KNOXVILLE, November 12, 2018
Reilly Opelka is the champion of the 2018 Knoxville Challenger. The 21-year-old from Florida emerged victorious from the all-US-American singles final with Bjorn Fratangelo 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(2).
Opelka dominated the encounter at the Goodfriend Indoor Tennis Center with his serve, firing 26 aces. He outpointed his opponent 113-102 in just under two hours of play.
Champion at @KnoxChallenger… Reilly Opelka!
The 🇺🇸 captures his second #ATPChallenger title of the year, becoming the sixth player to win on both clay and hard in 2018. 👏 pic.twitter.com/OuhWN9YQ9n
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) 11. November 2018
“Today, he served pretty well and I had a hard time with that, but overall in the tie-break I thought I did a great job,” Opelka said during a Q&A for ATPWorldTour.com. “I’m pleased with how I’m playing now and my main goal is to stay healthy and put in a really good offseason.”
By clinching his third ATP Challenger trophy, his second of the season following his triumph in Bordeaux, Opelka earns $10,800 in prize money as well as 80 ATP-Ranking points.
Earlier in the day, Toshihido Matsui of Japan and Frederik Nielsen from Denmark took the doubles crown. The unseeded duo beat the all-US-American tandem of Hunter Reese and Tennys Sandgren 7-6(6), 7-5. The final lasted one hour and 36 minutes.
