{"id":447973,"date":"2026-02-27T05:39:22","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T05:39:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/447973\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T05:39:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T05:39:22","slug":"mexico-tennis-tournament-beefs-up-police-as-brit-katie-boulter-caught-up-in-chaos-tennis-sport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/447973\/","title":{"rendered":"Mexico tennis tournament beefs up police as Brit Katie Boulter caught up in chaos | Tennis | Sport"},"content":{"rendered":"

The WTA<\/a> 500 event in Merida has stepped up its security measures, with an enhanced police presence around the tournament venue after violence erupted following the death of the country\u2019s most wanted cartel boss.<\/p>\n

Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as \u2018El Mencho\u2019, died in custody Sunday after being seriously injured in clashes between his supporters and the army. Cervantes was the leader of the Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) cartel, and his death sparked chaos, with members of the cartel launching attacks on towns and cities in the country.<\/p>\n

The Merida Open, which features British ace Katie Boulter<\/a>, plus world No. 7 Jasmine Paolini, is in the east of the country, which has largely been unaffected by the violence. But the WTA Tour has confirmed that there is an enhanced police presence in place around the tournament venue, plus other measures in place to keep players and tournament staff safe.<\/p>\n

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In a statement provided to Express Sport, the women\u2019s tour said: \u201cThe WTA is aware of security incidents reported in parts of western Mexico. The safety of players, staff, and spectators remains our top priority.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe WTA tournament in Merida, located in the eastern part of the country, is operating as scheduled and there have been no reports of incidents in the region. Authorities in Yucatan State have increased police vigilance, including enhanced presence around the tournament venue. Additional security measures are in place at the tournament venue and official hotels.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe continue to liaise with local partners and monitor official guidance, including updates from the US Embassy in Mexico.\u201d<\/p>\n

A men\u2019s ATP 500 event is also taking place in Acapulco this week<\/a>. British No. 2 Cameron Norrie<\/a> was in action, but has already been knocked out. Alexander Zverev<\/a> is also competing there. Tournament organisers were forced to issue a statement confirming that the Mexican Open would go ahead following false reports that it had been cancelled.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Abierto Mexicano Telcel reports that the rumors circling in the press and on social media about the tournament\u2019s supposed cancellation due to the security issues in Jalisco are false,\u201d organisers said on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe tournament has not issued any cancellation notice. The event will go on as scheduled and tournament operations will proceed as normal. We remain in coordination and in constant communication with federal, state and municipal authorities, following the established security protocols.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The WTA 500 event in Merida has stepped up its security measures, with an enhanced police presence around…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":447974,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[9434,162456,162458,101,118,872,56,54,55,162457,11572],"class_list":["post-447973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-katie-boulter","tag-merida-open","tag-mexico-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-tennis-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wta-merida","tag-wta-tour"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/447974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}