ACAPULCO, Mexico — Unseeded American Sam Querrey stunned second-seeded Rafael Nadal 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) Saturday to win the ATP Mexico Open and end the Spaniard’s run of perfection in Acapulco.
Querrey, ranked 40th in the world, fired 19 aces, backed up by powerful, precise groundstrokes, en route to his first career victory over Nadal in five meetings.
The Spaniard, the 2005 and 2013 champion, had never even lost a set in Acapulco.
“I’m ecstatic,” Querrey said. “To do it against Rafa makes it even a little sweeter.”
Querrey captured his ninth ATP title in an impressive week that saw him beat four top-10 players — Belgian David Goffin, Austrian Dominic Thiem, Australian Nick Kyrgios and sixth-ranked Nadal.
He’s projected to return to the top 30 in the world rankings Monday.
“It’s definitely a tournament that I’m going to remember for the rest of my life,” Querrey said. “It’s just one of those weeks where I got in the zone and everything was working for me. I hope I can have more like this.”
Nadal, playing his first tournament since falling to Roger Federer in five sets in the Australian Open final, was denied his first hard court title since Doha in 2014.
“He played very well, almost reaching perfection,” Nadal said. “I played under a lot of pressure because of his serve and baseline game. He left me with very few options, and the few I had he also played good.”
Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko nabbed her third WTA Tour title, toppling second-seeded Kristina Mladenovic 6-1, 7-5 in the women’s final. Tsurenko advanced when top-seeded Mirjana Lucic-Baroni retired from their semifinal with illness.
Cuevas in final
Pablo Cuevas beat Spanish top seed Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3 7-6(2) Saturday to set himself for a chance of a third consecutive Brasil Open title.
The Uruguayan, who beat Carreno Busta in the final of the claycourt event last year, broke twice in the first five games to seal the first set before toppling his opponent in a second set tiebreak.
He will face another Spaniard, Albert Ramos-Vinolas, in Sunday’s final.
The second seed survived a match point to record a 6-7(5) 7-5 6-2 win over Portuguese fourth seed Joao Sousa.
Sousa held match point while serving at 5-4 in the second set but Ramos-Vinolas swiped that away with a forehand down the line that the Portuguese netted.
Cuevas has won three his four previous meetings with Ramos-Vinolas. — Agencies
