By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Wednesday February 27, 2024
Alex de Minaur will try to snap a ten-match winless streak against Stefanos Tsitsipas on Thursday in Acapulco.
Photo Source: Getty
What’s the definition of insanity in tennis?
For Alex de Minaur it might be facing Stefanos Tsitsipas for the 11th time and expecting a different result than the first ten times, but the Aussie is high on confidence having made his Top-10 debut earlier this year, so why not belief that he can finally change his fortunes against Tsitsipas?
De Minaur has won just 1 of the last 17 sets he has contested against Tsitsipas, but he'll take another crack at the Greek in the quarterfinals after both came through on Wednesday in Acapulco.
De Minaur comfortably eased past Sebastian Ofner, 6-1, 6-3, on Thursday in Acapulco, winning his seventh consecutive match at the 500-level event and improving to 12-4 on the season.
For the 25-year-old Aussie, the sport is an affair of the heart. And he hopes his passion will help him find a way deeper into the draw in Mexico.
“This heart is going to keep me going, no matter what the score is, where I'm at, what stage of my career I am [in],” he said on court after his win. “It's what's gotten me to this point so far, and it's what's going to hopefully get me further and further.”
Tsitsipas looked excellent on Wednesday as he moved past Italy’s Flavio Cobolli 6-3, 7-6(6). The Greek won the final five points of the second set tiebreak to finish off Cobolli.
"It's something that you do not expect and there's definitely a lot of doubt creeping through your mind. I think at this particular moment I was just able to compose myself really well and I refused to go to a third set, which was very important,” Tsitsipas, a former finalist in Acapulco, said.
Shelton Going Strong
The most intense atmosphere of the evening happened out on Grandstand where Ben Shelton and Matteo Arnaldi faced off in a heated affair. Arnaldi had the crowd on his side but it was Shelton who rose to the challenge and delivered a 7-6(1), 3-6, 6-3 win to reach the quarterfinals.
The unseeded American, into his first Acapulco quarterfinal, will face sixth-seeded Casper Ruud in the quarterfinals after the Norwegian closed the night in Acapulco with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Dusan Lajovic.
Second-seeded Holger Rune (d. Kovacevics) will face Dominik Koepfer in the quarterfinals after the German upset Frances Tiafoe 6-4, 5-7, 6-1.
Jack Draper (d. Nishioka) and Miomir Kecmanovic (d. Altmaier) will meet in quarterfinals as well.