Davidovich Fokina Ends Shapovalov’s Winning Streak, Reaches Acapulco Final

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Acapulco
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (photo: Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC)

ACAPULCO/WASHINGTON, March 1, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina reached one – count ’em one – ATP Tour final in the first 117 tour-level events of his career dating back to 2019 at Marrakech and continuing through Dallas last month. Now, the 25-year-old Spaniard has achieved back-to-back finals after playing in the Delray Beach Open in February and reaching the title match of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC in Acapulco Friday night.

The 48th-ranked Davidovich Fokina became the third Spanish finalist since the Mexico event switched to hard courts from clay in 2014, following the success of Rafael Nadal (2017, 2020, 2022) and David Ferrer (2015) after he defeated World No. 32 Denis Shapovalov of Canada, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (1) in two hours and 15 minutes in front of a lively crowd that filled the outdoor Arena GNP Seguros to capacity.

By defeating Shapovalov, who came into the semifinal seeking his ninth consecutive tour-level win, he ended the in-form Canadian’s eight-match winning streak and prevented him from playing in back-to-back ATP 500 finals after winning the Dallas Open last month. Along the way, Shapovalov had accumulated three Top-10 victories. Now, Davidovich Fokina, who beat Shapovalov for the first time in two tries, is through to his second final of the season and joins Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada (3) and Alexandre Muller of France (2) as the third player to play in multiple title matches in 2025.

“The match was so tight,” Davidovich Fokina said afterward.  “The first set maybe he deserved it more. The second set I deserved it maybe. But at the end I didn’t lose the fight against him because I was ready for everything at the end.”

In the opening set, Shapovalov broke Davidovich Fokina to go ahead 3-1 and consolidated the break to take a commanding 4-1 lead. In the early going, the Canadian lefty saved both break points he faced and proved to be the steadier player from both wings.

However, the Spaniard got the break back in the seventh game to get back on serve after hitting an eighth-shot forehand winner. Although Shapovalov proved the more resilient player – and broke his opponent a second time to put himself in the position of serving for the set ahead 5-3 – he was broken again and paid the price. Davidovich Fokina consolidated the break for 5-all and went on to win the set in a tie-break 7-3 as Shapovalov amassed 22 unforced errors and was outpointed 46-42.

In the second set, Davidovich Fokina got an early break and took a 3-0 lead, then extended it to 4-1. He seemed to feed off the crowd as the match wore on. As Davidovich Fokina soon found out, though, Shapovalov still had a lot of fight left in him. He broke the Spaniard in the seventh game to get back on serve at 3-4. It gave Shapovalov some hope – and he consolidated the break with a solid forehand winner that fired him up.

From 4-all, Davidovich held steady on his serve to grab a 5-4 lead – inching ever so closer to a victory he desperately wanted and deserved. As the match neared two hours in duration, Shapovalov stood his ground. He won a 20-shot rally to begin his service game, needing to hold serve to prolong the semifinal. He did just that, holding at love for 5-all. Then, he broke Davidovich Fokina for the third time in the match to push ahead 6-5 with a chance to close out the set on his racquet and send it to a decider. But the Spaniard wasn’t ready to concede. Instead, he broke Shapovalov’s serve for the fourth time in the semifinal to set up another tiebreaker.

In the tie-break, Davidovich Fokina jumped out to a quick 3-0 advantage after Shapovalov committed his third double fault. He extended it to 4-0 with an 11th-shot forehand winner that stunned the Canadian and won two more points – his seventh and eighth points in a row – to build an insurmountable 6-0 lead with six match points beckoning. While Davidovich Fokina wasn’t able to close it out on the first one – hitting a tweener into the net – he hit a third-shot forehand winner for a stunning victory.

The two competitors hugged one another at the net and it was Davidovich Fokina raising his arms in victory at the end.

By the conclusion, Davidovich Fokina hit 25 winners – 17 of the from the forehand – to offset 37 unforced errors, compared to 22 winner and 42 unforced errors by Shapovalov. Each converted four service breaks and Davidovich Fokina outpointed his opponent 92-83.

“It’s not every day I’m in the semifinals of [an ATP] 500,” Davidovich Fokina said. “I’m very happy how I fought back for the first set and how I continued in the second set. It was not easy when he came back.”

Machac magic: Czech No. 1 reaches biggest final of career

The story of the first semifinal was all about endurance – who could cover the court the best – and by the end of the two-hour, three-minute tussle, it was Tomas Machac, who survived as the fittest player. The new Czech No. 1 defeated American Brandon Nakashima, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4, to reach the biggest final of his career.

Machac, the World No. 25 from Czechia, didn’t play his best tennis. However, it was good enough to beat the 42nd-ranked Nakashima. He overcame 41 unforced errors by hitting 27 winners – including 16 from his forehand side – and converted three of six break points. Despite winning his 11th match of the season, Machac was outpointed by Nakashima 83-79.

Machac won the 50-minute opening set 6-4 with a flourish. He hit 13 winners to 17 unforced errors and outpointed Nakashima 35-33. Machac won 83 percent of his first-serve points and converted one of two break-point opportunities while saving all four break points he faced from Nakashima – three of them coming during a 14-point sixth game.

However, Nakashima rallied at the beginning of the second set. He broke Machac to go ahead 2-0 and consolidated it with a love hold for an early 3-0 advantage just 11 minutes into the set. Soon, he went ahead by a double break lead at 5-1. Once again, Nakashima consolidated the break to send the match to a decider. After 80 minutes, it was all even. Nakashima outpointed Machac 26-14 by winning 15 of 27 baseline exchanges and did not face any break points.

“The second set I didn’t feel really good at all,” Machac admitted during his on-court interview. “I was feeling like I lost the rhythm. At the beginning [of the third set], I was feeling much better and I figured out what to do.”

In the final set, Machac broke Nakashima in the sixth game to go ahead 4-2, needing just to hold serve twice more to reach his second ATP Tour final after Geneva last year. He would be the first Czech to reach an ATP 500 final since Jiri Vesely at Dubai in 2022. However, he faced two break points in the next game and surrendered the break back when Nakashima won with a sixth-shot, backhand cross-court winner. He consolidated the break for 4-all and it was anyone’s guess who would come out on top. Machac did his part to hold serve to move to within a game of winning.

Soon, Machac had a match point at 15-40 but Nakashima wasn’t through just yet. The American saved it and saved a second one, too, to gain deuce. However, Machac gained a third match point with a 12th-shot forehand winner on the next point. Finally, he won after Nakashima hit a third-shot forehand beyond the baseline.

“I will try my best tomorrow,” Machac said. “If it’s going to be tomorrow, I will be very happy. If not, I will wait for the next one. I will play my tennis and let’s see how far I can go.”

Since last year’s US Open, Machac has recorded 24 tour-level wins, fourth-most on the ATP Tour.

Around the Abierto Mexicano Telcel

At the same time that the singles semifinals were taking place on Estadio, over on the Grandstand the doubles semifinals were also in full swing. First, American qualifiers Christian Harrison and Evan King, who have yet to lose a set, earned a walkover into Saturday’s final over unseeded Alexander Erler of Austria and Constantin Frantzen of Germany. As qualifiers, Harrison and King won the Dallas Open title last month and were finalists at Delray Beach the following week. They are 10-3 in main draw play this season.

Harrison and King will face No. 4 seeds Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul of France, the only seeded team remaining, who defeated wild cards N. Sriram Balaji of India and Miguel Reyes-Varela of Mexico, 7-6 (4), 6-3.

Friday’s Abierto Mexicano Telcel results

Saturday’s Abierto Mexicano Telcel order of play

By the numbers

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina has become just the third player to reach multiple ATP Tour finals in 2025, joining Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime (3) and Alexandre Muller of France (2).

“Quotable …”

“It doesn’t happen overnight. It’s been a long process. … I’m very happy have played so well in the last couple of weeks. It’s something we always strive for – and to try to get back to the Top 10. It’s just an everyday effort to get closer to that goal.”

– World No. 32 and ninth seed Denis Shapovalov of Canad during his post-match news conference Thursday, on the improvement of his play the past month, which has included winning the ATP 500 Dallas Open and reaching the semifinals of this week’s event in Acapulco.

 

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