Reilly Opelka hammered 17 aces as he delivered a 7-5, 7-6 (3) victory over fellow American Ethan Quinn on Wednesday in the first round of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, Calif.
Opelka had 34 winners against 28 unforced errors while advancing to face another American in No. 8 seed Ben Shelton in the second round. The 6-foot-11 Opelka saved four of five break points.
The match was tied at 5-5 in the first set before Opelka won the final two games.
In the second set, Quinn held a 4-2 lead before losing three straight games. It eventually went to a tiebreaker and it was deadlocked at 3-3 before Opelka won the final four points to claim the match.
Quinn had just 11 winners while committing 21 unforced errors. He won just 15 of 67 return points (22.4%).
Among other matches, American Marcos Giron rallied to beat Argentina’s Mariano Navone 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.
Martin Damm wasn’t so fortunate as Argentina’s Camilo Ugo Carabello claimed a 7-6 (5), 6-3 victory.
Australia’s Adam Walton defeated Frenchman Quentin Halys 6-3, 6-3, Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics beat Aussie Christopher O’Connell 7-5, 6-3 and Czech Dalibor Svrcina knocked off Australia’s James Duckworth 6-2, 6-4.
Canada’s Gabriel Diallo was a 7-6 (5), 6-4 winnver over Italy’s Mattia Bellucci, while Belgium’s Zizou Bergs beat Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff 6-3, 6-4.
Also, Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic advanced when Germany’s Daniel Altmaier retired. Kecmanovic won the first set 6-3 and won the opening game of the second set when Altmaier decided he couldn’t continue.
–Field Level Media
