Cameron Norrie defeated
Reilly Opelka in the
Delray Beach Open proving better in two very close tie breaks 7-6(1) 7-6(4).
It was a superb event from Norrie in Florida as the British player cruised for the majority of it. He encountered some trouble against Sebastian Korda who served for the match against the Brit but Norrie pulled through. Some of that calmness and patience was on display today as well and he needed to play like that to beat Opelka.
The big-serving American played a pretty standard match hitting 25 aces and only one double fault. He was very good overall but not as sharp as he needed to be. Opelka played a lot of matches recently and it took a toll. His movement was quite slow and he was late in many rallies. Because of that, he was unable to generate any pressure on return.
He did not force a single break point while Norrie was able to generate 5 of them. He didn't convert any of them but he was generally able to create more pressure and that proved critical in the tiebreak. In the first one, Opelka fell apart in the crucial moment easily losing 7-1. In the 2nd one, he played a bit better but once again Norrie proved more patient overall to win it.
Opelka was not interested in long rallies and he tried to be aggressive fairly quickly in rallies but he missed more than he hit and that cost him. A great week for Norrie who will join Opelka in Acapulco next week.