Opelka stuns Tsitsipas at National Bank Open in Montreal, moves to final

Saturday, 14 August 2021 at 23:53

Reilly Opelka came back after losing the first against Stefanos Tsitsipas to win 6-7(2) 7-6(4) 6-4 and reach the National Bank Open final.

The win over Tsitsipas was a sensational one but it did not happen by chance. Opelka played a great match and a very smart one. By doing that he was able to reach his maiden ATP 1000 Masters event where he will face either Medvedev and Tsitsipas.

When you face a tall player like Opelka chances for break points will not come about often, especially if he serves well. Today the American played rather well. He did not allow any break points in the first but failed to convert the two he had. In the end, he lost the set 7-2 in the tiebreak.

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The 2nd set was another similar one where Opelka dominated on his own serve. He employed a very smart thing by serving onto Tsitsipas's backhand every time he could. Most of those balls came back short and Opelka was able to shorten the points with his volley.

It worked and the American was able to win the set with 7-4 in the tiebreak after failing to convert yet another break point. Once again he did not allow a single on his serve. In the 3rd set, Tsitsipa was allowing Opelka to get to him mentally. The Greek was starting to be more and more annoyed with his opponent.

That and the occasional lapse of focus that still plagues the Greek gave Opelka another break point which he finally converted. In the game prior he also saved the first break point he allowed which further discouraged Tsitsipas. After taking a 5-3 lead Opelka closed it out with 6-4.