Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez and Alex Hernandez saw their impressive runs come to an end in the quarterfinals of the Mexico City Open presented by Banco bxm, falling just short of becoming the first home players to reach the semi-finals of the tournament.

Pacheco Mendez was the first to take the court, facing last year’s finalist Luka Pavlovic of France. The Mexican started strongly, claiming the opening set 6-2, but Pavlovic relied on his greater experience in key moments to turn the match around and secure a 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(1) victory after one hour and 52 minutes.

In the crueling third set, Pacheco held a 5-3 lead but was unable to serve out the match. Both players held serve to force a tie-break, where the Frenchman dominated 7-1 to seal the win.

Pavlovic will now face Italy’s Stefano Napolitano, who upset second seed Tristan Schoolkate of Australia 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 to reach the last four of the ATP Challenger 125 tournament.

Later in the day, Alex Hernandez also exited after a hard-fought battle against Belgium’s Tibo Colson. Hernandez bounced back from losing the first set in a tie-break to take the second, but ultimately fell 6-7(5), 6-2, 5-7 in a match lasting just over two hours.

The 26-year-old Mexican wild card entry fought back bravely in the final set, breaking serve to level at 5-5, but was immediately broken himself. Colson then closed out the match, finishing with an impressive 23 aces.

Colson advances to face top seed James Duckworth of Australia, who rallied past Kazakhstan’s Beibit Zhukayev 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

James Duckworth keeps rolling 👊

The top seed reaches his second consecutive ATP Challenger semifinal after beating Zhukayev in three sets#ATPChallenger | @mxcityopen pic.twitter.com/kDUKC1s6Az

— ATP Challenger (@ATPChallenger) April 10, 2026

Despite the defeats, the 2026 edition of the Mexico City Open marked a milestone, as it was the first time in tournament history that two Mexican players reached the quarter-final stage.

Both semi-finals will be played on Saturday at the Estadio Rafael “Pelón” Osuna at the Centro Deportivo Chapultepec.