Alex de Minaur's vital bounce back in Acapulco after brutal tennis setback
The Aussie was stunned last week and needs to defend his title in Mexico.
Alex de Minaur has started his defence of his Acapulco title in great fashion after his tough setback last week at Los Cabos. De Minaur has enjoyed a brilliant start to the season having made the Rotterdam Open final, which saw him go down in a close match to Jannik Sinner.
However, only 48 hours after losing the final, De Minaur opted to play in the Los Cabos tournament. Having reached a career-high tennis ranking for World No.9, De Minaur looked tired and out of sorts as he lost in straight sets to unseeded American Alex Michelsen.
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De Minaur managed to hold onto his ranking inside the top 10, despite the shock loss, but needed to get off to a strong start in Mexico. The Aussie won his maiden Masters 500 title last year at Acapulco and will be defending the points.
And the Aussie was back to his best as he defeated Taro Daniel 6-2, 6-1 in just 76 minutes. He has set up a clash against Austrian Sebastian Ofner in the round of 16.
“I didn’t play probably the way I wanted in Los Cabos (last week), so it was very important to get on the board and feel confident out there on the court,” De Minaur said, after his third career win against Daniel. “Tennis is all about matchups,” he added. “A lot of the time you forget about the ranking and you’re playing the player.
“That’s the beauty of tennis. Contrasting matchups and tactics work against some players, and don’t work too well against others.” The Aussie admitted he was remaining grounded heading into the round of 16 after the recent setback.
“You don’t want to get too ahead of yourself, in my case, I don’t even like to look at the draw,” he said. “It’s a long way to get to that title match and at this stage I’m not even thinking about it.”
The Aussie now moves to 11-4 to start the season. Fans were quick to praise De Minaur's bounce back at the Mexican Open having suffered a tough setback last week when he was stunned at Los Cabos.
Defending champ Alex De Minaur beats Taro Daniel 6-2, 6-1 to win a 6th consecutive match in Acapulco.
Now 11-4 in 2024.— José Morgado (@josemorgado) February 27, 2024
Speed Demon
The defending champion wasted no time getting back in the winner's circle as Alex de Minaur scorches Taro Daniel, 6-2, 6-1.
De Minaur, who suffered an uncharacteristically early loss last week in Los Cabos, is looking aces in Acapulco, next facing Sebastian Ofner. pic.twitter.com/TyW8uIyL4C— Tick Tock Tennis (@TickTockTennis) February 27, 2024
ATP 500 ACAPULCO R1: Alex De Minaur wins easily 6-2, 6-1 against Taro Daniel
Back on track after the surprising loss a week ago.— Tennis Updates (@TennisUpdates24) February 27, 2024
Much better match this week from de Minaur. That wall like solidity back to where you'd expect and his ability to take both groundstrokes to any part of the court has allowed him to spread the court and work his was into the forecourt.
— 🇨🇦Jon🇨🇦 (@JRTweetsTennis) February 27, 2024
Alex de Minaur suffers poor night in Los Cabos
De Minaur needs to return to the final at the Mexican Open to have any chance of remaining in the top 10 rankings. De Minaur's loss to Michelsen was only the fourth of the year. He may have a had a short turnaround from the Rotterdam final, but fans were still stunned at the result. Heading into the Australian Open he beat Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev at the United Cup, before taking down Carlos Alcaraz in an exhibition match.
Despite the loss to Andrey Rublev in the Australian Open fourth-round, he got revenge over the Russian in the quarter-finals at Rotterdam. Tennis fans have come to expect a consistently high standard from de Minaur on hard courts in the last year as he has soared up the rankings.
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