French Open 2021: Reilly Opelka vs Daniil Medvedev Preview, Head to Head and Prediction for Roland Garros
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Daniil Medvedev vs Reilly Opelka
Second-seeded Daniil Medvedev will face upcoming American Reilly Opelka in a tough third-round encounter on Friday. Both players were on the right side of a 4-set-victory in their previous rounds and are raring to make it to the second week of Roland Garros for the first time in their careers.
Match Details:
| Tournament | French Open 2021 |
| Match | Reilly Opelka vs Daniil Medvedev |
| Round | Third Round |
| Date | 4th June, 2021 |
| Prize Money | $136,787 (INR 99,95,026) |
| Venue | Roland Garros, Paris, France |
| Surface | Clay Court |
Reilly Opelka vs Daniil Medvedev: Preview
The match up between Opelka and Medvedev is sure to deliver some exciting tennis. Both players come into this tournament with a contrasting clay court season behind them.
Reilly Opelka played 3 tournaments on clay, with a stand out performance at the Italian Open where he beat the likes of Aslan Karatsev, Lorenzo Musetti and Federico Delbonis, all of whom have been in stellar form this season, before losing to the eventual champion – Rafael Nadal.
Au contraire, Daniil Medvedev has endured a disastrous clay court season, having lost to Aslan Karatsev and Cristian Garin in the early rounds of the Italian and Madrid Open. However, like most top players Medvedev has raised his game on Grand Slam week and is playing some of his best clay court tennis at the moment.
Reilly Opelka vs Daniil Medvedev: Head-to-Head
The pair have met thrice before in 2017, 2019 and 2020. Medvedev leads the head-to-head 2-1. However, Opelka won the last meeting in Medvedev’s home country of Russia. All three matches were held on hard courts.
Reilly Opelka vs Daniil Medvedev: Match Prediction
This is where things get a bit tricky! Opelka seems to be more at home on the clay than Medvedev. His results at the Italian Open would lead most to believe that he holds an edge over his opponent. However, his underwhelming performances at the Madrid Open and Geneva Open leave room for debate.
On the other hand, Medvedev is like a fish out of water when he plays on a clay court. In fact, he registered his first win at the French Open just this week! Despite his drawbacks on clay, he is a champion player who has the grit and determination to someday become the best player in the world! In all truth, he’s not far from it right now! But it is the clay that evens out the playing field when these players from Russia and USA meet in Paris. Though the bookmakers will have Medvedev as the favourite, it does seem highly likely that Opelka will pull off an upset!
Prediction: Opelka to win in 4 sets.
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Glen Winston Sukumar
(5 Articles Published)