Australian number one Alex de Minaur has broken his duck against Stefanos Tsitsipas to reach the semifinals in Acapulco and keep his Mexican Open defence alive.

De Minaur dropped the first set of their quarterfinal but showed typical fight to win the match 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 in just over two hours.

It is de Minaur's first win over Tsitsipas in 11 meetings dating back to 2018.

"Every time I've gotta play him I get reminded about my match-up," he said.

That was an apparent reference to the famous quote from 1977 Australian Open winner Vitas Gerulaitis, who said "nobody beats me 17 times in a row" when asked about his unenviable record against American legend Jimmy Connors.

A Wimbledon and Australian Open finalist and former world number three, Tsitsipas has slipped out of the top 10 in recent years, while de Minaur is sitting at a career high of ninth in the world.

The 25-year-old has a lot of points to defend in Acapulco after winning his seventh ATP title their last year.

In the semis, de Minaur will face 50th-ranked Briton Jack Draper, who is aiming to make his second final of the year after reaching the decider in Adelaide in January before the Australian Open.