When you are 6’11 with a huge serve, you might expect to play a lot of tie breaks. American Reilly Opelka has already played four in the young 2018 season.
After going 1-1 in his three-set win over 7th seed Ricardas Berankis on Tuesday, Opelka played Kamil Majchrzak. Both players earned breaks of serve, but Opelka managed to edge a pair of breakers to move to 3-1 in that stat so early in the season, the match finishing 7-6, 7-6.
Opelka’s fellow American Tommy Paul was unable to join his compatriot in the quarter-finals. After taking out 4th seed Sergiy Stakhovsky in the first round, Paul became the victim of a shock in the second. He faced Australia’s Omar Jasika. Though he is ranked No.277, Jasika was nearly unplayable this time last year. He won the title in Burnie, and was also the runner-up in Happy Valley. Jasika ran out a comfortable 6-3, 6-3 winner.
Unseeded Australian Marinko Matosevic also moved in the quarter-finals. Matosevic had the chance for a good run after defeating the top seed Daniil Medvedev on Monday. He was able to follow that win up emphatically, beating Germany’s Tobias Kamke 6-2, 6-0.
The only seeded player in action on Wednesday, Oscar Otte, became the latest casualty of the seeds exodus. He was beaten by Canada’s Brayden Schnur 6-2, 3-6, 6-2. Schnur is in excellent form after also having beaten the highly rated young Japanese player Yoshihito Nishioka in round one.
