Acapulco [Mexico], March 1 : Alex De Minaur dropped the first set against Stefanos Tsitsipas before registering a victory to book a second straight place in the semi-finals of the Mexican Open.
In their 11th ATP Head2Head meeting, De Minaur defeated Tsitsipas for the first time 1-6, 6-3, 6-3.
After being pushed back by the Greek in the first set, De Minaur held firm with his lockdown baseline game and turned the match around in the following two sets. He was broken three times in the first set and twice in the second, but he saved the only break point in the third set. According to Infosys ATP Stats, the third seed converted six of his twelve break opportunities throughout the two-hour, six-minute encounter.
The triumph advanced De Minaur to his 23rd ATP Tour semi-final (15-7), making him the first defending Acapulco winner to reach the semi-finals the following year since 2010-12 champion David Ferrer in 2013.
"Every time I've got to play him I get reminded about my [record in the] matchup. I'm glad I got one on the board. I would like to say that no one beats me 11 times in a row, but hey... Stefanos has had my number for a very long time, so I'm glad I was able to get one back," De Minaur said post-match as quoted by ATP.
The defending Acapulco winner came into the event ranked ninth in the world, but has now slid to 13th in the ATP Live Rankings. Tsitsipas has risen two places to No. 10 in the ATP Live Rankings, although he may yet be overtaken if De Minaur keeps his championship.
"I know that, especially in the position I'm in, there's going to be a lot of movement every week. The way I look at it, I've got a couple of months where I'm not defending many points, so if this week I don't manage to defend my title here, I've got Indian Wells and Miami and the whole clay swing to hopefully rack up some points and move up the rankings," De Minaur said.
De Minaur will next face Jack Draper in a semi-final showdown. The 22-year-old Draper defeated Miomir Kecmanovic 6-2, 6-2 to advance to his fifth tour-level quarter-final (2-2) and his first above the ATP 250 level.
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