Reilly Opelka has claimed his first ATP Tour title with victory over qualifier Brayden Schnur in the New York Open final.
The 6-foot-11 Opelka hit 43 aces for the second straight match, the final one to finally end things 6-1 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (9-7) after an overturned call had helped him set up match point.
A night after overcoming six match points to beat top seed John Isner in the semi-finals, Opelka needed six of his own to finish off Canadian Schnur in the match-up for first-time finalists.
Schnur, who had never won a tour-level match before arriving in New York and making it into the tournament through qualifying, nearly pulled off a remarkable comeback after he as blasted away in less than 20 minutes in the first set.
The 154th-ranked Canadian appeared to finally have a match point of his own but Opelka challenged what initially looked like Schnur's ace.
The serve was ruled out and Schnur double faulted.
Opelka then wrapped it up with his 156th ace of the tournament.
The 21-year-old Opelka will rise to a career high 56th in the world rankings while Schnur will jump up to 107th.
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