Reilly Opelka will take on John Millman in Delray Beach for a shot at his second final in two weeks. In Saturday’s other semifinal, American Tommy Paul will battle top seed and British left-hander Cameron Norrie.
(2) Reilly Opelka vs. John Millman
Reilly Opelka secured his first title of 2022 last week in Dallas; standing in his way of a second consecutive final is the resurgent Aussie John Millman. Opelka is ranked 20th in the world, one spot shy of his career high of 19. The American is a healthy 10-3 on the season going into Saturday’s semifinal (including 2 match wins this week over Jack Sock and Adrian Mannarino).
Millman was woefully out of sorts coming into Delray Beach. On home soil, the Aussie veteran won just one match in five tries to kick off the 2022 season. But this week he has picked off Maxime Cressy, Marcos Giron, and No. 3 seed Grigor Dimitrov. Millman also owns a 3-0 head-to-head advantage over Opelka.
Opelka is certainly in better form. For his size (6’11”), Opelka moves around the baseline pretty well. Of course, it’s his serve that is his most fierce weapon–but the rest of his game holds up pretty well. As long as the American has a decent serving day, come Sunday he should find himself in another final.
Cheryl pick: Opelka in 3
Ricky pick: Opelka in 3
(4) Tommy Paul vs. (1) Cam Norrie
Top seed Cam Norrie posted a solid come-from-behind win over Sebastian Korda in the quarterfinals. Korda served for the match at 5-4 in the third, but Norrie broke back and then snagged victory in a tiebreaker. Although he is ranked 13th in the world, Norrie has had a disappointing start to the 2022 season. He was dispatched in the first round of the Australian Open by Korda in straight sets and had a pair of wins each in his other two events. In addition to his win over Korda on Friday, Norrie also took out Oscar Otte in the second round earlier this week.
American Tommy Paul breezed into the semis. The world No. 41 has only dropped 6 games so far this week, thanks to a first-round bye, and two dominant wins over Denis Istomin and Stefan Kozlov. Norrie will almost certainly provide more resistance; the Brit knows his way around the business end of a tournament and he showed some mettle getting through his quarter.
Paul and Norrie have played twice before (both in 2021) and split the wins. While Paul is playing in front of the home crowd, Norrie’s performance in the quarters suggests that he is finally playing himself into form.
Cheryl pick: Norrie in 3
Ricky pick: Paul in 3
WWW?
Big Man in 2; Norrie in 2.
The Scot in three