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The amazing Mister Opelka is already in the semifinals

Reilly Opelka was the first player to reach the semifinals of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Rome. The American defeated Federico Delbonis 7: 5 and 7: 6 (2).

by tennisnet.com
last edit: May 14, 2021, 12:07 pm

Reilly Opelka has reached the semi-finals in Rome
© Getty Images
Reilly Opelka has reached the semi-finals in Rome

Reilly Opelka had two match wins before his amazing run at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Rome in 2021: at one of the preparatory tournaments for the Australian Open in Melbourne against Sergiy Stakhovsky (then number 201) and in the first major of the year against Yen -Hsun Lu (then number 1.009). In terms of health, too, things did not go optimally for Opelka: After the tournament in Miami, he caught COVID-19 and had unpleasant symptoms for several days.

In his first clay court appearance of the season in Madrid last week, it was not surprising that round one against Dominik Koepfer ended. The 23-year-old from the US state of Minnesota is working on the best result of his career in Foro Italico. Before his quarter-finals against Federico Delbonis, which Opelka won 7: 5 and 7: 6 (2) on Friday, he did not give up a set against Richard Gasquet, Lorenzo Musetti or Aslan Karatsev. And thus goes into a semi-final against either Rafael Nadal or Alexander Zverev quite rested. These two already left a few grains in their three-set successes against Denis Shapovalov and Kei Nishikori in the round of 16, the direct encounter will not be painless.

Against Delbonis, also one of the surprise men of the tournament in Rome, Opelka was able to achieve a strong return game in the first round. And a superior tiebreak in the second set, which he played safely to the end after a 5-0 lead. In the semifinals, however, an improvement has to be made. It doesn't matter whether it's against record winner Nadal or Zverev, the 2017 champion. However: Reilly Opelka has played twelve games against players from the top ten - and won half of them.

Here the single tableau in Rome

rommap

by tennisnet.com

Friday
May 14, 2021, 12:10 pm
last edit: May 14, 2021, 12:07 pm