"Nick.never know what to expect" - Opelka gearing up to face Kyrgios in Houston

Reilly Opelka advanced to his second ATP Tour semi-final on clay on Friday at the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship with a win over Brouwer 6-3 7-5.

Opelka has now won four sets in a row dropping the opening stanza of his campaign against countryman Mitchell Krueger. Opelka entered the ATP 250 event with an 0-4 main-draw record in Houston, with his last appearance in 2019. With the benefit of a first-round bye, he's started his clay-court swing strongly on home soil.

It's something he really enjoys:

"The bye weeks are nice, they really are, to come in a little later, have more time to prepare on the court. You get to take your time and that's huge."

Despite facing windy conditions and entering the match without a scouting report on his World No. 361 opponent, Opelka was able to power through the opening set behind an early break. But he had to battle back from 1-3 down in the second to match his semi-final effort on the clay of the ATP Masters 1000 in Rome last May.

He will have to be much sharper against Kyrgios who advanced to the semifinal via walkover:

"Nick, you never know what you're going to get. I've got to serve better than the way I've been to beat that guy, for sure."