Stomach issues hit Casper Ruud, Tommy Paul, Holger Rune on day where Acapulco's top five seeds all bow out

Stomach woes played a significant part in breaking open the Abierto Mexicano Telcel draw on Wednesday, forcing two former finalists to withdraw ahead of their second-round matches and another Top 15 competitor to retire shortly after taking the court in Acapulco.

It amounted to a disastrous day for the ATP 500’s contenders that saw all Top 5 seeds knocked out in some fashion.

Second seed Casper Ruud and third seed Tommy Paul each handed walkovers to their respective opponents after citing stomach issues. Paul was the first to pull out prior to his scheduled duel with countryman Marcos Giron.

Last year’s runner-up Ruud later joined the 2023 finalist in sharing the unfortunate news after local favorite Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez was sent through to the quarterfinals.

“I was hoping to overcome this stomach illness that showed up yesterday and tried everything I could to be able to play tonight, until the very last moment,” Ruud wrote on Instagram.

“Hoping to come back stronger in a couple of days and come back here to Mexico next year. Thanks for now, Acapulco ❤️!”

Fourth seed Holger Rune pointed to a bout of food poisoning as the reason for his retirement down 0-3 to Brandon Nakashima in their opening set.

“Furious and so sad at the same time. Had food poisoning and was unable to play today,” Rune posted on X (formerly Twitter). “One of my favorite places is Mexico and I love this tournament @AbiertoTelcel. Absolutely not the way I wanted it to end.”

Top seed Alexander Zverev and fifth seed Ben Shelton were eliminated inside Arena GNP Seguros. Zverev went down to 19-year-old qualifier Learner Tien, 6-3, 6-4, while Shelton was on the receiving end of a 7-6 (3), 6-3 loss to David Goffin.

Eighth seed Tomas Machac and ninth seed Denis Shapovalov meanwhile, avoided the trend. Machac will face Tien after easing past wild card Daniel Altmaier, 7-6 (3), 6-1. Dallas Open champion Shapovalov posted his seventh consecutive win by defeating Alex Michelsen, 6-4, 6-3, for a final-eight clash with Giron.