Calm and Confident Opelka Wins to Reach 3rd Round of Australian Open

The former Indian Trails Middle School student put forth an outstanding performance Monday night in the second round of the Australian Open, dispatching Germany’s Dominik Koepfer to reach the third round for the first time.

Opelka served and played better as the match went along, and snagged a 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (4) win over a player he’d never beaten in three tries on the ATP Tour.

Opelka hit 40 winners and made 46 errors, but converted three break points and played his best when it mattered most. He saved seven of eight break points faced in the match.

“It was super-windy today, and the conditions really changed how I was planning to play,” Opelka said in his post-match press conference. “A very physical match, a long three-setter. I did a good job managing my emotions and staying calm, and then that breaker was huge.”

The 24-year-old Opelka, the No. 23 seed at this year wide-open Australian Open (removing nine-time champ Novak Djokovic has certainly added more drama on who will win on the men’s side), was facing a player who has presented as a bad matchup to him in recent years.




Koepfer, a 27-year-old lefty ranked No. 53, has been past the third round of a major only once but has given Opelka trouble in the past, winning all three matches the two have played on the ATP Tour level (Opelka did defeat the German three times on the Challenger Tour, tennis’ minor-league circuit).

And Monday night Opelka, coming off a straight-sets opening round win against Kevin Anderson, had to work very hard right from the start. The Floridian was broken in his first service game, and had to fight off five break points in a marathon 3-all game just to hold.

The 7-footer played a confident, under-control match, never once showing emotion on the court and coolly dispatching a player who has given him lots of trouble in the past.

“That guy has had my number for a long time, but I stayed positive,” Opelka said. “Those (negative) thoughts never entered my head, and a few years ago they would have.”

At 5-4, Koepfer serving, Opelka blasted a huge forehand passing shot to gain set point, and two points later drilled a blistering backhand down the line to force an error and grab a very difficult 53-minute first set, all the more impressive considering the big Floridian made only 44 percent of his first serves in the set.

Opelka, seeking to reach the third round in Australia for the first time, roared out to a 3-0 start in the second set, breaking Koepfer in the second game and causing the German to smash his racket in anger after being broken.

Opelka then cruised on his service games and grabbed a two-set edge with an ace to take the second set, 6-3.

In the third set, both men were cruising on their serve until Opelka faced danger at 4-5, 15-40. But he served his way out of that, and then prevailed in the tiebreak with some clutch serving and Koepfer errors.

In the next round Opelka will face No. 14 Denis Shapovalov in what should be a cracklingly-good match. Shapovalov, the young Canadian who survived in five sets Monday night, and Opelka have never faced each other as pros.

— Michael J. Lewis for FlaglerLive