Nick Kyrgios is one win away from completing an epic run to the Abierto Mexicano Telcel title. The No. 1 seed couldn’t stop him; another multi-Grand Slam champion couldn’t stop him; the best server in tennis couldn’t stop him.
Now the last hurdle is second-seeded Alexander Zverev, who will go up against Kyrgios in a blockbuster final matchup on Saturday night. The head-to-head series stands at an even 3-3, but Zverev has won three of their last four encounters since losing to the Australian back-to-back in the Indian Wells-Miami double two years ago. They faced each other twice in 2018, with the German prevailing 6-2, 7-6(3), 6-2 in a Davis Cup rubber (on the road in Australia) and 6-4, 6-4 at the Miami Masters.
Zverev has to be considered the favorite once again based not only on his recent success at Kyrgios’ expense but also because of current form. Although the reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion started the season slow (lost to Milos Raonic in round four of the Aussie Open), he has been by far the most dominant performer this week in Acapulco. Zverev booked a spot in the title tilt with straight-set defeats of Alexei Popyrin, David Ferrer, Alex de Minaur, and Cameron Norrie.
Unsurprisingly, Kyrgios took a much more circuitous route through the bracket. The world No. 72 followed up a victory over Andreas Seppi by taking out Rafael Nadal, Stan Wawrinka, and John Isner all in dramatic three-setters. He even saved three match points from 6-3 down in a third-set tiebreaker to stun Nadal 3-7, 7-6(2), 7-6(6) in round two. Kyrgios also went the maximum distance with Isner on Friday, surviving 7-5, 5-7, 7-6(7).
“It was an amazing, fun match with John today,” Kyrgios commented. “I was pretty pumped because I knew there wasn’t going to be a lot of running. He’s a good mate of mine and has always been incredibly supportive. To go out and battle against him was a special moment for me.
“This is going to be an incredibly tough match (against Zverev). He’s an amazing player; very professional; ticks all the boxes. I grew up playing juniors with him, so I know him very well. It’s going to be a lot of fun.“
“I’m very happy to be in the final,” Zverev said after beating Norrie 7-6(0), 6-3 in the first semifinal. “That was the goal at the start of the week. This is so far a very special week for me and I hope I can continue it.”
This is, of course, a dangerous match for the world No. 3. The conditions suit Kyrgios well (just as they do for Zverev, for that matter) and he can see the finish line of what has been a grueling week, so he most likely won’t be in one of his foul moods–especially not on this big stage of a 500-point final against a marquee opponent. That is why this one will be competitive, but Zverev has much more left in his tank and he will also take confidence from having won five sets in a row against Kyrgios.
Pick: Zverev in 3
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Kyrgios reminds me of McEnroe who never used to train or practice much ,but was so naturally talented it didn’t matter.
Bet Nadal wishes he had his serve
Nah, Rafa would prefer Fed’s serve; he said that if he were to pick one thing to have from Fed’s game, he would pick Fed’s serve. Fed’s serve > Kyrgios’ serve imo, as Kyrgios couldn’t serve well all the time.
Rafa has himself to blame for losing the TB and the match. As great as Kyrgios’ serve is, he’s still trailing Rafa in the TB and it’s because Rafa choked big time that he lost the match.
Rafa should hope that he won’t choke like that instead of hoping to have Kyrgios serve!
Feds serve has proved itself one of the most effective of all time.
You could argue Karlovic has the best serve of all time , but that’s aces only .Feds is slower but a lot more guile .Id rather have it myself.
But McEnroe has played many matches, both singles and doubles so he really didn’t need much practices, and so he’s able to win many singles and doubles titles.
Kyrgios otoh, doesn’t play that many matches hence up till now, he hardly win anything big!
Nah, Rafa wants Fed’s serve. 🙂
He made Zverev look like he really lacked talent and that doesn’t happen everyday.
To me Sasha Zverev really lacks talent, at least when you compare him to Kyrgios and Tsitsipas. However, that doesn’t mean he’s not going to win slams, when he’ll outlast the remaining career of the big three.
I think both Sasha and Tsitsipas will lead the charge for the young gen, and Tsitsipas will win more slams than Sasha Zverev imo.
Zverev :Not a bad record for someone who really lacks talent . Depends how you define talent. Was Lendl talented vs McEnroe, or Wilander vs Edberg? End of day achievements such as titles won and are all that matter.
Rafa says there’s different kinds of talents. He says plenty of players would love to have his “talents”. To quote Darren Cahill on Nadal, “wonderful tennis physique, but I’ll take his brain and his heart”.
AZ certainly has something – you don’t get his ranking history at his age while doing relatively poorly at slams unless you’ve got something on the ball. He’s good on clay, too.
I agree with Darren Cahill about Rafa.
Sasha Zverev can hit with power and he has a great serve but I feel he doesn’t move that well with his 6’6” frame. I think Cilic at the same height moves better. I feel Sasha Zverev is a mixture of Delpo and Cilic; all three could serve big and hit hard but I think they lack some deft touches.
Sasha has problems at the slams, imo that’s because he doesn’t play smart, and spends too much time beating opponents in the early rounds, despite him having some big weapons.
Yeah, he must be doing the right things – by having a good physio to take care of his body (as at 6’6” he’s susceptible to injury when out to the week in week out grind), changing coach now and then to help improve his game; etc.
Of course, the lacking in talent thing is relative, compared to Kyrgios and Tsitispas. He’s certainly better than most of the youngsters.
Nah, Rafa wants Fed’s serve. 🙂
But when he’s interested,he can play that well without having trained unlike others
McEnroe once won a tournament the first time he’d ever picked up a racquet
I’ll say it’s possible for Rafa on clay! I guess Kyrgios is helped by his big serve, if anything else fails, he still has his serve.
This training thing, well, as long as he plays some matches, he’ll have his game back. He played some singles and doubles matches this year so far before coming to Acapulco, it’s not like he stopped playing and then suddenly came back and won without any match play.
But when he’s interested,he can play that well without having trained unlike others
McEnroe once won a tournament the first time he’d ever picked up a
racquet
The exciting thing is that all these players are good on all surfaces , the days of the surface specialist seem to be more or less over among top players at least
An interesting read on Kyrgios, the good and the bad: https://www.golfdigest.com/story/nick-kyrgios-could-become-the-most-hated-athlete-in-the-world
Now there’s something to aspire to! He’s already on my very short “most-hated” list so that’s a start. He made that back in Beijing 2017 though, nothing to do with any antics I’ve read about since. I quit watching him back then.
There should be some rule against having an attitude like his ,sort of ‘contempt of court ‘
LOL! Well, tennis survived Nastase, Connors, McEnroe and Marcelo Rios. I suppose it’ll survive NK, too.
Bjorn Borg has a 15 year old son who’s a pretty hot junior. Toni Nadal’s two sons are around that age too, and doing well. At least those 3 guys will be well behaved if their dads have anything to say about it.
We have Tsitsipas now, so at least there’s someone who’s well behaved, talented, pleasant and plays beautifully; I think he’ll win many fans and sets good example for the youngsters to follow, continuing the trend and high standard set by the big four and their generation of players.