Alex de Mianur has secured his re-entry into the world’s top 20 after ousting Tommy Paul to win the Mexican Open in Acapulco.
De Minaur, who is currently ranked just one place higher than Paul at 22nd in the world, battled to a 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, victory over the American. The performance saw the Australian convert four out of 10 break point opportunities and hit a total of 20 winners. It is his fourth consecutive win over Paul on the ATP Tour with his only loss to him occurring back in 2015 when they clashed in the semi-finals of the US Open junior tournament.
“It feels great, it feels amazing,” De Minaur said after the Acapulco final. “I know the hard work that’s put in to be here and it’s good to see the results. It’s not always that you win the tournament and you get to finish a week unbeaten, so I’ll definitely cherish this going into Indian Wells and Miami.”
Before facing Paul, de Minaur knocked out fourth seed Holger Rune in the semi-finals where he also bounced back from a set down. Earlier in the tournament, he dropped only eight games in his first three matches played against Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez, Jacopo Berrrettini and Taro Daniel.
It is the first time in his career that the 24-year-old has won an ATP 500 event after settling for runner-up twice before at the 2018 Citi Open and the 2019 Swiss Indoors. De Minaur has also won six ATP 250 trophies with his best Grand Slam performance being a run to the quarter-finals of the 2020 US Open.
On Monday De Minaur will rise to 18th in the ATP Pepperstone rankings which is three places away from his career high. It will be the first time he has been in the world’s top 20 since September last year.
“Like everything in my career, it’s been step by step,” he said of his return back into the top 20. “I just want to keep pushing, keep getting the most out of myself. I know I might not play unbelievable tennis every day but I know I’m going to fight to the end.
“I’ve got a whole lot of heart in this little body of mine and I enjoy competing, so I’m very happy with it.”
De Minaur is only the second man from his country to win the Acapulco title after Nick Kyrrgios did so back in 2019.
