Neither of the top five American players—Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul, Sebastian Korda, Frances Tiafoe, and Ben Shelton—is participating in the Davis Cup 2024. However, team captain Bob Bryan has assembled an electrifying group of players. And in the first match of the opening tie against Chile, Reilly Opelka gave the American fans something to look forward to.
Opelka was selected to play the first of the best of three matches of this encounter to go up against Christian Garin. The contest on day two of the international tournament lived up to its hype. After more than 3 hours of entertaining tennis, the 27-year-old clinched an impressive 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (3) victory.
As expected, his serve was the most lethal weapon. Living up to his nickname “Serve Bot,” the 6ft 11” player recorded a 78% win on the first serve by recording 27 aces.
The Michigan native’s consistent improvement in his serve—eight aces in the first set, nine aces in the second set, and ten aces in the third set—made this performance even more impressive.
¡Reilly Opelka y un ace a 232km/h! #CopaDavis | @usta pic.twitter.com/KHuv91ID4a
— Copa Davis (@CopaDavis) September 11, 2024
One can easily expect this 27-ace production to be the single-match record for the ongoing tournament. While he is #1 on this list, Zizou Bergs of Belgium is trailing him with 20 aces in his match against Tallon Griekspoor.
Opelka’s triumph gives the USA a 1-0 lead. Brandon Nakashima will participate in the second singles match of the contest. Considering his impressive form in the North American swing – third round at the Canadian Open 2024 & the Cincinnati Masters 2024, and fourth round at the US Open 2024 – Nakashima will be expected to defeat Alejandro Tabilo.
Even if the World No.40 fails to clinch the win, the North American side is still expected to defeat Chile. Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek will participate in the final event of the bout, going up against Tomas Barrios Vera-Tabilo duo.
Considering that the Ram-Krajicek team won a silver medal at the 2024 Olympics, they will be the favorites to defeat the two players who primarily participate in singles events.
