Reilly Opelka edged Nick Kyrgios in two tight sets to reach his first clay-court final on the ATP Tour Saturday at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. National Championship.
The American's 6-3, 7-5 win puts him through to his third tour-level final of the season, with all three coming on American soil. His three finals in 2022 is second only to Nadal's four.
"I've progressed every match," Opelka said of his performance in his first clay event of the season. "I've felt more and more comfortable moving and sliding and all that.
"Every warmup I've had has been long because I've been trying to get more feel and more comfort on this stuff. It's not second nature like it is for Garin. He can take a year off and come here and feel right at home. Different story for me."
Name a human who can return a serve with that much kick.
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We'll wait.@ReillyOpelka #USClay pic.twitter.com/HCKNEH4ZES
The third seed hit 18 aces in the match to Kyrgios' 11, and won 86 per cent (24/28) of his first-serve points.
One break was enough for Opelka to take the opening set, and he again drew first blood on the return in the second to lead 4-3. But Kyrgios broke back immediately on his only break chance of the match to set up a tense finale.
The American did not drop another point on serve in his final two service games, either side of his third break of the match at 5-5. He now awaits the winner of Saturday's second semi-final between fourth seed John Isner and defending champion Cristian Garin, the fifth seed.
"Both of them have won here before, have had a lot of success here before," said Opelka, previewing the final. His countryman Isner won the Houston title in 2013.
"That's what you want in the final. For the tournament's sake... you want it to be the best match you can get," he continued.
"I think this draw here, with Garin, Fritz, Isner, Kyrgios, Tommy Paul, who's great on clay, it's a stacked tournament, a very stacked field. It comes down to playing high-level tennis because it's a high-level draw."
All of the action from Houston can be seen on ESPN3 in the U.S., with Sunday's final set to begin at 2 p.m. local time.
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