American Alex Mechelen drops just five games as he earned the biggest win of his career in style Wednesday in Los Cabos.
The 19-year-old surged past third seed Alex De Minaur 6-4, 6-1 for the first Top 10 victory of his career. Michelsen stunned the No. 9 player in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings in one hour and 23 minutes to reach the quarter-finals of the ATP 500 and climb to first place in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Jeddah.
“I think I played about as well as I could,” Michelsen said. “That’s something to remember for sure.”
De Minaur arrived in Mexico in top form after reaching the Rotterdam final behind wins against Top 15 players Andrey Rublev and Grigor Dimitrov. But his momentum came to a halt against the rising American.
Michelsen converted four of his six break points and won 51 per cent of his return points according to Infosys ATP Stats to trouble the Australian. He will next face eighth seed Jordan Thompson or American qualifier Emilio Nava.
Defending champion Stefanos Tsitsipas also moved on with a commanding 6-3, 6-0 triumph against Australian Aleksandar Vukic.
“Great to be back. Thank you guys,” Tsitsipas said. “It was fun playing out here tonight. Thank you for your support. I’m happy that I got such a good win and showed the best of my tennis. I thank you for every single point that you’ve been cheering me on.”
The second seed saved all three break points he faced to reach the quarter-finals. Last year he lost just one set en route to the Los Cabos crown and will hope to lift the trophy again this week.
Tsitsipas will next play American qualifier Aleksandar Kovavevic, who clawed past Australian Rinky Hijikata 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. Kovacevic will try to make his second ATP Tour semi-final after advancing to the last four in Seoul last year.
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