The Mexican Open continued on Wednesday's early morning with victories for the likes of Gael Monfils, Mattia Bellucci, Flavio Cobolli and top seed and World No. 4 Alexander Zverev. However, Mexican fans saw another big upset: the Norwegian Casper Ruud, World No. 13 and fourth seed in Acapulco, lost in two tie-breaks to the qualifier Wu Yibing, 7-6(2), 7-6(1).
It was Wu's third top 20 victory, after defeating Taylor Fritz in 2023 and Daniil Medvedev last September. "Casper is one of the best on Tour to play rallies, and I really had to stay patient and at the same time aggressive", said the 26-year-old Chinese, ranked 142 in the world, who advances to round of 16 and will face the Japanese Sho Shimabukuro, ranked 130 in the world, in the matches on Wednesday (Thursday early morning in European time).
Ruud joins Alex de Miñaur and Cameron Norrie as one of the major upsets from the ATP 500 in Mexico, leaving Zverev and last year finalist Alejandro Davidovich Fokina as the main favourites for the titles, to be decided next Saturday.
Mexican Open matches on Thursday:
Alexander Zverev (GER) vs Miomir Kecmanovic (SRB)
Terence Atmane (FRA) vs Rafael Jódar (ESP)
Yibing Wu (CHN) vs Sho Shimabukuro (JPN)
Dalibor Svrcina (CZE) vs Flavio Cobolli (ITA)
Frances Tiafoe (USA) vs Aleksandar Kovacevic (USA)
Mattia Bellucci (ITA) vs Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (ESP)
Valentin Vacherot (MON) vs Gaël Monfils (FRA)