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The 24-year-old Chinese Yafan Wang is the new Acapulco champion, beating the 5th seed Sofia Kenin 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 in two hours and ten minutes to lift the maiden WTA title. Yafan will crack the top-50 for the first time on Monday and she deserved the win after showing mental strength which wasn't always the case in the past, overcoming a 6-2, 3-2, 40-0 deficit and crossing the finish line with a late break in the decider.
Kenin has been in a great form so far in 2019 and she had her chances in this one, hitting a lot of winners but also many unforced errors, winning just three points less than her opponent. Yafan and Sofia both created nine break chances and converted five to stay locked up until the very last games of the encounter that determined the champion.
The first set was over in just 30 minutes and Kenin was the one who had the upper hand, kicking off the action with a forehand winner that secured a break for her, setting into a nice rhythm on serve and moving 5-2 up with another break in game seven.
Serving for the set in the following game, the American held at love after an ace and she was on the steady course towards the second WTA crown. The second set saw five breaks of serve and Wang was a part of the story this time around despite trailing 2-0 and 3-2.
Kenin did break in that fifth game with a forehand winner although she squandered three game points that could have pushed her 6-2, 4-2 up and closer to the title. Instead of that, she netted a routine forehand drive-volley to give serve away, losing the following three as well after Wang hit a service winner at 5-3 to secure set number two and set the decider.
There, she forged a 3-1 lead before Kenin bounced back, breaking back for a 3-3 after a double fault from her rival and staying in touch until game 11 when her backhand landed long. That proved to be one of the crucial moments of the match and Wang cemented the break and the title with a forehand crosscourt winner in the next game for the most noticeable result on the Tour so far.