Acapulco, March 1 (IANS) Alejandro Davidovich Fokina’s remarkable resilience has taken him to the brink of his maiden ATP Tour title at the Mexican Open. The Spaniard, who had already survived four match points in the first round against Mattia Bellucci, fought past an in-form Denis Shapovalov 7-6(3), 7-6(1) in a pulsating semi-final at the Arena GNP Seguros.
The victory marked Davidovich Fokina’s third ATP final and his first at the ATP 500 level. He now stands one match away from lifting his first career title but will have to overcome Czech eighth seed Tomas Machac in the championship clash.
“The match was so tight,” Davidovich Fokina said after his triumph. “The first set maybe he deserved it more. The second set I deserved it maybe. But at the end, I didn’t lose the fight because I was ready for everything.”
Both sets of the semi-final were battles of momentum shifts, each stretching beyond an hour. Davidovich Fokina had to dig deep, coming back from a 1-4 deficit in the opening set and later denying Shapovalov the chance to serve it out at 5-3. The Spaniard’s ability to withstand pressure was evident in the tie-breaks, where he unleashed his best tennis to dominate and secure the straight-sets win.
The loss ended Shapovalov’s eight-match winning streak, which included his title run in Dallas last month, and denied him a shot at his second trophy of the season. For Davidovich Fokina, the victory was also a measure of redemption, having squandered two championship points in Delray Beach earlier this month.
On the other side of the draw, Tomas Machac booked his place in the final with a hard-fought 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 win over Brandon Nakashima. The Czech rising star, playing in just his second ATP final after Geneva 2024, is on the verge of a career milestone. A title win would not only earn him his first ATP crown but also make him the first Czech player in the ATP Top 50 since Tomas Berdych in 2018.
Machac is the second Czech finalist in Mexican Open history, following Jiri Novak, who won the 1998 title. He also joins an elite group of Czech ATP 500 finalists, alongside Berdych, Radek Stepanek and Jiri Vesely.
–IANS
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