Machac tops Tien behind six breaks in Acapulco QFs

Tomas Machac's recent success at ATP 500s continued Thursday at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC in Acapulco. Playing in his fourth consecutive 500-level quarter-final, the Czech defeated Learner Tien 6-3, 7-5 to reach his fourth ATP Tour semi-final.

Machac, who also reached the semis last September in Tokyo, is just the first Czech semi-finalist at the event in more than 25 years and the second overall after Jiri Novak (1996, 1998). His victory moved him up to No. 22 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, setting him up to pass countryman Jiri Lehecka to reclaim the title of Czech No. 1.

Flying into the final four ✈️

Tomas Machac battles past Learner Tien 6-3 7-5 to make the Acapulco semi-finals.@AbiertoTelcel | #AMT2025 pic.twitter.com/DELBcuMaGM

— ATP Tour (@atptour) February 28, 2025

A topsy-turvy opening set featured five straight breaks of serve from 1-1, with Machac up a break at 4-3 after that stretch. At the end of a titanic 5-3 game, he broke for the fourth time in the set on his fifth set point. The drama came late in set two as Machac failed to serve out the match at 5-4, only to break for the sixth time in the match to clinch victory.

Machac converted on six of 14 break points overall, while Tien broke three times on four chances, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

After winning his first Lexus ATP Head2Head matchup against Tien, runner-up at the 2024 Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF, Machac will meet 2022 Next Gen champ Brandon Nakashima for the first time in Friday's semi-finals. Yet to drop a set this week, Nakashima beat David Goffin 7-6(4), 6-2 to advance to his seventh tour-level semi-final (3-3).

Ahead of what will be his first semi-final at the ATP 500, the American is up nine places to No. 33 this week in the PIF ATP Live Rankings — likely setting himself up for a new career high. The American briefly fell outside the Top 150 in late 2023 but has steadily climbed the PIF ATP Rankings since, reaching a high of No. 35 last September.

Denis Shapovalov extended his winning streak to eight matches, all at the ATP 500 level, dating back to the start of his Dallas title run earlier this month. With his electric shotmaking earning him the backing of the Mexican fans, the Canadian rode a swell of crowd support to a comeback 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory against Marcos Giron on Thursday evening.

"I played well definitely, but I had to scrap," said Shapovalov, who picked up his first Lexus ATP Head2Head win in three tries against the American. "I wouldn't say I was completely out-powering him... I was trying to move the ball around a little bit more, change trajectories and kind of play a little bit of cat-and-mouse and then hit him with a little bit of power. It was definitely much more of a chess match today."

The 25-year-old joined countryman Felix Auger-Aliassime as the only players to reach multiple ATP 500 semi-finals this season. Shapovalov's 23rd tour-level semi-final is his first outdoors since Tokyo in 2022.

A former Top 10 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, Shapovalov is up four places to No. 28 this week in the PIF ATP Live Rankings. He could re-enter the Top 25 with the Acapulco title.

Shapovalov will next face Alejandro Davidovich Fokina after the Spaniard defeated #NextGenATP Mexican Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez 6-2, 6-2. The 25-year-old is in red-hot form, having advanced to the title match in Delray Beach earlier this month and the fourth round at the Australian Open in January.