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By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday February 10, 2022


The stars and stripes are coming out of the woodwork at the Dallas Open, where five Americans are into the last eight.

Tennis Express

Yesterday it was Taylor Fritz, Marcos Giron and John Isner who booked their spots. On Thursday it was Jenson Brooksby and Reilly Opelka’s turn. Both took care of business.

21-year-old Brooksby made his ATP-level 2022 debut, defeating Italian veteran Andreas Seppi, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to book a clash with Australia’s Jordan Thompson.

The 54th-ranked American is seeded for the first time at an ATP event, and is playing just his sixth event at tour level. Last year he broke out in a big way, reaching semifinals at Newport, Washington, D.C. and Antwerp. Then there was the round of 16 performance at the US Open, where Brooksby took a set off of Novak Djokovic before bowing out in four.

Brooksby had to fight hard with the savvy Italian.

"It felt pretty good. A little nervous in my first [tour-level] match of the year," he said, according to ATPWorldTour.com. "I competed well. As an American in the U.S., it was a great crowd. I missed that atmosphere for a few months."

Reilly Opelka crushed 28 aces to topple Germany’s Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, 7-6(3), 7-6(8). There wasn’t a single break point in the match, and Opelka saved a pair of set points in the second set tiebreak to get through.

Vasek Pospisil was also a winner on Thursday, knocking off Jurij Rodionov, 6-7(3), 7-6(2), 6-2.

 

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