The ATP Houston Open began with 16 Americans in the field and will end with one lifting the trophy. The slow conditions down in Houston, Texas are normally not conducive to big servers, but Reilly Opelka and John Isner have both made their way to the final in what will be a self-proclaimed ‘servebot’ battle. As always, we here at LWOT are offering our prediction for the final, but who will come out on top?
ATP Houston Final Prediction
Reilly Opelka vs John Isner
Head-to-Head: Opelka 4-1 Isner
Before we breakdown what will be the 6th meeting between Opelka and Isner, let’s take a look at how they got to this final. Third seed Reilly Opelka had a first-round, bye before coming back from a set down to defeat Mitchell Krueger in the second round. He won both his quarterfinal and semifinal matchups 6-3 7-5 over Gijs Brouwer and Nick Kyrgios, respectively. Opelka has spent four hours and 20 minutes on court this week.
#4 seed John Isner also had a first-round bye and followed that with three, three-set victories to make this final. Those victories came against Steve Johnson, Frances Tiafoe, and Cristian Garin. Isner has spent 6 hours and 12 minutes on court this week.
Opelka and Isner are two of the biggest servers in tennis history. The big Americans currently lead the the tour in aces per match with Isner hitting 22.6 and Opelka 18.2. We should certainly be expecting some tiebreaks in this match. Opelka and Isner have played 15 sets against each other. 13 have ended in a tiebreak, including the past 12. These two are the tiebreak kings and played the longest tiebreak in tour history early this year in Dallas.
Currently sitting at a career high ranking of World #17, Opelka has drastically raised his game from the ground over the last 12 months. These two may be splitting hairs when it comes to their serving prowess, but I believe Opelka can move Isner around and use his powerful forehand to end points quickly. This may well end up going three sets, but expect Opelka to come out on top and lift his first career trophy on the clay.
Prediction: Opelka in 3
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