De Minaur, seeded N.3 and 9th player in the world, won in 1h 57 minutes against Ruud, seeded N.6 and 11th in the world. He also won his 8th title in 16 finals played on the ATP circuit. At 25, the 9th player in the world won the eighth trophy of his career, his first this season after a first final lost last month in Rotterdam against the winner of the Australian Open, the Italian Jannik Sinner. “It’s an incredible week, a week I didn’t expect to be honest,” said De Minaur, after his success in the Mexican hard-court tournament. “When I arrived in Mexico, I didn’t feel at my best but I told myself that I had to believe in my chances. Today I played my best match of the tournament, so I’m very happy,” added De Minaur, who was eliminated as soon as he entered the fray during his previous tournament, in Los Cabos (Mexico).
Facing former world No.2 Ruud (currently 11th), who reached the final in Los Cabos, De Minaur was able to be more effective. The Australian managed to break three times and only gave up his serve once. His climbs to the net (23 points out of 29 possible) also weighed in the balance when the Norwegian, finalist of Roland-Garros (2022 and 2023) and the US Open (2022), was little rewarded in this sector (5/17).
Ruud, who has nine titles to his name, won his last trophy in April 2023 in Estoril, on clay, his favorite surface.