WHAT HAPPENED: Lorenzo Musetti added another highlight to a summer of highlights by throttling the power of comeback-minded Reilly Opelka on the opening day of the 2024 US Open on Monday.
In a summer surge by the tournament’s No. 18 seed, Musetti edged past the towering American Opelka, who was making his first appearance at the year’s last Grand Slam in two years, 7-6(3), 1-6, 6-1, 7-5.
The engaging match of contrasts played out before a spirited crowd on Court 7 at the sun-splashed USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center grounds and looked destined for a decisive set with the 6-foot-11 hard-serving Opelka up 5-2 in the fourth set.
But Musetti, who claimed an Olympic bronze medal in men's singles, gamely rallied to run off the last five games of the match, breaking Opelka’s serve three consecutive times. In the ninth game, Opelka was up 40-0 with three set points and even had two more in that game but failed to close out the game.
The 22-year-old Musetti had emerged this summer as one of the game’s up-and-coming stars. Since making the French Open third round, he has strung together a winning run by reaching the Queen's Club and Umag finals, the Wimbledon semifinals, and then bringing home the bronze medal last month at the Paris Olympics.
Opelka blasted 23 aces and 55 winners in the nearly three-hour match. But, Musetti found a way to handle the power by blocking or chipping back service returns and dropping his passing shots at the feet of the towering American.
WHAT IT MEANS: As sparkling as Musetti’s summer has been, it has been an equally newsworthy one for the 26-year-old American. Out for the entire 2023 season after having hip surgery at the end of 2022, Opelka made it back to the ATP Tour in early July and promptly reached the semifinals on the Newport grass. He went on to reach the second round at Atlanta and Washington.
As high as No. 17 in the world in 2022 before his injury, Opelka’s ranking had plummeted to No. 324. He got into the 2024 US Open with a protected ranking.
MATCH POINT: Musetti has shown the ability to chop down some of the biggest players in the game, including Alexander Zverev and Taylor Fritz Fritz at the Paris Olympics and has career wins over Novak Djokovic and his compatriot Matteo Berrettini. Now that he is one of the big names in the game, will he avoid the upset this week?
