Reilly Opelka sets up first time meeting with Murray at Sydney

(Tennis news) Reilly Opelka went through a first rough set against Brandon Nakashima when the pair met for the first time in the quarterfinals of Sydney Tennis Classic. Both players held their serve in the first set as there was not a single breakpoint, at the tie break it was Opelka who managed to break in the serve and take the set.

 

In the second set, Opelka improved on his court coverage and his forehand strokes were strong as ever. The 24 year old even had 5 breakpoints in which he lost three of them but two was enough to take a four game lead over his fellow junior. The next gen player had to face faster serves in the second set as the fastest serve was timed at 234 km/ hour. Opelka defeated Nakashima 7-6(7-4), 6-2.

 

The crowd cheered the loudest for Maxime Cressy’s tweener winner against Daniel Evans in the second quarterfinal match at Sydney. Evans was hitting backhand winners every now and then as Cressy came to the net on 18 occasions and lost 11 points there. The American was clearly hitting faster groundstrokes but Evans returned the ball most of the time and kept hitting the ball from side to side.

In the second set, Cressy was at the net on 30 occasions and went on to win 23 points as Evans had to use a lot of self motivation. On saving a set point at 5-4 in the second point, Evans roared “let’s go” multiple times to himself as he went to hit the ball harder in the next few rallies. At 5-5 all in the tiebreak, the 24 year old found it difficult to finish points as a forehand shot into the net gave his opponent matchpoint and it was done as Evans set up a second career meeting with Aslan Karatsev. Evans defeated Cressy 6-4, 7-6(7-5).

Andy Murray had his match cut short against David Goffin as the Belgian had to retire at the end of the first set due to a knee injury. Goffin moved well on the first set as he was facing the former world number 1 for the eighth time and has never won a match yet. Murray broke Goffin in the opening game as he made the 31 year old test his speed on court, both the players were known for their ability to chase down balls down the court and a bit of that was seen in the first set. Murray defeated Goffin 6-2, retired.

Also read: Andy Murray lights up Sydney, Karatsev enters last semifinals

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