Photo Source: TTV
Americans make up one quarter of the 32-player field at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco this week.
Four of them are already through to the round of 16.
Third-seeded Tommy Paul, fifth-seeded Ben Shelton, Marcos Giron and Learner Tien all advanced in straight sets as play kicked off at the ATP 500 event.
Shelton scored a dynamic 7-6(4), 7-6(4) win over Italy’s Flavio Cobolli on Center Court, the 22-year-old World No.14 pushing past 39th-ranked Cobolli in a heated battle. It was an important victory for Shelton, who played with a lot of spunk and rallied from a break down in the second set to ensure that he didn’t lose from a set up for the third consecutive time against Cobolli.
“That was one I wanted really badly,” Shelton said. “For me I wanted to fight back, complete it in two, and get off the court. It’s never easy going into a match being 0-2 against somebody. Like I said in Australia, you go 0-3 and they become your daddy – I was fighting again for that not to happen.”
Shelton cracked 13 aces and 10 forehand winners to get the win in two hours and 8 minutes. He will face Belgium’s David Goffin, who defeated Rinky Hijikata on Monday, next.
Tommy Paul eased through the nightcap on Center Court, 6-2, 6-2 over Canadian qualifier Gabriel Diallo, setting a clash with fellow American Marcos Giron. Giron got by Australian qualifier Adam Walton, 7-6(4), 6-2.
Paul was a runner up in Acapulco in 2023. He is making his seventh appearance at the event.
Learner Tien got a win on his Acapulco debut, 7-6(5), 6-3 over Cameron Norrie. 83rd-ranked Tien is now 5-3 on the season after taking out the 2022 finalist. He will face either second-seeded Alexander Zverev or Matteo Arnaldi in round two.