previously beat Taylor Fritz 6-3, 7-6 in the 2019 Atlanta Open Final, and then beat Jenson Brooksby 6-3, 6-3 in the 2022 Atlanta Open Final.
This was the fourth ATP 500 final of 2023. Daniil Medvedev of Russia has won two of the previous three titles, as he won in Dubai and Rotterdam. Cameron Norrie of Great Britain won last month in Rio.
With the win in Mexico, de Minaur moved from 22nd to 18th in the ATP World Tour rankings. He also passed Nick Kyrgios as the top ranked Australian. Kyrgios dropped from 19th to 22nd.
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