The Spanish Feliciano López starred in one of the most emotional moments at the Acapulco Open, playing his last match as a tennis professional against the American Tiafoe. At 41 years old, Feliciano was defeated 6-2, 7-6(6) in a duel in which, after being violated in the first set, he showed in the second half the tennis with which he has won 504 matches in the tour.
With 504 wins on the ATP tour, he assured this Wednesday that the players of his time had great fortune because they were able to face the three best tennis players in history. “Those of my generation are lucky; when I am old, I will be able to say that I was lucky to play against Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic; not everyone can say that,” the native confessed to Efe at a press conference. from Toledo.
“I feel lucky to have played against the three best in history; they have put tennis at a level that it was not there and that helped us all. It is fair to be grateful to those three teachers,” added Feliciano, who beat Nadal four times , with 10 defeats, one to Djokovic, with nine setbacks, and lost 13 times with Federer. With a nice cut backhand and an exact offensive game, Feliciano became the twelfth racket in the world in March 2015, won seven titles on tour and won the Davis Cup five times.
The surprise of the day was the elimination of Casper Ruud, number 2 in the world, at the hands of the Japanese Taro Daniel, 125 in the ATP ranking, who won 7-5, 6-2 and 7-6(5). In a 2h 27 duel of the best 16 phase, Daniel, coming from the qualifying tournament, won the first set in which he hit 14 winners and took advantage of 15 unforced errors from his rival. After a break in the eleventh game, the Japanese signed the victory 7-5, but in the second quarter Casper reacted with a good performance with the service and a noticeable decrease in his errors to win 6-2.
The fight was intense in the third, a set without breaks in which Taro defended well and put pressure on the Norwegian who had already defeated Argentine Guido Andreozzi in an agonizing way in his debut. After 12 games, nothing was decided and the ‘tie break’ was necessary, in which the Asian took the lead 6-5 with his serve and made a decisive mini-break to ensure victory. In the quarterfinals, Daniel will face Australian Alex De Minaur, the eighth seed, who beat Italian Jacopo Berretini, Matteo’s brother, 6-1, 6-0.