An all-American showdown between Frances Tiafoe and Brandon Nakashima tops Friday’s semifinals at the Acapulco ATP 500. Flavio Cobolli and Miomir Kecmanovic are also aiming for a spot in the title match.
(8) Frances Tiafoe vs. Brandon Nakashima
Tiafoe and Nakashima will face each other for the eighth time in their careers when they clash in the semifinals of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel on Friday night. The head-to-head series stands at 6-1 in favor of Tiafoe (5-1 on the main tour), after recently winning 6-4, 7-6(3) in the semi-final against Houston 2025. The 28-year-old has won 12 of his last 16 sets.
Both players look good in Acapulco. Nakashima defeated Elias Ymer and Patrick Kypson in straight sets before beating Valentin Vacherot 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the quarterfinals. Tiafoe fought off a pair of match points against Aleksandar Kovacevic in the second round, but continued past Nuno Borges and Mattia Bellucci. Given the relative parity in form, it’s hard to look past the drastic advantage Tiafoe has had in this particular match.
Choice: Tiafoe in 3
Miomir Kecmanovic vs. (5) Flavio Cobolli
This time last year, Cobolli was in the middle of a nine-game losing streak. In 2026, his January-February skid ended at four games. The 20th-ranked Italian emerged from his slump with a semi-final win in Delray Beach and now finds himself in another semi-final following Acapulco’s wins over Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez, Dalibor Svrcina and Yibing Wu.
Next up for Cobolli on Friday is a second meeting with Kecmanovic, who dominated their only previous meeting 6-1, 6-2 on the hard courts of Naples in 2022. Like his opponent, Kecmanovic struggled, but he heated up during the second half of this February swing. The 84th-ranked Serbian pushed Learner Tien to a third-set tiebreak in the second round of Delray Beach and was excellent this week, beating Tristan Schoolkate, Alexander Zverev and Terence Atmane. Cobolli hasn’t beaten anyone ranked better than 66th this season, and Kecmanovic – even if his rankings don’t say so – is certainly playing at a top-50 level and probably in the top-30 right now.
Choice: Kecmanovic and 3
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