De Minaur, seeded eighth, achieved victory over Paul, the seventh seed, in 2 hours and 27 minutes and thus won the seventh title of his career.
At the start of the game, De Miñaur wasted two break points. In contrast, when Paul had the only chance to break from her in the first set she did not squander it and put herself ahead, then countered her serve and set up a comfortable 4-1 in her favour. With solid forehands placed at angles that were difficult for his opponent to reach, the American proved superior, taking the first set in 38 minutes.
In an attempt to gain momentum to tie the match, De Minaur threw the first ace serve of the night at the start of the second set. The Australian then had a break point against him that he was able to save to stay in contention. De Minaur squandered two break points to him again in the second set, but he finally nailed the break to take a 4-2 lead.
The American looked calm and focused, but he did not increase his intensity and with his lack of attitude he allowed the Australian’s reaction, who achieved another break and took the heat after one hour and 36 minutes.
The third set began with a very long game in which De Minaur saved five break points against; That was a boost of spirit to come back against Paul who no longer offered resistance. Never before De Minaur, in 30 years of the Mexican Open, a player who lost the first set in the final came from behind to be crowned.
“I knew that if I could get the first game out of the third set I would have a lot more energy to win,” De Minaur said at the end of the match. “It’s been an incredible tournament, I’m happy with my level.”
In this way, the Australian won the seventh championship in his career; He has previously been crowned in Sydney-2019, Atlanta-2019, Zhuhai-2019, Antalya-2021, Eastbourne-2021 and Atlanta-2022.
In addition to taking 500 points for the ranking, De Minaur took a prize of 733 thousand 320 dollars. This was the fourth meeting between De Minaur and Paul in a lifetime and the Australian has always won.
Earlier in the doubles final, the Austrians Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler became champions by defeating the Americans Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow in two sets with partials of 7-6 (11/9) and 7-6 (7 /3).
The Acapulco Open is an ATP 500 category tournament that distributes a bag of 1.8 million dollars in prizes and is played on hard surface courts.
Saturday results:
-Individuals final
Alex de Minaur (AUS/N.8) defeated Tommy Paul (USA/N.7) 3-6, 6-4, 6-1
-Doubles final
Alexander Erler (AUT)/Lucas Miedler (AUT) defeated Nathaniel Lammons (USA)/Jackson Withrow 7-6 (11/9), 7-6 (7/3)