Alex de Minaur proved sensational on grass once more denying Holger Rune his maiden final on the surface with a great performance.
Grass is a very interesting surface where experience probably matters more in comparison to other surfaces. While Rune arguably played on a higher level for much of this year, de Minaur has far more experience on grass. It proved crucial at the 2023 Cinch Championships as Alex de Denial denied Rune his maiden final on grass, much like he denied Murray a Wimbledon seed spot earlier in the week.
Rune started off as the minor favourite in this match but as the starting time approached, the odds shifted in favour of de Minaur and he certainly proved that on the courts. Demon has an ATP trophy on the grass in the past and he also defeated Rune earlier this year.
It was en route to his biggest trophy of his career in Acapulco and with this win, the Australian will have a chance to add another ATP 500 trophy to his tally. The match opened with him proving tricky to handle early as he took an early break 2-0.
From there we saw him cruise through his service games easier than anticipated as Rune struggled to exert any kind of pressure. It was somewhat expected as he didn't win a single match on grass before this event. It was a great run from Rune overall but he's got ways to go before he finally reaches his best on the surface.
De Minaur broke him once more to finish off the opening set 6-3 and it was truly a flawless one. They had the same number of winners (7) but de Minaur had fewer mistakes and performed much better on his serve. The second one saw Rune improve quite a bit but de Minaur matched it.
He started to play more aggressively risking more as he noticed his opponent playing better as well. Demon had chances to finish it off easier than he ultimately did but it didn't matter. It was still a straight-sets win in the semi-final of an ATP 500 event.
The final score was 6-3 7-6(2) for Demon who might face Carlos Alcaraz or Sebastian Korda in the final. He had 7 winners in the first, 16 in the second, and 23 overall to wrap up the match.
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