ACAPULCO, March 5, 2017
Sam Querrey secured his ninth ATP World Tour crown by handing two-time Abierto Mexicano Telcel champion Rafael Nadal his first-ever loss in Acapulco. The 29-year-old from California won Saturday’s final 6-3, 7-6 to become the first US-American winner in the tournament’s 24-year-old history.
Querrey fired 19 aces, saved all of the six break points he faced, converting one of his own to prevail in one hour and 34 minutes.
“It’s definitely a tournament that I’m going to remember for the rest of my life. It was 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,” Querrey told and added:
“After the match against Goffin, I knew I could go far here if I continued to play at that level. My forehand and backhand were great and my serve bailed me out of trouble when I needed it. I felt like I had a lot of support throughout the week and everyone has been so kind. It’s been a pleasure to play here.”
After going 0-7 against Top 20 players since defeating Novak Djokovic last year at Wimbledon, the US- American recorded four consecutive Top 20 victories this week.
Nadal was seeking his 70th ATP World Tour singles title.
“He played very well, almost reaching perfection. 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. I have to congratulate him. I’m also very happy with my week and my game,” the second seeded Spaniard stated.
Nadal also mentioned that he will skip the Davis Cup quarterfinal tie with Spain in Belgrade against Serbia in order to get ready for the clay court season. “After Acapulco I will play in Indian Wells and Miami, then I will have two weeks off to prepare the most important part of the season for me. All the tournaments that I play are important, but it´s clear that Monte Carlo and Roland Garros are even more important.”
Murray/Soares Prevail
Jamie Murray of Great Britain and Bruno Soares from Brazil defeated US-American John Isner and Feliciano Lopez of Spain 6-3, 6-3 to win their first ATP World Tour doubles title of 2017. Murray and Soares now have four doubles titles as a team, all of which have come on hard-courts.
“We did well to win the first match this week because we were down for most of the Match Tie-break. But that’s what often happens in doubles. You squeeze through the first match and go on to win the tournament. Today was a difficult match, a lot of good serving. We knew we weren’t going to get loads of chances, but we were able to take the ones we had,” Murray said.
“I’ve played in Acapulco many times now and really like the conditions here. We played some great tennis this week and now here we are with the trophy,” Soares added.
