6’11 teenager Reilly Opelka reached a career milestone in Charlottesville, reaching his first Challenger final after defeating countryman Mackenzie McDonald in the semi-finals 6-3, 6-4.
Opelka used his tall frame to ensure that it was virtually impossible for McDonald to gain traction in return games, hitting fourteen aces and dropping twelve points on serve in the straight sets win. Both had come into the match after impressive victories, with McDonald knocking out top seed Frances Tiafoe for the loss of three games, and Opelka defeating former Wimbledon Round of 16 player Denis Kudla. Opelka broke twice from the only two break points, once in each set to record the relatively straightforward victory.
In the final Opelka will face Ruben Bemelmans, a former Top 100 player whose ranking has slipped to no.216 this week. The 2015 Davis Cup finalist for Belgium had to dig deep in his 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 win against Swiss sixth seed Henri Laaksonen.Bemelmans hit an incredible ten double-faults across the match, six in a first set that featured five break points.
The keys to the final in Charlottesville are likely to be decided by the Opelka serve. At just short of seven feet tall the angle and power that Opelka will be able to generate will ensure that Bemelmans will likely have severe difficulty in returning. If Bemelmans can get the return in play consistently then he may be rewarded. Despite that, I predict that Opelka will secure his first Challenger title.
Guayaquil: In Guayaquil the run of qualifier Joao Sorgi finally came to an abrupt end at the hands of Nicolas Kicker. Sorgi, who has knocked out Victor Estrella Burgos, Leonardo Mayer and Facundo Bagnis went down to Nicolas Kicker 6-3, 6-1. In the other semi-final Arthur de Greef Gudio Andreozzi played out a closer affair, though the win went the way of the Belgian 7-5, 7-5.
In terms of the final, Kicker is this week sitting in a career-high ranking position of no.129, which dwarfs de Greef’s 151 ranking. Kicker also has a strong clay record so should be considered the favourite for a straight sets victory.
Australian Open Watch: Reilly Opelka’s strong week should see him move into the Top 250 putting him in a strong position to make a direct entry into the Australian Open Qualifying draw. As an American he could also win the American reciprocal wildcard for the Australian Open, as Charlottesville is one of the events that count towards such that deal.
Kicker, should he win the Guayaquil title, puts himself in an excellent position to earn direct qualification for the main draw but will likely need a strong performance in at least one other event to confirm a main draw place. The main draw of the Australian Open features one hundred and twenty-eight players. However, a number of places are taken by wildcards, qualifiers and as yet an undetermined number of protected ranking players meaning that there is no set threshold for the main draw. A ranking inside the Top 100 is generally seen as the benchmark.
