US teen Alex Michelsen ended Reilly Opelka’s comeback from a layoff of nearly two years on Saturday, advancing to face countryman Marcos Giron in the ATP Hall of Fame Open final.
Michelsen, last year’s Newport runner-up, defeated Opelka 6-2, 6-0 in only 59 minutes in the ATP grass-court event at Rhode Island.
“At the beginning, he was having break points on my serve and I was like, this is going to be one of those matches that’s going to come down to the wire,” Michelsen said.
“And then I didn’t miss a return when I touched the ball. Probably the best tournament day of my life.”
World number 61 Michelsen will play for the title against 46th-ranked Giron, who won the other all-American semi-final 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 over Chris Eubanks.
“Making it to the final is amazing,” Giron said. “It’s tough. The margins are so small.”
Giron, who has never faced Michelsen in an ATP match, lost his only prior ATP finals in 2022 in San Diego and this past February in Dallas.
Michelsen lost to France’s Adrian Mannarino in last year’s Newport final, his only prior tour championship match.
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“We practice a lot. We’re both from Southern California. It’s cool to see he’s doing well,” Giron said.
Michelsen became the youngest player since Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz at Umag in 2022 to reach consecutive finals at the same ATP event.
“Last year I had zero expectations on myself and this year I put a little bit more expectations on myself,” Michelsen said.
“I’m going to be taking a lot more experience into the match. Last year in the final I had about zero and now I’ve got a year.”
Opelka, who sent a backhand wide to end matters, was playing in his first ATP event since 2022 at Washington.
At 1,188th in the world, Opelka is the lowest-ranked player in the ATP era to reach a semi-final, having tumbled down the ATP standings during his absence following hip and wrist operations.
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