It takes mental strength and fortitude to recover after losing the first set. That is something that both Reilly Opelka and Tommy Paul, both 20, accomplished in the Playford Challenger.
The two Americans were handed tough fixtures as both were drawn against seeds in the first round. Paul was handed a meeting with one-time Roger Federer vanquisher Sergiy Stakhovsky, whilst Opelka faced Lithuania’s Ricardas Berankis.
Paul started slowly, losing his opening service game as Stakhovsky took the first set. Paul managed to produce the trick of breaking in the last game of each of the next two sets, earning a 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 win. The former Roland Garros junior winner will next face Australia’s Omar Jasika in the next round. Jasika defeated Max Purcell in three sets.
Reilly Opelka stands at 6’11. It was unsurprising then that this match featured just the one break of serve and two tiebreaks. What was surprising was the manner in which Opelka surrendered the opener. The American had led 5-1 in the tie break, but proceeded to drop the next five points before eventually going down 9-7.
Opelka edged the next tie break and repeated his friend Paul’s trick of breaking to win the match, with the final score 6-7, 7-6, 7-5. Opelka hit 25 aces in the win.
Opelka will next face Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak, who had defeated Pedja Krstin 4-6, 7-6, 7-5. Majchrzak ended 2017 at a career-high ranking just inside the Top 200 and could be a tough match-up for Opelka.
Top seed Daniil Medvedev blew the draw wide open as he threw away what seemed an unassailable lead against Marinko Matosevic. Medvedev has led by a set and a break, before a recovery from the Australian saw him progress 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.
Other winners in the first round included Brayden Schnur and former Top 100 player Tobias Kamke over Yoshihito Nishioka and Guido Andreozzi respectively. 8th seed Uladzimir Ignatik was the sole seed in early action to avoid an upset. The Belorussian edged American Mackenzie McDonald 6-4, 6-4.
