"I played great" says Reilly Opelka after upsetting Tsitsipas

Opelka found himself losing after the conclusion of the first set yet the American stood his ground to overcome Tsitsipas in three sets. Employing a smart plan of attacking Tsitsipas on the backhand Opelka was able to frustrate the Greek who faltered in the end opening the chance for Opelka to upset him.

After the match the American said:

“I played great. These courts suit my game, it is no coincidence that Isner is in the other semi-final. I think we are the two best servers in the tournament, so for us both to be there, it says something about the conditions. It is live."

Read also

2021 National Bank Open Toronto (Rogers Cup) Prize Money ATP with $3,487,915 on offer

The return of Stefanos Tsitsipas has probably been the weakest part of his game which gets exposed against extremely good servers like Isner and Opelka. He has been steadily improving which was noted by Opelka as well:

”Stefanos has definitely improved his returning. Come 5-5 in the first set, a lot of balls started to come back. He is a thinker and has a high tennis IQ, so it was expected, but that is what separates him from the rest of the pack.”

Opelka did really heavily on his serve to set up points but 27 of 46 winners came from his groundstrokes proving there is much more to his game than just his serve. Asked about facing Isner or Medvedev in the final he said:

“Both Medvedev and Isner are big servers. It is going to come down to a couple of points I think. It will be a similar match to this one.”