Qualifier Patrick Kypson Downs De Minaur at ATP Acapulco

The 26-year-old Kypson will now break into the top 100 for the first time in his career. Kypson entered the match with a subpar 3-11 record at the ATP level in his career, and only played one tour level match in 2025. In 2026 he was winless in ATP main draw matches despite reaching the main draw in Hong Kong and Dallas, both times as a lucky loser. Terance Atmane had defeated him in Delray Beach.

Kypson needed to qualify in Acapulco and he did so with dominant second set wins over Stefan Kozlov and Coleman Wong. The match against De Minaur was a thriller. Kypson started out like dynamite, taking the first set 6-1. There were questions whether De Minaur was sick, distracted, or otherwise unwell and unfocused after that poor first set, but he battled back to win a second set tiebreak and force a third set. De Minaur would serve for the match in the third set at 5-4, but Kypson was clutch and forced a tiebreak. A tiebreak he won, winning the match 6-1 6-7 7-6.

The former Texas A&M NCAA player has been strong at the Challenger Tour, lifting four titles in 2025 at that level, but that strong performance was yet to translate to the main tour, he’s reached Grand Slam main draws four times and has yet to win a match.

Can Kypson Carry This Momentum

Kypson would need to qualify for both Indian Wells and Miami, the next events on the ATP Tour, his baseline game and range is good enough to do so, and if he’s given a favorable draw he could pull more upsets on home soil. For now the American will seek to reach the later stages in Acapulco, and can now benefit from De Minaur’s #2 seed line. Kypson showed he could break down the demon’s speed and had an answer for every trick De Minaur threw at him. Kypson was the player dictating points from the baseline.

Next up for Kypson is a matchup with Brandon Nakashima.

What’s Next for De Minaur

Despite all his progress in Rotterdam, De Minaur had a bad 2 and a half hours in Acapulco, he will still need to aim for the quarterfinals or better in the sunshine double. Kypson’s upset was a welcome positive headline for the ATP Acapulco tournament, amidst security concerns in Mexico.

Other Winners in Acapulco

Fellow Americans Brandon Nakashima and Aleksandar Kovacevic advanced on day 1 main draw action in Acapulco. Valentin Vacherot, Miomir Kecmanovic, the young Spaniard Rafael Jodar, and #4 seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina were also winners. Jodar dismantled the higher ranked Cameron Norrie and looks increasingly comfortable on the ATP Tour.