ATP Acapulco: Wu Yibing reaches ATP 500 quarterfinals for the first time, Zverev suffers a shocking early exit

On February 26th Beijing time, the ATP 500 Acapulco event proceeded with the men’s singles second round, and Chinese player Wu Yibing beat fellow qualifier Shintaro Mochizuki 6-3, 7-6(4), instantly rising to No.111 in the rankings. This marks Wu Yibing’s fourth career appearance in a tour-level singles quarterfinal, following Dallas 2023, Geneva 2023, and Hangzhou 2025, and his first time reaching the quarterfinals at a 500-level event. He will face the 5th seed Cobolli in the quarterfinals, who defeated Svrčina 6-4, 6-4.

Wu Yibing

After his big win over Ruud yesterday, Wu Yibing maintained strong form today. He broke serve early to lead 2-0 and held that advantage to close the first set 6-3. In the second set, Wu saved a set point in the 12th game to hold serve. Although he trailed 1-3 in the tiebreak, he won four consecutive points to take it 7-4, sealing the match and avoiding a deciding third set.

Having emerged from the qualifiers, Wu Yibing has now amassed four consecutive wins at this tournament. With his fitness well preserved, he holds a solid chance against the world No.20 Italian star Cobolli in the quarterfinals. According to the schedule, Wu will make his center court debut at 8 AM Beijing time tomorrow morning to face Cobolli for the first time.

Top seed Zverev battled Serbian player Kecmanovic for 2 hours and 35 minutes but was upset 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-7(4). Zverev faltered again in the deciding set tiebreak, losing the final two points and the match. This week marked his first tournament since losing to Alcaraz in the Australian Open semifinals, and he will next compete in the Sunshine Double events.

Zverev

For Kecmanovic, this was his first career victory over a top 5 player. He will face Frenchman Altmaier in the quarterfinals, who overcame wildcard 19-year-old Spanish rising star Hodar 6-2, 4-6, 6-1.

“It feels amazing, especially after some tough years,” Kecmanovic said. “I’m really happy things are finally going my way. I played more aggressively at the key moments. My serving was much better than usual, so I’m glad everything went well today. Obviously, he was the favorite, so I felt no pressure.”

With this, all top three seeds in men’s singles at Acapulco have been eliminated: second seed Deminur was upset in the first round by qualifier Kipson, who lost 4-6, 4-6 to American Brandon Nakashima, and third seed Ruud fell to Wu Yibing yesterday.

(Text and editing by Wang Fei; photos courtesy of Visual China)