By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Tuesday February 25, 2020
Photo Source: Guillermo Sanchez
Two-time champion Rafael Nadal powered into the second round with a 6-3 6-2 takedown of World No. 54 Pablo Andujar on Tuesday at the Abierto Mexicano de Tenis in Acapulco, but defending champion Nick Kyrgios wasn’t so lucky.
Kyrgios, who saved three match points en route to the title last year at Acapulco, bowed out at the first hurdle due to an aggravated left wrist. He dropped the first set against Frenchman Ugo Humbert 6-3 before shaking the Frenchman’s hand and leaving the court to a chorus of boos.
Kyrgios, who has not played since the Australian Open, had recently missed the New York Open and Delray Beach Open because of the injury. As he took the court against Humbert he seemed to be bothered by the wrist from the start. He had it taped at a changeover and played through the pain in the opening set, but elected to stop at that point.
Nadal had managed a decisive victory hours earlier on the same court, as he improved his lifetime record at Acapulco to 16-2 with his 90-minute victory over Andujar.
Andujar managed a break in Nadal’s first service game of the match but he could not manage to hold on to the break—or the momentum—as Nadal gradually wrestled control of the contest and picked up steam as he marched to an easy victory, his fourth in four career contests against his fellow Spaniard.
Nadal’s win sets up a second-rounder with 20-year-old Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia. The World No.2 improves to 9-3 on the season with Tuesday’s win.
Alexander Zverev also moved through on Tuesday with a 7-6(1) 6-1 victory over Chinese Tapei’s Jason Jung. The German, a runner-up last year at Acapulco, broke open a close match by racing through a dominant tiebreaker in the first set. He then proceeded to dominate the second set, winning 26 of 39 overall points against the qualifier.
Second-seeded Zverev will face American Tommy Paul in the second round.
Felix Auger-Aliassime and Grigor Dimitrov also came through on a busy Tuesday in Mexico.
2014 champion Dimitrov, seeded seventh, knocked off Damir Dzumhur 6-3 6-3 while Auger-Aliassime, seeded fourth, got past Alex Bolt 6-3 7-6(5) on his Acapulco debut.
Fifth-seeded John Isner (d. Mischa Zverev), eighth-seeded Dusan Lajovic (d. Steve Johnson), Soonwoo Kwon (d. Taro Daniel), Pedro Martinez (d. Radu Albot) and Taylor Fritz (d. John Millman) also advanced on Tuesday in Acapulco.