World No. 67 Reilly Opelka stuns 25th seed Jack Draper in two tiebreaks to progress to the third round at the Miami Open presented by Itau on Friday.
American player Reilly Opelka delivered a rock-solid performance to oust world No. 26 Jack Draper with a commanding 7-6(3), 7-6(0) win in one hour and 33 minutes on Grandstand at the Miami Open presented by Itau.
During his on-court interview, he talked about his work with new coach Craig Boynton: "We have made a few technical changes. We’ve been working on my return, believe it or not. The stats don’t show in terms of breaking, but if you look at my stats with balls in play, there are a lot of positive things happening.”
The rain once again disrupted an action-packed Friday at the second Masters 1000 of the season; as a result, organizers were forced to reschedule matches on the outside courts as well as on the Hard Rock Stadium.
Well behind its original match time, the encounter between home hope Opelka and former world No. 3 Draper proved worthy of the wait.
The 28-year-old American came out firing four aces to take the opening game of the first set to love, setting the tone of the match from the get-go.
As the set wore on, Draper stepped up the pressure, producing the first break point opportunity in the fifth game, which his opponent fended off with an ace to hold a 3-2 lead.
An edgy opener unfolded into a tiebreaker, the four-time ATP title holder took 7-6(3) in 44 minutes.
In the second set, the Briton found an extra gear behind his serve, going toe-to-toe with the big-serving American.
However, the former world No. 17 stayed flawless, holding his ground in the baseline rallies, while striking the ball cleanly, unleashing his powerful forehand to force a second-set tiebreak.
Opelka finished with a dominant display, winning the final seven points in a row to close out with an emphatic 7-6(0), earning back-to-back wins for the first time since his run to the Basel quarterfinals last October.
His impressive performance reflected in the numbers; he hit 47 winners (25 aces) to 29 unforced errors, and won 87 percent of the points on his first serve overall.
“I am serving really well. I am serving the best I have served. I am really happy with my motion and technique. We are still early on, but I could not have picked a better coach,” he added.
Neither player dropped his serve throughout the contest.
On Thrusday, he opened proceedings by overcoming Portuguese player Nuno Borges in three sets.
Countryman Taylor Fritz or Dutch Botic van de Zandschulp await in the third round.