The only man who has beaten Novak Djokovic this year is Reilly Opelka, and he started his 2025 Australian Open journey with a win over Gauthier Onclin today. It wasn’t an easy match for Opelka, especially as there was concern about his back, which had forced him to retire from the Brisbane final against Jiri Lehecka.
His tennis was generally solid before that minor injury, so there was some worry about how he would handle the match-up, but outside of a minor slip-up in the first set, it was a pretty good showing from Opelka.
Set 1
In the first set, Opelka looked a bit nervous to start. He sprayed aggressively all over the court, but most of his shots weren’t hitting. He totaled only 8 winners and 13 unforced errors, which was a bit too much for the very inspired Onclin. The Belgian had won three qualifying matches to find himself in the first round, and that comfort level showed.
He did enough by moving Opelka around and forcing him to try and hit some crazy shots, which didn’t work, so he took the opening set 6-3.
Set 2
The second set was a very fascinating one because, once again, Onclin had decent success with his tactic. He fought his way to a break point but failed to convert it simply because Opelka’s serve is a weapon of mass destruction. The American played a tiny bit better in this set as he hit his shots a little bit better.
He got himself to a tiebreaker, which he opened badly, giving Onclin a 2-0 lead. What happened after that was a very lucky net-tip bounce that won him the point, and it totally changed the outcome of the tiebreak.
He would win it 7-4, and that is when the match turned.
Set 3
Onclin opened with an early break to start the 3rd, taking a 2-0 lead. He wouldn’t hold it because he played too carefully. A couple of bad misses and bad choices allowed Opelka to break, and boosted by the confidence of that, the American started blasting more and more winners. Onclin also played more toward the middle than the line, which made the job much easier for Opelka.
He would turn around that 0-2 deficit into a 6-3 set win to make it 2-1 in sets.
Set 4
Somewhat predictably, Onclin completely fell apart in the final set, rushing too much both on the serve and in live play. He continued to accumulate more and more unforced errors as Opelka finally put his precision goggles on.
He took a double-break lead 3-0 early, and from there, it was an easy cruise for the American. The final score was 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-2.
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Edited by Pritha Ghosh
