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Nadal had to fight back from two sets down in their previous
meeting in Melbourne in January to clinch a men's record 21st
Grand Slam title, but in Mexico, it was the Spaniard who got off
to a fast start.
Medvedev was forced to defend a couple of breakpoints in his
very first service game, before Nadal broke minutes later to
take a 3-1 lead, which he held onto to claim the first set 6-3.
Nadal appeared to have carried his momentum into the second set,
breaking serve early to go 1-0 up, but Medvedev grew into the
contest as the set progressed and began causing the Spaniard all
kinds of problems with his backhand drop shot.
Medvedev earned a total of 11 breakpoints across just two of
Nadal's service games in the second set, but the Australian Open
champion dug deep to hold serve on both occasions, and snuff out
the Russian's attempted comeback.
Nadal's holds under pressure took the wind out of Medvedev's
sails and the Russian was broken once again as an unforced
backhand error handed Nadal the win and set up a clash against
British number one Cameron Norrie in the final.
"Daniil was playing really aggressively in the second set, with
drop shots and winners," Nadal, who has won Acapulco thrice,
said in his on-court interview.
"It was very difficult, I feel a little lucky to have won that
set since he had so many chances. It's amazing to win against
the number one player in the world and it's great to be in the
final.
"Norrie has improved a lot this year. We're in the final of the
500 tournament in Acapulco, so you can't expect an easy
opponent. It's going to be a challenge, but I'm excited for it."
Earlier on Friday, British sixth seed Norrie prevented world
number four Stefanos Tsitsipas from reaching a second straight
final in Acapulco, winning 6-4 6-4 in an hour 18 minutes.
"I wasn't really feeling well in the start of the match. I had
some nerves, but my serve really kept me in there," Norrie said.
"I was able to dictate play, and get into his backhand while
defending my forehand."
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Sam Holmes)
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