By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday February 7, 2025
Tommy Paul stretched his winning streak in Dallas coming out on top of a battle of former champions on Friday night.
Photo Source: TTV
Tommy Paul had never faced Reilly Opelka at the ATP level prior to Friday night’s quarterfinal clash between the two longtime friends. But Paul knows Opelka well from their many years travelling the tour and practicing together.
Perhaps that explains why the defending champ was able to get such a good read on Opelka’s usually untouchable serve on Friday night in Dallas.
Paul pressured the 6’11” self-proclaimed "servebot" from the onset and earned seven break points over the course of the match, converting two as he pulled away to break open a tight contest, 7-6(3), 6-2.
It was an impressive display of athleticism by Paul, who won 34 percent of Opelka’s first serve points and 46 percent of his second serve return points.
"Getting his serve back in the court is pretty tough," said Paul on court after improving to 17-5 in his last 22 matches on home soil. "The balls were moving pretty quick today. It felt quicker today than others. Maybe it's just because I had Reilly serving to me."
Making things even more demoralizing for Opelka was the fact that the 27-year-old was unable to earn a single break point.
"Not to have break points after a couple of times I was down 0-30 and I really had to tighten up on those games," he said. "I'm happy with my serve performance for sure."
Once Paul pulled away in the first set tiebreak, things were well in hand for the No.3 seed. Paul closed out the match in 90 minutes, stretching his Dallas winning streak to seven victories.
He will play red-hot Denis Shapovalov on Saturday. The Canadian, who took out top-seeded Taylor Fritz on Thursday night, was ruthless against Tomas Machac on Friday, as he capped off the night with a vintage performance, winning 7-6(5), 6-0.
In the earlier semifinals, Jaume Munar continued his impressive hardcourt play with a hard-fought 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win over Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi, while Casper Ruud advanced 7-5, 3-2 RET when Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka was forced to retire due to a shoulder injury.