Australia's top-ranked male tennis player Alex de Minaur has got his Acapulco title defence off to a blistering start.
The 25-year-old needed just 79 minutes to dispose of Japan’s Taro Daniel 6-2 6-1 in the opening round of the ATP 500 hard-court event in Mexico on Tuesday (AEDT).
De Minaur, the third seed, was devastating with ball in hand. He won 78 per cent of his first-serve points and conceded just 14 points across his eight service games.
"I didn’t play probably the way I wanted in Los Cabos (last week), so it was very important to get on the board and feel confident out there on the court," he said after his third career win against world No.64 Daniel.
"Tennis is all about match-ups ... A lot of the time you forget about the ranking and you’re playing the player.
"That’s the beauty of tennis. Contrasting match-ups and tactics work against some players, and don’t work too well against others."
Awaiting de Minaur in the round of 16 is Austria's world No.37 Sebastian Ofner.
Currently sitting at a career-high world No.9, the Aussie needs to reach this week's decider to have a chance of retaining his top-10 ranking.
"You don’t want to get too ahead of yourself, in my case I don’t even like to look at the draw," de Minaur said.
"It’s a long way to get to that title match and at this stage I’m not even thinking about it."
Fellow Australian Max Purcell opens his campaign against eighth-seeded American Frances Tiafoe on Wednesday, while recently crowned Los Cabos Open champion Jordan Thompson faces Aleksandar Kovacevic, also of the US.
Other day-three winners include Ben Shelton, Jack Draper, Yoshihito Nishioka and Miomir Kecmanovic.
