It’s not too often that a seeded player is the overwhelming underdog in a match-up with an unseeded player, but that’s the situation that Rajeev Ram found himself in against NextGen stat Reilly Opelka in Dallas. The thirty-two year-old gave a masterclass in dealing with a big server, sealing a 76 76 over the 6’11 Opelka.
Despite the loss, Opelka is likely to continue his meteoric rise up the rankings. This time a year ago he was ranked outside the Top 1000, having suffered a fracture to his foot. Now he is ranked inside the Top 200.
Ram will face another NextGen talent in Taylor Fritz after the young American edged Marcos Giron 75 46 63. Giron had forced all the pressure in the first set, before Fritz broke as Giron tried to serve to take the set to a tiebreak. Giron rebounded well to take the second set, but Fritz again stole the third, despite Giron having forced more break points.
Tatsuma Ito the seed upset of the round, ousting the badly out-of-form Mikhail Kukushkin 46 76 76. Ito forced the play throughout, with Kukushkin rarely playing attacking tennis.
Ryan Harrison survived a tough second set with Mackenzie McDonald to win 62 76. McDonald was blown away in the first, but fought to a tiebreak in a second set. Harrison saved multiple sets points before edging the tiebreak ten-eight.
Marco Trungelliti dealt with the player that had ended Benjamin Becker’s hopes in Raymond Sarmiento. The American could not play as well again and despite serving for the first set tiebreak, lost the point and the next two to hand the first set Trungelliti. The Argentinian, who reached the third round of the 2016 Australian Open as a qualifier, then raced through the second set, the final score 76 61.
Elias Ymer made his way into the quarter-finals with a 76 63 win over Sekou Bangoura, and fourth seed Frances Tiafoe won 62 76 against Di Wu.
