Highlights and Best Moments: Nadal vs Norrie in Final Acapulco Open

Thank you for following the broadcast of the match between Spain's Rafa Nadal and Great Britain's Cameron Norrie for the final of the Acapulco Open 2022.

¡CAMPEÓN! ¡RAFA NADAL ES CAMPEÓN POR CUARTA VEZ EN ACAPULCO! 🏆🏆🏆🏆

El español igualó la marca de 4 títulos en el @AbiertoTelcel de David Ferrer y Thomas Muster luego de vencer a Cameron Norrie en dos sets en una hora y 54 minutos.

🇪🇸Nadal 6 6
🇬🇧Norrie 4 4 pic.twitter.com/wWmnJ6EQ6V — Abierto Mexicano (@AbiertoTelcel) February 27, 2022

For the fourth time in his career, Rafa Nadal wins the Acapulco Open and tonight he defeated Cameron Norrie 6-4, 6-4.

IT'S OVER

Norrie puts the ball out and Nadal takes the set 6-4 to claim the 2022 ACAPULCO OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP.

Two aces in a row from Norrie left Nadal static and the game tightened to 5-4.

Nadal left several balls in the net and Norrie is still alive to move to 5-3 and now the Briton will have the serves.

Norrie was very unfocused, with too many errors that ended up costing him the point. 5-2 and Nadal is close to the title.

Nadal again took advantage of his serve combined with Norrie's poor finishing to take the point 4-2.

Nadal was gaining space and approaching the net to define on the side and turn it to Norrie 3-2.

Nadal's serves were the key to take the point against Norrie who could do little and the set is 2-2.

Norrie dominated the point from start to finish and with no reply from Nadal he led 2-1.

It looked like Nadal was coming from the canvas, but Norrie managed to save the point that seemed easier at the beginning. 1-1.

Despite two errors in the shots, Nadal recovered and won the first point against Norrie 1-0.

Norrie with the shot that goes out, even though he claimed it was inside and, with that, Nadal takes the first set with a 6-4 lead.

Norrie rebounded and Nadal smashed the ball twice into the net to take the point 5-4.

In a fairly tight point, a bad definition of Norrie plus a drop shot from Nadal caused the 5-3 in favor of the Spaniard.

Norrie's serves were fine and it was hard for Nadal to answer. The Briton approaches 4-3 and tightens the final.

Norrie had no ability to react to a Nadal who begins to get into rhythm and already stood 4-2.

Accuracy was the key in this point and Nadal used his experience to take the lead for the first time 3-2.

Norrie very erratic when answering serve or first contact and Nadal has once again tied the match 2-2.

Norrie took advantage of his serves that Nadal could not answer several times in a good way and retakes the lead 2-1.

Nadal recovered and with a drop shot plus a shot in the corner, he stopped Norris to make it 1-1.

Nadal very imprecise in the first minutes of action and the first point is for Norrie 1-0.

The match between Nadal and Norrie begins.

With some serves both players are already warming up and in less than 5 minutes the actions will begin.

At this moment Norrie and then Nadal are introduced and make their entry in the first instance.

The Greek and the Spaniard gave each other a very emotional embrace after winning the Acapulco Open in doubles:

Segundo torneo juntos, primer trofeo 🏆
¡@steftsitsipas y @feliciano_lopez campeones! #AMT2022 pic.twitter.com/0FhGUYbrCv

— Abierto Mexicano (@AbiertoTelcel) February 27, 2022

In a few minutes, Rafa Nadal and Cameron Norrie will be playing for the Acapulco Open 2022 title.

With a score of 7-5 and 6-4, the pair of Tsisipas and Lopez defeated Rojer and Arevalo in doubles to proclaim themselves champions of the Acapulco Open.

Rafa Nadal will undoubtedly be in the golden letters of tennis history and tonight could add one more title to his extensive list of titles and could reach 91 celebrations, and it could be the fourth in Acapulco.

Although it will not be the case tonight, the last time a Latin American won the Acapulco Open was in 2018 when Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro defeated South Africa's Kevin Anderson in two sets.

For the director of the Acapulco Open, Raul Zurutuza, this edition was quite good and he expects it to be even better for 2023, remembering that the event will be 30 years old and he hopes to celebrate it in a big way:

"The conclusion is very good. Our arena is the best venue in Latin America. I am left with the reaction of the public, when you see the stadium full you know you did your job well. There are things to improve and fine-tune. As of Monday we will be talking about the 2023 edition, which is the 30th anniversary of the tournament," he stressed at a press conference.

The fans will fill the Arena tonight to watch the great final, highlighting that the support will be on the side of the Spaniard Rafa Nadal:

¿A cuántos fans de Rafa Nadal veremos esta noche? 🇪🇸#AMT2022 pic.twitter.com/ziOGiJbAiK

— Abierto Mexicano (@AbiertoTelcel) February 26, 2022

At the end of the game between Nadal and Norrie and after the celebration, the singer Emmanuel will delight the fans with his songs at the closing of the Acapulco Open:

🔴 [DISFRUTANDO]
Emmanuel y Arturo Elías Ayub, presentes en la semifinal Medvedev vs Nadal del Abierto Mexicano de Acapulco. Mañana el cantante dará el show de clausura.

📹 @chamagola9 pic.twitter.com/LfvtntaPu3

— Código Veracruz (@codigoveracruz) February 26, 2022

In 29 years in the history of the Acapulco Open, Cameron Norrie has become the first British player to reach the final and thus become the first champion on Mexican soil.

The doubles final is currently being played where the pair of Lopez and Tsisipas are beating Rojer/Arévalo 1-0, while in the second set they are evenly matched at 1-1.

Yesterday after beating Russian Medvedev, Rafa Nadal did not hide his happiness to continue at a high level despite his age and some injuries he has suffered:

"Reaching the final, after Australia, means that mentally I am well, with illusion and motivation. It means that I have had a very long and much more successful career than I could have imagined," the Spaniard said at a press conference.

The moment of truth has arrived and Rafael Nadal will be looking for his second title this year and, incidentally, not to lose any set at the Acapulco Open when he faces British Cameron Norrie. We begin with the coverage of the great final through VAVEL.

Do not miss a detail of the match with the live updates and commentaries of VAVEL. Follow along with us all the details, commentaries, analysis and lineups for this Final Rafa Nadal vs Cameron Norrie match for the Acapulco Open 2022.

This is the probable start time for the Rafa Nadal vs Cameron Norrie match on February 26th in several countries:

Argentina: 12:00 AM on ESPN and Star +

Bolivia: 11:00 PM on ESPN and Star +

Brazil: 12:00 AM on ESPN and Star +

Chile: 11:00 AM on ESPN and Star +

Colombia: 10:00 PM on ESPN and Star +

Ecuador: 10:00 PM on ESPN and Star +

United States (ET): 10:00 PM on ESPN and Star +

Spain: 4:00 AM

Mexico: 9:00 PM on ESPN and Star +

Paraguay: 12:00 AM on ESPN and Star +

Peru: 11:00 PM on ESPN and Star +

Uruguay: 12:00 AM on ESPN and Star +

The last time a final was decided in three sets happened in 2016 and, since then, all have had the winner in just two sets:

2021: Alexander Zverev 2-0 Stefanos Tsitsipas, 6-4, 7-6(3)

2020: Rafa Nadal 2-0 Taylor Fritz, 6-3, 6-2

2019: Nick Kyrgios 2-0 Alexander Zverev, 6-3, 6-4

2018: Juan Martin del Potro 2-0 Kevin Anderson, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4

2017: Sam Querrey 2-0, Rafa Nadal, 6-3, 7-6(3)

This Saturday Rafa Nadal will contest his fifth Acapulco Open final and will be looking for his fourth title. We review all those fights he has had for the title:

2005: Rafa Nadal 2-0 Álbert Montañés, 6-1, 6-0.

2013: Rafa Nadal 2-0 David Ferrer, 6-0 and 6-2

2017: Sam Querrey 2-0 Rafa Nadal, 6-3, 7-6(3)

2020: Rafa Nadal 2-0 Taylor Fritz, 6-3, 6-2

According to the latest ATP rankings, Rafa Nadal is ranked fifth best in the world and Cameron Norrie is outside the top ten at 12th place.

Rafa Nadal, the big favorite to win the title, started off on the right foot last Tuesday with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Denis Kudla; in the round of 16 he had no setbacks to defeat Stefan Koslov, also American, in two sets and, although he won the quarterfinal match in two sets, he was in trouble at times against Tommy Paul; while in the semifinals he got revenge against the Russian Daniil Medvedev from the Australia Open final and defeated him with identical 6-3 scores.

The British Cameron Norrie arrived as the sixth best qualified for this event and started by beating the German Daniel Altmaier in two sets; later, despite falling against the American John Isner, he managed to recover to defeat him 3-1; in the quarterfinals he had no major problems to defeat the German Peter Gojowczyk 6-0 and 6-1; while in the semifinal he defeated the Greek favorite Stefanos Tsitsipas by identical 6-4 scores.

For this edition, the GNP Seguros Arena of Acapulco is being inaugurated, which will have a capacity of 10,400 spectators for tennis and up to 14,000 for show events, highlighting that just this Monday it was inaugurated and the president of MexTenis, Renata Burillo, said she was happy that the project has finally been realized.

"Some years ago we were thinking about this project, which today is a reality. During this time at Grupo Pegaso we have witnessed that we have worked to the maximum in the last year to reach a successful conclusion".

The Rafa Nadal vs Cameron Norrie match will be played at the Arena GNP Seguros, in Acapulco, Mexico. The kick-off is scheduled at 10:00 pm ET.

My name is Adrian Hernandez and I will be your host for this game. We will provide you with pre-game analysis, roster updates, and news as it happens live here on VAVEL.