Second seed Alexander Zverev was tested from the first point against Stefanos Tsitsipas on Saturday, but he fought through in a thrilling final to claim his 14th ATP Tour title at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC.
Zverev turned around an early break in the first set and had to save a set point late in the second, but he stayed cool to move past Tsitsipas 6-4, 7-6(3) after two hours and 19 minutes.
“I’ve always said that this is definitely a tournament that I want to win in my career,” Zverev said in his post-match press conference. “I have a very strong relationship with Mexico and with this tournament. I came here with a goal and I achieved it, and I’m very happy with that.”
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Tsitsipas and Zverev were contesting Acapulco’s first final between the top two seeds since 2015, when No. 2 David Ferrer defeated No. 1 Kei Nishikori 6-3, 7-5. Second seed Zverev repeated this pattern to improve to 2-5 in his ATP Head2Head record against No.1 Tsitsipas.
“I take this week very positively,” said Tsitsipas. “I think it is great being able to play at such an intensity and level. I was very close once again to clinch and get that title, but it wasn’t meant to be… I played well.”
The German hadn’t dropped a set all week, but he looked uncharacteristically flat at the start of the first set, and Tsitsipas took full advantage as he surged to a 4-1 lead. Zverev faced three break points that would have made it 5-1, with Tsitsipas painting the lines with highlight-reel worthy winners. Zverev found his rhythm with searing backhands, and he reeled off the last five games of the set.
Zverev and Tsitsipas were deadlocked in a tight second set, with only two break points on offer throughout the opening eight games. The second seed broke through first and took a 5-4 lead, but couldn’t serve out the match. Tsitsipas saved match point, helped along by a Zverev double fault, to break straight back.
Tsitsipas put in a mammoth effort to save six break points and hold serve to send them into a tie-break, but he couldn’t hold back Zverev in the decider. The German converted his third match point to seal his first Acapulco singles title.
“In the beginning I started off extremely bad, I thought I didn’t play well at all,” Zverev said. “I had to fight my way into the match, and I did well to win the first set. In the second set, when I have a chance I need to close it out against these top players because normally they won’t give you a second chance. I thought I played extremely well in the tie-break, I’m happy with how it went.”
After the match, Zverev donned a Mexican national team shirt and the winner’s traditional blue sombrero, as he lifted Acapulco’s signature silver gourd trophy.