Alex de Minaur defeated Tommy Paul to win the 2023 Mexican Open in Acapulco.
For both players, the triumph in Acapulco would have been the biggest triumph of their careers. Paul was coming from a marathon match against Taylor Fritz, which was the longest in Acapulco's history, but De Minaur also didn't have an easy semifinal as he had to fight past Holger Rune.
In the final, both players showed their qualities as well as some of their weaknesses. After a good fight, De Minaur won the match 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 in two hours and 28 minutes and he didn't hide his emotions after the triumph.
"It feels great, it feels amazing. I know the hard work that's put in to be here and it's good to see the results. It's not always that you win the tournament and you get to finish a week unbeaten, so I'll definitely cherish this going into Indian Wells and Miami."
Things were not easy for De Minaur in Acapulco. He lost the first set and in the second set, it could have gone the wrong way for him. But he kept fighting and asked about his thoughts afterward, he said:
"Just to kind of stay in the match, especially in the second set... I just dug deep, managed to scrap my way through it. And then the first game of the third set was exactly like my semi-final against Holger [Rune]. So I had that in the back of my mind, I just told myself to keep pushing. If I could keep pushing myself and get out of that game, the momentum was going to switch. I'm very happy I was able to get out of that."
On Monday, the 24-year-old will return to the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings once again, as he'll close up on his career-high 15th place. De Minaur is set to be ranked 18th and reacting to the move, he said:
"Like everything in my career, it's been step by step. I just want to keep pushing, keep getting the most out of myself. I know I might not play unbelievable tennis every day but I know I'm going to fight to the end. I've got a whole lot of heart in this little body of mine and I enjoy competing, so I'm very happy with it."
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