Nadal Sprints Into Acapulco Final

Second seed Rafael Nadal wasted no time getting down to business on Friday at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, recording a convincing 6-1, 6-2 win over third seed Marin Cilic to reach the final in Acapulco.

Nadal remains undefeated at this event, improving to 14-0 and winning all 28 sets he has played. Both of his previous Acapulco titles, in 2005 and 2013, came on red clay. Nadal also boosts his FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Cilic to 4-1 and has won their past four matches.

The Spaniard will face either sixth seed Nick Kyrgios or Sam Querrey in Saturday’s final. Nadal is even with Kyrgios in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series at 1-1, but won their most recent meeting last May at the Internazionali BNL D’Italia. Nadal has dominated his FedEx ATP Head2Head series with Querrey 4-0, including a win last May at the Mutua Madrid Open. A win would gave Nadal his first hard-court title since the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in January 2014.

Cilic was uncharacteristically out of sorts in the opening set, hitting 15 errors in the first five games as Nadal raced to a 5-0 lead. A pair of aces put the third seed on the scoreboard, but it was only a moral victory as the Spaniard held in the next game to grab the early advantage.

The second set started out identically to the first as Nadal immediately grabbed an early break to lead 2-0. Although Cilic began to find his footing and test Nadal’s serve, the Spaniard saved all four break points in the second set with clutch serving. A backhand passing shot on the run gave Nadal an insurance break to lead 5-2 and he struck a forehand winner on his first match point to advance in one hour and 23 minutes. 

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