Acapulco 2024 final: Alex de Minaur vs Casper Ruud preview, head-to-head, prediction, odds and pick | Mexican Open
Match details
Fixture: (3) Alex de Minaur vs (6) Casper Ruud
Date: March 2, 2024
Tournament: Mexican Open 2024
Round: Final
Venue: Arena GNP Seguros, Acapulco, Mexico
Category: ATP 500
Surface: Outdoor hardcourt
Prize money: $2,206,080
Live telecast: USA - Tennis Channel | UK - Sky Sports | Canada - TSN+
Alex de Minaur vs Casper Ruud preview
Defending champion Alex de Minaur will lock horns with sixth seed Casper Ruud in the final of the 2024 Mexican Open on Saturday.
De Minaur commenced his title defense in Acapulco with easy wins over Taro Daniel and Sebastian Ofner. He registered his very first win against Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarterfinals, beating him 1-6, 6-3, 6-3.
De Minaur then faced Jack Draper in the semifinals. The Australian played a near-perfect first set as he broke his opponent's serve twice to take the set. The Brit was quick to respond as he fought back to take the second set and level the proceedings.
Draper's comeback soon went off the rails as he started to feel the effects of being sick. He quickly fell behind 4-0 in the decider and retired from the match after that. De Minaur thus advanced to the final for the second straight year with a 6-3, 2-6, 4-0 ret. win.
Ruud defeated Christopher Eubanks and Dusan Lajovic to reach the quarterfinals. He overcame a one-set deficit to beat Ben Shelton 6-7 (7), 6-4, 6-4 and set up a semifinal showdown against second seed Holger Rune.
Ruud was off to a slow start as he went down an early break to fall behind 3-0 in the first set. Rune defended his headstart quite well and captured the opener to take the lead in the match.
Ruud raised his level in the next set and was able to clinch it to be on level terms with Rune. The Norwegian was down 4-2 in the deciding set but swept the next four games of the match to score a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 comeback win.
Alex de Minaur vs Casper Ruud head-to-head
De Minaur leads Ruud 1-0 in the head-to-head. He won their previous encounter at the 2019 Next Gen ATP Finals in straight sets.
Alex de Minaur vs Casper Ruud odds
(Odds are sourced from BetMGM)
Alex de Minaur vs Casper Ruud prediction
Both are in really great form this season, with de Minaur having a 14-4 record for the season and Ruud compiling a 13-2 record. The latter also reached the final of last week's Los Cabos Open, where he lost to another Australian, Jordan Thompson.
De Minaur is on the verge of a successful title defense as he needs just one more win to lift back-to-back trophies here. He previously reached the final in Rotterdam a few weeks ago but lost to Jannik Sinner.
Ruud was able to counter Rune's impressive ball-striking with some stunning defense of his own. However, with de Minaur's tendency to play defensively as well, the Norwegian might have to take the lead on this one with some offensive shotmaking.
Ruud has yet to win a title above the ATP 250 level. This seems like a good opportunity to do so but de Minaur is in the midst of his own purple patch. The Australian has already beaten some quality players to make his top-10 debut this year and has a better shot at winning this match given his form.
Pick: Alex de Minaur to win in three sets.