Reilly Opelka overcame Giovanni Mpetchi Perricard 6-3 7-6 (7-4) after 85 minutes to reach his seventh ATP Tour final at the Brisbane International.
Opelka is making his come-back after missing the majority of the past season due to a wrist and hip injury. The US player has returned to the top 200 of the ATP Ranking. He upset Novak Djokovic in the quarter final to reach his seventh career final.
Opelka will aim to win the fifth ATP Tour title of his career and his first since Houston in 2022.
Opelka became the first player to break Mpetchi Perricard and won 85% of his first serve points. He saved all four break points he faced and fired 12 aces.
Mpetchi Perricard fired 75 aces in his first three matches this week and added 10 aces in this match, but he was broken in the second game of the opening set. Opelka saved four set points to hold serve in the seventh game for 5-2 and served out the first set with a hold at love. Mpetchi Perricard saved the only break point of the second set, which went on serve en route to the tie-break. Opelka earned the first mini-break to take a 3-1 lead. Mpetchi Perricard pulled back on serve to draw level to 3-3, but Opelka won four of the next five points including a mini-break to win the tie-break 7-4. Opelka received a medical time-out on his right wrist during the first set.
Earlier this week Opelka had beaten Argentinian qualifier Federico Agustin Gomez 7-5 6-4, Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi 7-6 (11-9) 7-6 (7-4), former world number 1 Novak Djokovic 7-6 (8-6) 6-3.
“Sometimes it happens. It started hurting a little in the second round. I tweaked it a little bit on a reaction shot but it will be alright. I am not sweating too much. Giovanni is tough. I have watched him beat Sebastian Korda at Wimbledon and it was really impressive. He is an athlete like that. He serves so well and moves so well”, said Opelka.
Opelka will face Jiri Lehecka, who reached his fourth final after defending champion Grigor Dimitrov was forced to withdraw from the match due to injury as Lehecka was leading 6-4 4-4. Lehecka leads 3-1 in his four head-to-head matches against Dimitrov. The Czech player did not face a break point throughout the 78-minute match and won 85% of his first serve points before the match was stopped. Lehecka won the first title of his career in Adelaide last year. He had dropped just one set en route to the final in Brisbane this year.
