Frenchman beats No. 2 seed Opelka in $100K Stockton

Maxime Janvier celebrates after beating No. 2 seed
Reilly Opelka 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-4 on Tuesday in the first
round of the $100,000 Stockton (Calif.) Pro Open.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   STOCKTON, Calif. — Reilly Opelka blasted 32 aces on Tuesday.

   And lost.

   In a matchup of 21-year-olds, Maxime Janvier of France toppled the 6-foot-11 (2.11-meter) Opelka, seeded second, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-4 today in the first round of the $100,000 Stockton Pro Open at the University of the Pacific's Eve Zimmerman Tennis Center.

   "I'm very happy about my performance because I stayed focused all the time," said Janvier, ranked No. 272. "He served very good, so it was tough for me."

   Janvier said Opelka's serve is "unbelievable. It's the best serve I have played."

   The 129th-ranked Opelka, who easily gets down on himself, won 53 of 63 points (84 percent) on his first serve but only 16 of 40 (40 percent) on his second delivery and committed nine double faults.

   The 6-foot-4 (1.93-meter) Janvier topped Opelka in every serve statistic except aces, winning 43 of 48 points (90 percent) on his first serve and 26 of 45 (58 percent) on his second, pounding 11 aces and suffering five double faults.

   Opelka, from Palm Coast, Fla., declined an interview request after the match, violating an ATP rule.

   Top-seeded Jordan Thompson, a 24-year-old Australian, dismissed Patrick Kypson, a Texas A&M sophomore, 6-2, 6-2.

   Thompson reached a career-high No. 63 in February 2017 and stunned top-ranked Andy Murray in the first round of a Wimbledon tune-up tournament in London last year. Thompson has dropped to No. 106 after having his tonsils removed late last year.

   Kypson won last year's USTA Boys 18 National Championships to earn an automatic berth in the men's main draw of the U.S. Open and lost to then-No. 148 Adrian Menendez-Maceiras of Spain 6-4, 7-6 (9), 6-1 in the opening round.

Reilly Opelka, 6-foot-11 (2.11 meters), blasted 32 aces
 in his loss to Maxime Janvier. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Thompson's countryman, seventh-seeded Alex Bolt, beat U.S. wild card Tom Fawcett, who completed his eligibility at Stanford in May, 6-4, 6-1. 

   Bolt, a 25-year-old left-hander, will play Darian King of Barbados. King, last year's runner-up to Cameron Norrie of Great Britain, routed Philip Hjorth, a 19-year-old wild card from Denmark, 6-1, 6-1 in 44 minutes.

   In the first round of the women's $60,000 tournament, the match between fifth-seeded Kristie Ahn and Robin Anderson was suspended by darkness at 4-4 in the third set.

   Ahn, 26, and Anderson, 25, grew up a one-hour drive from each other in New Jersey before starring at Stanford and UCLA, respectively. Both have reached finals recently, the 5-foot-5 (1.68-meter) Ahn in $60,000 Landisville, Pa., in August and the 5-foot-3 (1.61-meter) Anderson in $25,000 Lubbock, Texas, two weeks ago. Anderson also won a $25,000 tournament in Redding last year.

   Meanwhile, 16-year-old Katie Volynets of Walnut Creek in the San Francisco Bay Area and second-seeded Maegan Manasse, a 23-year-old former Cal All-American, advanced to the main draw.

   Volynets led 4-6, 7-5, 3-1 when Hanna Chang, 20, of Fontana in the Los Angeles area retired after suffering a head injury in a nasty fall during the second set. Chang later served for the match in the set. Overall, the players battled for 2 hours, 37 minutes as the temperature rose to 80 degrees (26.7 Celsius).

Katie Volynets, a 16-year-old wild card in qualifying
from Walnut Creek in the San Francisco Bay Area,
reached the main draw. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Volynets, an amateur playing in her biggest professional tournament, is scheduled to face another 16-year-old, phenom Whitney Osuigwe of Bradenton, Fla., today at 10 a.m. 

   Volynets and Osuigwe (pronounced Oh-SIG-way), who last year became the first American to win the French Open girls singles title since Jennifer Capriati in 1989, met most recently in August in the quarterfinals of the USTA Girls 18 National Championships in San Diego. Osuigwe won 6-2, 6-4 en route to the title, snagging a wild card into the women's main draw of the U.S. Open. She fell to then-No. 40 Camila Giorgi of Italy 6-4, 6-1 in the first round in Flushing Meadows.

   Volynets, a junior at Clayton Valley Charter High School in Concord, said she has scholarship offers from all the top tennis schools in the nation, including NCAA defending champion Stanford and Cal, but hasn't decided if she will attend college.

   "I'm just testing the pro circuit right now," said Volynets, 5-foot-6 (1.68 meters) and 123 pounds (55.8 kilograms). "This is my third pro tournament. My ultimate goal, though, is to play professionally."

   Manasse, a finalist in a $60,000 tournament in Ashland, Ky., in July as a qualifier, beat eighth-seeded Cornelia Lister of Sweden 7-6 (2), 6-4.

   Daily ticket prices in Stockton are:

   Through Thursday — $15 courtside/VIP, $10 general admission, $5 children 5-12.

   Friday through Sunday — $25 courtside/VIP, $20 general admission, $10 children 5-12.

   Tournament passes cost $70 for courtside/VIP, $50 for general admission and $25 for children 5-12.

   Here are the Stockton men's singles and doubles draws and today's schedule, plus the women's singles qualifying and main draws, doubles main draw and today's schedule. The men's tournament is being streamed live.