Alex de Minaur falls short in bid for rare Mexican tennis double

Aussie Alex de Minaur has fallen short of his quest to claim a rare tennis double as Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas broke a drought.

Alex de Minaur came up short against Stefanos Tsitsipas. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

Greek top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated Australian fifth seed Alex de Minaur 6-3 6-4 on Saturday to capture the ATP Mexico Open for his first title in 14 months.

Tsitsipas, this year’s Australian Open runner-up, claimed his first ATP outdoor hardcourt crown in his third final of the year, having fallen to Novak Djokovic at Melbourne and top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz at Barcelona in April.

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The 24-year-old Greek star captured his 10th career title and first since June of last year at Mallorca to snap a five-final win drought.

World number five Tsitsipas improved to 10-0 all-time against 19th-ranked de Minaur, who was hoping for a Mexico double after winning the title at Acapulco in February.

Alex de Minaur came up short against Stefanos Tsitsipas. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

Stefanos Tsitsipas won his first title in 14 months. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

“It was a great match,” Tsitsipas said. “I’m really happy we were able to deliver a great quality in the final match.”

De Minaur was denied an eighth career ATP crown in his third final of the year. He also lost to Alcaraz in June’s trophy match at Queen’s.

After Tsitsipas dominated the first set, de Minaur surrendered a break on a double fault to open the second set but broke back at love in the sixth game to pull level.

Tsitsipas, who won 23 of his 28 first-serve points, responded with a break in the ninth game, seizing a 5-4 edge with a blistering forehand winner, then held serve to finish off the Australian after 86 minutes when de Minaur sent a forehand long.