ACAPULCO, Mexico — Czech Republic’s Tomas Machac won his first title on the ATP tour, beating Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain 7-6(6) 6-2 in the final of the Mexican Open.
Eighth seed Machac, who won gold in mixed doubles at the Paris Olympics, became the third player from his country to win an ATP 500 title, following Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek.
“It feels amazing,” Machac said after lifting the silver gourd-shaped trophy according to Reuters.
Machac, ranked 25th in the world, was the superior player on the serve, landing seven aces through a tightly contested first set where neither player could get a break.
Spain’s Davidovich Fokina was on the verge of winning the set when he led 6-5 in the tiebreaker, but Machac held his nerve to win the next three points and claim the set.
The 24-year-old stepped up in the second set, getting the first break of the match to go up 3-2. Davidovich Fokina struggled to keep up as Machac won every subsequent game to seal the victory.
Machac, who beat Novak Djokovic in last year’s Geneva Open to reach his first tour final, where he lost to Casper Ruud, fell to his back after securing the championship point in Acapulco as Davidovich Fokina’s return got stuck in the net.
“Congratulations for your first title,” Davidovich Fokina told Machac at the presentation ceremony. “I don´t know how you feel right now. I never won a title. But for sure it feels amazing.”
The Spaniard has now lost three finals on the tour, including at the Delray Beach Open earlier this month.
Machac thanked his coach Daniel Vacek for helping him stay calm through the tense contest.
“I was sometimes very tough on him, I speak very loudly (to) him during the matches,” Machac said.
“But I told him two weeks ago that I sometimes struggle with big matches and I don’t know how to manage these situations but then I won… I will try to speak more often.”
Emma Raducanu, meanwhile, will return to action next week at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.
At the former US Open champion’s most recent tournament in Dubai last week, she was approached by a man displaying what the WTA described as “fixated behaviour” before her second-round defeat by Karolina Muchova.
Raducanu was visibly distressed, hiding behind the umpire’s chair early in the contest after spotting the man in the first few rows of seats.
The 22-year-old, who had ended a four-match losing run in the first round, opted not to press charges after the man was detained but he has been banned from future tournaments.
Raducanu had been weighing up whether to take a longer break after returning home but has decided to play Indian Wells, one of the biggest tournaments of the year, as planned. According to reports, the world No 55, who has performed strongly in the Californian desert in the past, will be offered extra security.
Raducanu’s search for a new full-time coach goes on and she will be supported in Indian Wells by her fitness trainer Yutaka Nakamura and Tom Welsh.
Welsh has formerly worked with Leylah Fernandez, the player Raducanu beat to win the US Open in 2021, and joined the National Academy at Loughborough three years ago. It is understood his involvement is limited solely to this one tournament.
Alexander Zverev’s hopes of overtaking Jannik Sinner as the world No 1 were dealt a blow by a second-round loss to the teenager Learner Tien at the Mexican Open.
Zverev is best placed to take advantage of Sinner’s three-month doping ban, with the Italian not eligible to return to the tour until May.
