Kevin Anderson was playing some of the best tennis of his life. In only his fourth tournament of the year, the South African had already reached his third final of the season at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC in Acapulco. But none of that mattered to Juan Martin del Potro in Mexico on Saturday night. The 6’6” Argentine outplayed Anderson for the seventh time in a row in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series (7-0), beating Anderson 6-4, 6-4 to win the ATP World Tour 500 title, his biggest trophy since 2013 Swiss Indoors Basel (d. Federer). It’s Del Potro’s first title of 2018, and he had to fight through a wicked draw, including three Top 10 players, for the crown. The Argentine beat serve-and-volley throwback Mischa Zverev, four-time Acapulco champion David Ferrer, No. 6 Dominic Thiem and No. 5 Alexander Zverev before toppling No. 8 Anderson in the final. The Argentine now has 21 tour-level titles and, what might be especially encouraging for Del Potro, this title on 3 March is the earliest in a season he’s hoisted a trophy since 2014, when he won the Sydney International (d. Tomic) on 11 January.

Source: ATP