Alex de Minaur defended a title for the first time in his career after beating Casper Ruud in the 2024 Mexican Open final in Acapulco.
Winning titles is great, but that great feeling changes to a little bit of nerves only 12 months later, when players have to defend their titles, as an early loss would mean a significant drop in the rankings because of points lost.
The bigger the title, the bigger the pressure, but de Minaur handled it perfectly. Last year, he won his biggest career title in Acapulco, and this year, he had to defend it at the ATP 500 tournament.
Things were going well after he was able to reproduce some of the stunning performances, beating Stefanos Tsitsipas along the way and handling a challenge from Jack Draper.
In the final, he took on Ruud, and even though it was a back-to-back final in Mexico for the Norwegian, after playing in the Los Cabos Open final the previous week, he once again stumbled on the last hurdle.
In the first set of the match, the Australian didn't allow his opponent to have any break point, and after using one of his chances in the third game, he controlled the games on his serve for the remainder of the first set to win it easily 6-4.
The second set didn't start well for de Minaur, as he was broken in the second game. However, he was able to break back immediately, and save another break point in the fourth game of the second set.
That set him up for success, as he added yet another break in the seventh game, and thanks to that, he was able to win the match 6-4, 6-4, and defend a title for the first time in his career, which he was very happy about.
"Acapulco has been a very good place to me for my tennis career. The first time I won a 500, and [now] the first time I’ve defended a title in my career. I feel at home here and it’s a great place to be."