A ruthless Reilly Opelka stunned Novak Djokovic 7-6(6) 6-3 to reach the semi-finals in Brisbane.
The American is making his way back from injury and made a big statement by producing an incredible serving display to defeat the 24-time Grand Slam champion.
It was a big opportunity missed from Djokovic, who is usually so good against big servers but was unable to break down Opelka’s serve.
In the opening set there was nothing to separate the two players as Opelka was firing big serves left, right and centre.
It was Opelka who had more opportunities but Djokovic remained stern and clutch with the opening set went to a tiebreak.
However Djokovic was unable to take his game to the next level and Opelka pounced on some poor second serves to edge out the opening set tiebreak 8-6.
The second set proved that it was a bad day in the office for Djokovic as he was unable to be the aggressor.
An incredible match was sealed with a break in the fourth game as the American hit 16 aces in the match.
After the contest Opelka hailed Djokovic as the greatest of all time and spoke about how he defeated the Serb, “I just focused on hitting my spots. If I hit them my spots, it is hard to get it back, but if anyone can it is him. I was ready for that if it happened,” Opelka told the ATP website.
“He is the greatest tennis player the sport has ever seen. It is difficult being in Novak’s position because he can scout me all day long but the reality is we have nothing to lose coming in against him, he is the greatest player ever. So you end up playing more free and take more risk. If you play your normal level or even a little above your normal level he will win.”
Opelka will now face fellow big server Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard for a place in the final.
Meanwhile Djokovic will concentrate on his bid for a 25th Grand Slam title when he plays the Australian Open which starts on the 12th of January.
