Opelka Wins Dallas Open
DALLAS, Feb. 13, 2022 – No. 2 seed Reilly Opelka defeated No. 4 seed Jenson Brooksby, 7-6(5), 7-6(3), to win the inaugural Dallas Open.
Brooksby came back from an early deficit in the first set to force a tiebreak, which Opelka won, 7-5. The second set saw Opelka rally to force another tiebreak, which the 24-year-old also won, 7-3. Opelka won 88 percent of his first serve points (42/88) in the match, including 16 aces.
“It was a great match, “ Opelka said. “Jenson’s style of play is so crafty, and he returns very well. He’s such a good player. He takes you out of your comfort zone as a player and he certainly did that to me today. I am such a big fan of his; he is only going to get better.”
Opelka dominated his matches at the Dallas Open. He led all players in aces with 100, and won 75 percent of his first serves (212-of-283). Opelka did not face a break point in the tournament until today’s final, of which he went 1-of-1.
“It was a great week serving,” Opelka said. “It’s one thing to serve well and have a nice motion and hit your spots, but you have to be smart and think it through. Brooksby is a good returner, and you have to be smart.”
Today was Brooksby’s second career ATP Tour Final. He’s projected to break into the ATP top-50 rankings on Monday.
“I’m disappointed that I didn’t get it done today, but it has been a great week,” Brooksby said. “I’m very proud of how I played. It was a tight match (today) and could have gone either way. There will be other opportunities, and I’m just going to continue to work and get better.”
The title was Opelka’s third of his ATP Tour career, the first two also coming in the month of February (2020 Delray Beach, 2019 New York Open).
Arevalo/Rojer Win Doubles Title
In the doubles final, top seeds Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer defeated Great Britain’s Lloyd Glasspool and Finland’s Harri Heliovaara, 7-6(4), 6-4.
The inaugural Dallas Open welcomed fans from the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex for eight great days of professional tennis.
“This week has been more than we could ever have imagined with the support from the Dallas community and local tennis fans,” said Peter Lebedevs, tournament director of the Dallas Open. “The fans came out all week, and the players back in the locker room were saying, ‘wow.’ It simply was much better than anything we could have expected. Dallas is the best-kept tennis market secret in the U.S.
“The inaugural Dallas Open absolutely exceeded our expectations of what we were going to have out on the court and the amount of fans we were going to have. The tennis was unbelievable. We set a record with the longest tiebreaker ever on ATP Tour, so we’re already in the record books in our first year.”
