Opelka a giant on grass
REILLY Opelka might still be getting used to some aspects of visiting Britain, but his performances at Wimbledon demonstrate that he is getting increasingly comfortable on grass.
At 211 centimetres, Opelka is hard to miss and his presence at the All England Club received a boost when he defeated three-time major champion Stan Wawrinka 7-5, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 8-6 on Wednesday night to advance to the third round.
The American is ranked 63rd in the world and is unseeded for his main-draw debut at Wimbledon, where he won the 2015 junior title.
But against a far more experienced and far more accomplished player it was Opelka’s ability to adjust his style, serveand-volleying only three times in the final set, and to hang in there on longer exchanges which made his upset possible.
“I’ve always been a pretty good mover. Underrated, actually,” said the 21-year-old Opelka, who has one of the game’s biggest serves.
“I think sometimes when I play guys for the first time, they don’t expect it. It helps me win so many points, being able to (track) down some extra balls, especially in the key moments.”
It was the 22nd-seeded Wawrinka’s groundstrokes that failed him, with four errors that helped Opelka earn the only service break of the deciding set, in the last game.
“At the end, he went for it,” Wawrinka said. “He went bigger than me, and he deserved to win.”
Tonight, in his first appearance in the last 32 of a grand slam, Opelka will face 2016 Wimbledon runner-up Milos Raonic after the Canadian 15th seed accounted for Robin Haase 7-6 (7-1), 7-5, 7-6 (7-4).
“He’s as good as it gets when it comes to grass, so really, really excited for that match-up,” Opelka said of Raonic.
Ivo Karlovic — who along with Opelka are the tallest players in ATP history — looked like he might make it a double for the giants but the Croatian veteran lost out in five sets to Thomas Fabbiano.
It was a routine outing for world No.1 Novak Djokovic, who won the first five games and did not look back in a 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 victory over American Denis Kudla.
Fourth-seeded Kevin Anderson, the man Djokovic conquered in the final last year, dropped a set against Janko Tipsarevic but recovered to win 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 6-4 while other seeds to advance to the third round included Karen Khachanov, Daniil Medvedev and David Goffin.
The youngest man in the draw, 18-year-old Felix AugerAliassime, reached the third round of a slam for the first time courtesy of his 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 win over Corentin Moutet but British 30th seed Kyle Edmund lost to Spanish veteran Fernando Verdasco.