Machac-apulco! Tomas Machac captures first ATP title of career in Acapulco

Tomas Machac has captured the first ATP title of his career—and at an ATP 500 event, no less—after defeating Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, 7-6 (6), 6-2, in the final of Acapulco on Saturday night.

At No. 25 coming into Acapulco, he was the highest-ranked player on the ATP rankings yet to win an ATP title, but he's shaken that tag, and that dubious honor now goes to No. 33-ranked Matteo Arnaldi.

Machac is now projected to break into the Top 20 for the first time, too, set to rise to No. 20 when the new rankings are out Monday. He'll be the first Czech man in the Top 20 since Tomas Berdych in 2018.

Machac wasn't the only player looking for his first ATP title on Saturday night, as Davidovich Fokina was in the same boat—and both men were on their game in a highly-competitive first set.

After 12 straight holds to start the match without a single break point—and with only one of those games going to deuce—they battled it out in a tense first set tie-break, where Davidovich Fokina actually held a set point with Machac serving at 5-6. But the Czech won three points in a row from there to clinch the 54-minute opening frame.

It looked like Davidovich Fokina was rebounding early in the second set as he held quickly for 1-0 and brought up a break point in the next game, but Machac fought it off and held for 1-all, and after the Spaniard held for 2-1 it was all Machac, who reeled off the next five games in a row to storm to a one-hour, 37-minute victory.

The Czech finished the match with an impressive 29 winners to 20 unforced errors, with all of that surplus (and more) coming from his serve, where he belted 12 aces to just two double faults.

And though he won't leave Acapulco with the title, it was still an incredible week for Davidovich Fokina, and an incredible month, too—having reached just one final in the first 117 tour-level events he played in his career, at Monte Carlo in 2022, he's now reached his second and third career ATP finals at back-to-back tournaments, at Delray Beach (falling to Miomir Kecmanovic) and now Acapulco.

The Spaniard, who was unseeded in the draw this week, took out No. 7 seed Frances Tiafoe and No. 9 seed Denis Shapovalov en route to the title match before falling to Machac, who was the No. 8 seed.

A former world No. 21, Davidovich Fokina is projected to rise from No. 48 back into the Top 40, at No. 39, on the new ATP rankings.