Köpfer again without damage against Opelka?

For many years, one could rather hope with the German ladies at the big tennis tournaments, who were much more successful for a long time. In the meantime, the picture has changed. Nine German men competed in the singles at the Australian Open. Dominik Köpfer has made it through to the second round and will meet the US player Reilly Opelka early on Wednesday morning.

are offered much lower odds on a win for the long American, but we don’t necessarily go with that, as the German has the potential to win a few matches in Melbourne, even if the draw doesn’t mean well for the Furtwängler. Should he prevail against Opelka, the next opponents could be Denis Shapovalov and Alexander Zverev.

The round of 16 should be the highest of feelings, no matter who wins on Wednesday. But every win brings a nice sum to the prize money account and who knows what else will happen in Down Under these days. The betting companies are predicting a victory for the 2.13 m giant in the duel between Reilly Opelka and Dominik Köpfer.

But we think the German should have the better cards. Recently, he has clearly won three direct duels against the American and we think he will now build on that in the second round in Melbourne. Therefore, our first impulse is to place a bet between Reilly Opelka and Dominik Köpfer on a victory for the German.

Reilly Opelka – Statistics & current form

Current World Ranking: 29
Seeded position: 23

Reilly Opelka has been ranked in the top 30 in the world rankings for quite some time, but his game is not world class. At 2.13 metres, he naturally focuses a lot on his serve. Footwork falls by the wayside. If he doesn’t manage to score with the first service, he gets into trouble.

Second round end of the flagpole?

He has yet to make it far in the tournament at the Australian Open. Twice he reached the second round in Melbourne, then it was always over. We don’t think it will look any better this year, at least not by much. In our opinion, in the duel between Reilly Opelka and Dominik Köpfer, the odds on a win for Furtwängler should be the better choice.

The US American has already played a few matches in Australia this year. After losing to Maxime Cressy at the ATP tournament in Melbourne, the 24-year-old reached the semifinals in Sydney last week, where he lost to Britain’s Andy Murray. The form is at least decent, but whether that will be enough for a win on Wednesday remains to be seen.

The draw gave Reilly Opelka a thankless draw in the first round. Nevertheless, the US American had no major problems against the former top ten player Kevin Anderson from South Africa. Without a single service loss, Reilly Opelka won smoothly in 1:46 hours with 6:3, 6:4 and 7:6.

Dominik Köpfer – Statistics & current form

Current world ranking position: 53
Seeded position: unseeded

Dominik Köpfer has enormous potential. But now it’s time for the Florida-based German to finally take the next step and establish himself in the top 50 of the world rankings. The prerequisites are definitely there. The Australian Open could be the stage for his big breakthrough.

Growing from strength to strength in Melbourne

However, he hasn’t performed particularly well in Melbourne yet either. For that, he has improved every year Down Under. In 2019 he was eliminated in the qualifying round, in 2020 he was eliminated in round one and last year the German reached the second round. According to the law of the series, between Reilly Opelka and Dominik Köpfer, the prediction should go in the direction of the German.

However, the preparation was anything but optimal. At the ATP tournament in Melbourne, he lost his opening match against Tallon Griekspoor. Without a win, he then continued at the Australian Open, but in great pain. Only with medication is the Furtwängler able to get through a match at all.

But Dominik Köpfer showed his good side against Carlos Taberner from Spain. Without any major problems, he prevailed in four sets with 6:1, 3:6, 6:4 and 6:1. In the end, the German spent almost two and a half hours on the court. Especially mentally, the 27-year-old was very strong. If he focuses like this again on Wednesday, then a place in round three is possible.

Reilly Opelka – Dominik Köpfer Direct comparison / H2H-balance

Reilly Opelka and Dominik Köpfer were companions on the Challenger Tour for several years. There they met three times until 2019 and all three matches went to the US American. However, Dominik Köpfer then took revenge and the score is now 3:3 after six matches.

On three different surfaces, namely on hard court at the US Open, on clay in Madrid and on the holy grass of Wimbledon, the German won each match without losing a set. Apparently Dominik Köpfer has deciphered the US American’s serve, because of the 8-0 sets in the last three matches, it only went to a tiebreak twice.

Reilly Opelka – Dominik Köpfer Tip

Reilly Opelka is 24 places ahead of his German opponent in the world rankings, but that is in a range in the ATP rankings where the players do not differ much in quality. Therefore, this match should be more of a match of equals, in which we are even slightly favouring the Germans.

Dominik Köpfer has yet to win before the Australian Open in 2022, but the Furtwängler is obviously a guy for the big tournaments. After the last three straight wins in the direct duels, we can even imagine placing a tip between Reilly Opelka and Dominik Köpfer on a 3:0 win for the German.

But we can also lower the risk in our bets. If you don’t want to bet on 3:0, you could bet on a handicap win (-1.5 sets) for Furtwängler. However, we try to reduce the risk even more and have decided to play the betting odds on a normal win for the German between Reilly Opelka and Dominik Köpfer