Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez made an outstanding start to his campaign at the Mexico City Open presented by Banco bxm, defeating third seed Mackenzie McDonald 6-2, 6-2 in one of the biggest upsets of the opening round.

The US-American was considered one of the tournament favorites, but Pacheco Mendez produced an assured and aggressive performance to dominate from start to finish. Despite being ranked nearly 150 places below McDonald in the ATP rankings, the 20-year-old Mexican looked full of confidence throughout the match, which lasted 62 minutes.

 

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The victory capped a strong period for the Yucatán native, who reached the singles semi-finals and the doubles final last week in San Luis Potosi. Although he left that tournament without a title, the performances appear to have given him renewed belief.

“Tennis is a sport where you have to be consistent every day,” Pacheco Mendez said after the match. “Everyone has great potential and is playing well, so for me it is about working very hard on the mental side and, above all, going out and enjoying it.”

Pacheco Mendez admitted he had been deeply disappointed by missing out on the title in San Luis Potosi, but said he used that frustration as motivation.

“I’ve been playing good matches,” he said. “I got rid of the bad feeling from last week, when I didn’t give myself the chance to win the tournament, but I’m continuing to build up matches. I was very sad about what happened, so I needed to clear my mind and try to forget it. Today I focused on turning that feeling around.”