The future of American men’s tennis shone brightly on day one at the BB&T Atlanta Open, with Reilly Opelka and Jared Donaldson claiming first-round wins at this ATP 250 event. During the day session, the 19-year-old Donaldson made light work of big-serving Aussie Sam Groth, winning 6-2, 6-4. Last year’s junior Wimbledon champion, Opelka had a slightly tougher affair but edged out local qualifier and Georgia Tech player Chris Eubanks in two tight tiebreakers.
Donaldson, the world No. 123 from Rhode Island, started fast to follow up on a successful run to the round of 16 in Toronto. Hew took the first set from Groth 6-2, breaking twice. From then on, things got slightly tougher for the youngster, but one break of Groth’s huge serve enough to seal his first main-draw win in Atlanta.
The nightcap saw Opelka go up against Eubanks in a tasty affair for in-state tennis fans. Early on it was tough to tell who would win, with the big serves of Opelka and Eubanks leading to zero breaks and a first set-tiebreaker. In the ‘breaker, the giant 6-foot-11 Opelka started strong, bringing up two set points with the 1817th ranked collegiate player saving each. Another set point came for Opelka at 8-7, but some solid play from Eubanks–including a clutch backhand return–led to two straight points for the Atlanta native and a set point of his own. More big serving from the 18-year-old Opelka helped him erase the deficit and eventually took it 9-7 when Euabnks missed a forehand volley.
In the second set, it was much of the same for Opelka and Eubanks–with 11 straight holds of serve leading to 6-5 with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket serving to stay in the match. Some impressive returning from Opelka brought up a match point at 30-40, but eventually the trend of no breaks continued as Eubanks held to send it to another tiebreaker.
In the second successive ‘breaker, it was Opelka once again racing out to an early lead thanks to some fine play that gave him a 4-0 advantage. Eubanks fought on to bring the score to 3-5, but the big serve of Opelka brought up three match points. Eubanks saved the first two on his own serve, but eventually the stronger serving of Opelka proved to be the difference.
Other first-rounders on Monday in Atlanta included Atlanta native Donald Young fighting back from the brink against fellow American Austin Krajicek, saving two match points to claim his first win at his home tournament since 2010. French lefty Adrian Mannarino held off German veteran Mischa Zverev 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5) and American Tim Smyczek successfully navigated his way past Brazilian lucky loser Thiago Monteiro 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-3.
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