- The fourth day in Los Cabos left pleasant sensations with the passage of top seeds Zverev, Tsitsipas and Ruud and an intense match between Michelsen and Thompson.
Los Cabos, February 22, 2024.- The favorites and top seeds of the Mifel Tennis Open by Telcel Oppo in Los Cabos advance to the semifinals.
Casper Ruud (No. 12), won his second victory and became the first semifinalist at the ATP 250 in Los Cabos. On this occasion he opened the activity at the Mextenis Stadium at 15:00 hrs local time and against the Portuguese Nuno Borges he was solid with a 69 % of effectiveness in his first serve. In less than 20 minutes of the first set, the Norwegian had already broken the serve of the 48th ranked player and in 57 minutes he finished the match 6-3, 6-2.
Ruud now meets Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semifinals, against whom he has a 2-1 record. “Happy to advance, the conditions here benefit my game, a lot of bounce, one of the highest in the year, I can make spin, my topspin works well,” he stressed in conference after his win, to then prepare for his doubles match where he will also play the semifinals.
Meanwhile, defending champion Tsitsipas, ranked No. 11, took on world No. 100 Aleksander Kovacevic. The 25-year-old American managed to trouble the Greek at the start of the match, who required a tie break to take the lead in the first set despite winning 88% of points on his first serve. After demonstrating his experience and mental toughness in the tiebreak, the second seed of the tournament reached solidity in the second set and clinched the match 7-6(1), 6-3 in 1:39 hours.
“It was not the best start of the match, but I managed to get up and get things under control, especially in the second set when I got into a rhythm and made things difficult for him, more my game”, confessed the Greek in conference. About Ruud he said: “The conditions benefit the game of both of us, we both like them. He is a competitor, he pushes me to the limit, I need to be well prepared and take it like every match and see if there is an opportunity to play my game.”
Earlier on the main court of the Cabo Sports Complex, surprise package Alex Michelsen (No. 74) and eighth-seeded Jordan Thompson played a tight duel that went to three sets. Although in the first set the young American, who only made his debut in the summer of 2023 and has been one of the most sensational players under 20 years of age on the tour, imposed a 6-0 lead on the Australian with 92% of points won with his first serve, in the second Thompson reacted, improved his serve and took the duel to a tie break that defined in his favor.
In the denouement, the good level of both players came to the fore again, but Thompson’s experience was more important in the decisive moments.
It was the comeback of the tournament so far after being down 1-4 in the second set. The match took 2 hours and 39 minutes and Thompson won 0-6, 7-6(1), 7-5 and will now face his toughest challenge against top seed Alexander Zverev.
The stellar match that closed Thursday’s activity was precisely that of Sacha Zverev. The German, world No. 6, faced Thanasi Kokkinakis, finalist of the second edition in 2016. However, the big favorite and debutant in the Mexican ATP 250 had no major complications and with the affection of the public defeated in a now 6-3, 6-4 in almost two hours of encounter. The service of both was similar with 63% and 62% of effectiveness, as well as 3 double faults for each, but Zverev took advantage by saving the breaks.
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