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%).
“I thought I served well and returned well,” Opelka said. “I think I’m a different sort of player than he’s used to seeing.”
The last match of the night featured a pair of former top-10 players, and Canada’s Denis Shapovalov outlasted Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-2, 3-6, 6-4. The lone break point of the final set coincided with match point, and Shapovalov prevailed.
Among other action, American Marcos Giron rallied to beat Argentina’s Mariano Navone 4-6, 7-5, 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 winner 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.
Brazil’s Joao Fonseca topped Belgium’s Raphael Collignon 7-6 (2), 6-4, and Italy’s Matteo Berrettini squeezed past France’s Adrian Mannarino 4-6, 7-5, 7-5. The United States’ Jenson Brooksby bested Australia’s Alexei Popyrin 6-3, 6-4, and French veteran Gael Monfils dumped Canadian qualifier Alexis Galarneau by the same score.
Croatia’s Dino Prizmic nipped Australia’s Tristan Schoolkate 7-6 (5), 3-6, 7-5 in a matchup of qualifiers, and the United States’ Zachary Svajda eliminated Croatia’s Marin Cilic 7-6 (5), 6-4.
Argentina’s Camilo Ugo Carabelli dumped the United States’ Martin Damm 7-6 (5), 6-3, and Australia’s Adam Walton powered through France’s Quentin Halys 6-3, 6-3.
–Field Level Media
