Tennis: De Minaur knocked out at the first hurdle

Acapulco shock

On tour there are nights when everything unravels. Nights when the favourite trips up, when sport’s logic goes missing, and a court turns into a plot twist. That’s exactly what happened in humid Acapulco when Alex de Minaur, world No.6 fresh off Rotterdam, saw his momentum smashed by a player ranked outside the top 100.

And not just any opponent. American Patrick Kypson, No.103, grabbed his chance with near‑brazen aggression. Final score: 6-1, 6-7(4), 7-6(4) after 2h41 of tennis that felt like a rollercoaster with no safety bar.

NIGHT’S BIGGEST UPSET 😳

26 and No.103 Patrick Kypson 🇺🇸 knocked off world No.6 and two-time champion Alex De Minaur (6-1, 6-7, 7-6), notching his first ATP win since 2024 and into the last 16 at the ATP 500 in Acapulco. 😱pic.twitter.com/yx8dHiTCa8

— Univers Tennis 🎾 (@UniversTennis) February 24, 2026

A brutal opening

Everyone expected the Australian to roll through. He’d just won a title, his confidence was sharp, and he looked every inch a top player. Kypson didn’t bother pretending he was here to make up the numbers.

The first set hit like an uppercut. 6-1. Fast. Brutal. Unexpected. De Minaur misfired, caved to the American’s power and spent more time scrambling after the scoreboard than setting the pace. The crowd in Acapulco went quiet, that collective intake of breath you get when a match slips off-script.

The champion fights back… a little

A top‑10 player never disappears completely. De Minaur resurfaced. Less tense, cleaner, he found depth, stretched rallies and forced Kypson to check the scoreboard a bit less calmly.

The second-set tiebreak gave him breathing room. Not dominance, but enough control to force a third set — a decider that would turn into pure tension. The kind where every point feels like a brick, and every stare is a skirmish.

An electric finish, an outsider on fire

In the final set nobody backed off. Kypson kept hitting like he refused to accept the script. De Minaur played smarter, but never long enough to break loose. Games flew by, defenses held, legs started to ache.

Then came the second tiebreak. Truth time. Where guts beat brains. Kypson threw himself into it with astonishing nerve. He didn’t blink, didn’t wobble, didn’t retreat. At 7-6(4), when match point erupted the court like a volcano, the American crumpled — stunned, almost disbelieving.

A shock, some words, a message

After the match Kypson said something raw and true: “One of the hardest things in this sport is keeping your head cool.” It landed as hard as his forehands. It summed up the night — a moment when a No.103 rattled a rising champion.

De Minaur fell hard. Not because he played badly, but because his opponent had nothing to lose and everything to gain. Tennis loves nights like this: the unplanned results that make the tour buzz.

Yes, it’s only round one. Yes, De Minaur will have other chances to reorder his season. But this loss is a sharp reminder: the ATP doesn’t forgive. Even the hottest players can be toppled in a single night by someone who comes to upset the pecking order.

Acapulco staged one of those scripts nobody wrote. And that’s exactly why we love the sport.