Reilly Opelka meets Lloyd Harris in the third round of the 2021 Rogers Cup on Thursday, August 12th 2021. Who will make their way to the quarter finals?
Which of these two players will take advantage of the fact that this side of the draw has become a little big less competitive now that Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from the tournament? Will it be the up and coming Lloyd Harris or the big swinging Reilly Opelka?
Lloyd Harris had to react quickly to the news that he would not be meeting Rafael Nadal in the second round but rather another Spaniard in Feliciano Lopez, beating him in straight sets 6-2/6-3. Lloyd was basically handed a free spot into the third round as obviously Feliciano Lopez was not as prepared as he could have been with only like 5 hours notice until play. Lloyd will be happy but he is going to have an incredibly tough time now that he meets the hard hitting and huge serving Reilly Opelka.
Reilly Opelka cruised through his second round match, beating the very experienced Grigor Dimitrov in 2 sets 6-3/6-4. Dimitrov definitely had the game to get that match under his belt in normal circumstances. However, Reilly was just so confident on his serve during the match that he was swinging for the fences on his return game and it broke the Grigor Dimitrov serve down. Opelka will want to do the same in this third round match because if he can do that, he has a high chance of success against anyone he meets.
This is going to be the 2nd meeting between both players, with Lloyd Harris having won their only prior encounter 4 years ago in a qualifying round. I expect a very tight encounter between these two highly confident opponents. However, the recipe which helped Opelka beat Dimitrov will be exactly what he needs to come through this match. I expect both of them to bag a set, but the serve of Opelka will allow him to play better on his return as he has more confidence on holding his serve.