PARIS, May 24, 2017

Reilly Opelka saves three match points to secure a comeback win in the second round of the French Open qualifying at Roland-Garros on Wednesday. The 19-year-old US-American fought past Leonardo Mayer from Argentina, rallying 5-7, 7-6, 6-3.

Opelka fired 13 aces, winning 73 per cent of his first service points and capitalized on three of his four break point chances to secure victory in two hours and seven minutes.

“I played awful in the first set. I got broken three times. It was an unusual first set for me but I just competed very hard, down three match points so I got really lucky,” Opelka told Tennis TourTalk after his encounter on Court 14.

The World No. 151 enjoys a good run in France, as he also advanced to the semi-finals at the ATP Challenger in Aix-en-Provence two weeks ago.

“I don’t know if the red clay suits me very well but for sure I like playing in France. I have competed pretty well for the last couple weeks, starting to serve better. I am pretty happy.” 

Opelka will next take on Nicolas Jarry from Chile to battle for a spot in the main draw. The US-American qualified for his maiden Grand Slam in Melbourne earlier this season, losing to David Goffin in the first round.

“It was a battle there, getting through the qualies but not as tough as it has been here, being a set, mini break as well as match points down. Now I just need to start the matches better, as each time I started a bit slow,” Opelka explained.

The Florida resident will be joined in the final round of the qualifying by fellow NextGen players Stefanos Tsitsipas from Greece, who beat Frenchman Gleb Sakharov 6-3, 6-3, as well as Andrey Rublev from Russia and Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan.

Photo Gallery Q Day 3 (by Brigitte Urban & Florian Heer)