Ruud Upset By Qualifier In Acapulco; Fritz v Tiafoe, Berrettini v Rune In QFs

The highest seed in the event, Casper Ruud, was upset Wednesday night in Acapulco by qualifier Taro Daniel in a thriller 7-5, 2-6, 7-6(7-5).

Ruud led with a break early and battled in the third to get to two match points on Daniel’s serve in the 5-6 game. Daniel stayed strong to earn arguably the biggest win of his career, his first over a Top 10 player (was 0-8).

“I think every time these victories feel more like my own. The first time I beat Djokovic, it felt a little bit like he was not playing very well,” Daniel said to the ATP. “But this time I felt like I was really playing against Casper at a high level. I mean obviously he’s still coming back, he’s a bit rusty and all that. But still, I had to win it.

“It was a very physical battle, great atmosphere, so happy.”

Former runner-up Taylor Fritz advanced past Denis Shapovalov of Canada in two sets 6-4, 6-4. Fritz had seven aces, lost just one point on first serve (won 29/30) and broke serve three times in the match.

Fritz closes the gap with Canadian but still trails 5-3 in their head-to-head. Shapovalov slips to 3-23 v Top 5 players.

Fourth-seeded Holger Rune hammered Nuno Borges of Portugal 6-0, 6-2. No. 7 seed and Australian Open semifinalist Tommy Paul got by Michael Mmoh via a retirement at 6-4, 2-all.

Matteo Berrettini eased past lucky loser Elias Ymer 6-3, 6-3. Mackenzie McDonald dusted (21y,49r) Brandon Nakashima 6-2, 6-0. No. 8 Alex De Minaur rolled by Jacopo Berrettini 6-1, 6-0 and 6th-seeded Frances Tiafoe ousted Spanish veteran Feliciano Lopez 6-2, 7-6(8-6).

On tap Thursday in quarterfinal action Tiafoe takes on Fritz with Fritz leading 5-1 in their tour-level contests, taking their most recent collision in the 2022 Tokyo final.

“Frances and I are really close friends, but we’re also rivals as well,” said Fritz said of their meetings. ”We’ve played each other a lot and I know I usually approach it like any other match, but I feel like whenever we play there’s probably a little bit of extra pressure. I think both of us really want to beat the other one.”

Rune battles Berrettini, Paul meets McDonald and De Minaur duels Daniel.

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