Acapulco was rocking on Friday evening, and the semi-final action at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC was only part of the story. Second seed Alexander Zverev didn’t let an earthquake rattle him on his way to a 6-4, 7-6(5) victory against Dominik Koepfer to reach his 23rd ATP Tour final.
Zverev awaits the winner of second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas and Lorenzo Musetti for a shot at his 14th ATP Tour title. The German has reached the final here previously in 2019, and made the semi-finals in his debut the year prior. He has not dropped a set en route to this year’s championship match, including a quarter-final walkover from Casper Ruud.
Zverev took a fast lead in the opening set, going up a double-break to lead a nervy Koepfer 4-1. But once his countryman settled into the match, Zverev was in for a battle. Koepfer got the break back and earned two break points that would have levelled the score at 4-4. Zverev responded by raising his level and taking the set.
The Germans had to briefly halt play when a 5.7 magnitude earthquake in the state of Guerrero suddenly shook Cancha Central for about a half minute during Koepfer’s service game.
“The lights started shaking and the crowd felt it more than we did,” Zverev said in his post-match press conference. “We were running around the court, so we had to play a point during the earthquake. We didn’t feel much, but still obviously I know it happens here in Acapulco.”
After they got their bearings, Koepfer didn’t miss a beat as he broke first to take a 3-1 lead. But Zverev again responded in style. He created break opportunities in each of Koepfer’s next three service games and finally converted at 5-4 to send them into a tie-break, where he claimed victory after two hours and 10 minutes.
“He’s a very tough player to play right now. He won some incredible matches,” Zverev said. “Beating [Milos] Raonic on a hard court the way that he did is very tough. I think he showed that he is somebody who can play extremely well on this level. Today, honestly, I thought I played a not bad match and he gave me a tough time.”