Jo-Wilfried Tsonga met someone 13 years his junior in the second round of the Western & Southern Open. After an hour and 41 minutes, the world number 10 defeated wildcard Reilly Opelka, 7-6(5), 7-6(3).
Tsonga takes first set in tiebreak
The match opened without much drama. Starting with a hold at 30, Tsonga exploited some real struggles in Opelka’s return game. However, at 7'0'', the American isn't built to be a perfect returner; instead, his height is optimal for serving big and volleying, and he showed it without a blemish in his first love hold. Tsonga wasted little time continuing his dominance on serve—giving up just one point en route to his second hold. Moreover, the Frenchman couldn't find a remedy to his opponent’s serving and volleying. After two service games, Opelka was a perfect eight of eight on service points.
It took five games before the match saw its first deuce, but the fifth game wouldn't last much longer than the previous four; Tsonga brought the game score to 3-2 with two unreturned serves—both out wide. Despite being so good on his own serve, the seventh seed couldn't find a way to even get a single return point—even after three return games. Luckily, his opponent didn't look much better equipped to break serve anytime soon, so the match remained on serve after seven games.
On his 13th service point, Opelka finally faltered; on a short ball at the net, the wildcard floated a forehand long. The next point was a similar story as he angled a volley wide. Two points went the way of the 18-year-old before Tsonga whipped a 91 mph return crosscourt to see the match’s first break point. That one ended up being saved on a big forehand winner, and the American closed out the game with an overhead and an ace way out wide. Through eight games, the score was all evened up at 4-4.
Tsonga took just 64 seconds to hold at love in the ninth game, and he was really firing on all cylinders. The next three games proceeded with the returner winning just one point—sending the first set into a tiebreak.
At the first changeover, the score was level at three apiece with each player scoring a mini-break in the process. A forehand pass from Tsonga at Opelka’s ankles gave him a second mini-break lead; following it with a point won a backhand long from the American set up two match points for the 31-year-old. One was saved on a forehand volley down the line; the other, on an ace down the T. Tsonga’s second set point came via a backhand return just caught the line past an approaching Opelka. Capitalizing on a short return, the world number ten took the set with a ferocious smash at the net.
That set’s final point was Tsonga’s fifth net point won on as many tries, while Opelka converted on eight of his thirteen attempts. That minute difference gave the Frenchman the advantage he needed to take a one set to love lead in 42 minutes.
Tsonga takes match in a second tiebreak
Continuing to go to where he found success in the first set, Opelka rode his monster serve to a hold at 15 to take the first lead of the second set, 1-0. Tsonga matched that with a hold at 15 of his own—keeping the paradigm of the match unchanged. That quickly changed when a double fault at 15-40 put the world number 364 in a defensive position with two break points in front of him. Saving them wasn't a challenge as they were saved with an overhead smash and an unreturned serve out wide. The game saw a third break point thanks to a volley into the net by Opelka, but he survived one more. Finally, the game concluded after the wildcard whipped a big inside-out forehand to the corner and followed it with his patented serve out wide.
Two more games were played with only one point going to the returner in each game; then, in the fifth game, the break point returned. At 30-30, Opelka missed the corner on a backhand volley. Once again, Tsonga couldn't break, and the Frenchman lost three straight points to trail 2-3.
The set would proceed without a break point until, at 30-30 in the eighth game, Tsonga hit a forehand just long. That gave Opelka his first break point of the set, but, like his counterpart on the other side of the net, he couldn't get the crucial break of serve. The 31-year-old found two break points in the eleventh game; they were, however, saved on the 18-year-old’s twelfth and thirteenth aces of the match. And again, Opelka survived being broken to take a 6-5 lead. Serving to stay alive in the set, Tsonga held at love to force another tiebreak—Opelka’s 14th in 29 sets as an ATP professional.
Going into the changeover with a mini-break lead at 4-2, the 31-year-old Frenchman had a clear path to the third round. Another pair of points went his way—coming with them: four match points. The 6’10” youngster was able to get one last unreturned serve in, but a backhand wide ended the match.
With a victory over up-and-comer Opelka, Tsonga will advance to the third round where he will meet the winner of Steve Johnson vs Julien Benneteau.