ACAPULCO, Mexico — Juan Martin del Potro dispatched top seed German Alexander Zverev 6-4, 6-2 in the semifinal of the Mexican Open on Friday to set up a decider against South African Kevin Anderson who overcame Jared Donaldson 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 earlier in the day. Zverev assumed top ranking after the late withdrawal of Rafael Nadal and he had not lost a set all week. But Del Potro, who has won 16 of his 20 career titles on hard courts like the one in Acapulco, dominated his higher-ranked opponent in a match that lasted just 90 minutes. The Argentine never lost a break point all night and hit only one double fault. In Saturday’s final, he will take on fifth seed Anderson, who is on track for a second consecutive title after winning the New York Open two weeks ago. Anderson, who is enjoying one of the finest spells of a long and solid career that has brought him four titles, used his height and power to serve 18 aces against Donaldson. The South African also hit more than double the number of winners against his opponent — 37 to 17. “I really felt I did well just fighting as hard as I could,” he said in a courtside interview. “The match point felt great to really go after it and execute the way I wanted to.” The world No. 8 Anderson has plenty of confidence heading into Saturday’s final. “It just feels great to win tonight’s match,” Anderson said. “When you’re out there, you’re not really thinking about finals and what happened before. In the heat of the battle, I thought it was a really tough match.” Since last January, when he plunged to 80th in the world, Anderson has made five finals comprising Washington D.C., the US Open, Pune, New York and now Acapulco. He was runner-up at the 2017 US Open. On the women’s side of the draw, defending champion Lesia Tsurenko earned a ninth straight victory at this event as she held off a late charge from Daria Gavrilova to return to the WTA final with a 6-2, 6-4 win. Tsurenko will have the opportunity to play for her fourth career WTA title against Swiss Stefanie Voegele who cruised past Swedish qualifier Rebecca Peterson 6-4, 7-6 (7/5). Nadal pulls out World No. 2 Rafael Nadal announced his withdrawal from this month’s ATP Masters events in Miami and Indian Wells Friday, citing a leg injury that forced him to pull out the Mexican Open. Nadal said in a statement on Facebook the injury, which flared in Acapulco this week, was in the same area as the hip problem that led to his exit from the Australian Open in January. “I won’t be able to play in Miami or Indian Wells as I need to recover,” Nadal said. “It was very painful to retire from Acapulco and it’s very hard as well to not play in the USA. I will miss you and I will do everything that’s possible to be back there in 2019.” The 31-year-old 16-time Grand Slam winner had been left distraught on Tuesday after suddenly pulling out of Acapulco just hours before his opening match. It marked the sixth tournament in a row that Nadal has pulled out of or retired from — Basel, Paris, the London ATP Tour Finals, Brisbane, Australian Open and Acapulco. — Agencies