Unseeded John Millman has won through to his first ATP 500 final with a straight-sets defeat of Reilly Opelka at the Japan Open, setting up a showdown with world No.1 Novak Djokovic.
The 30-year-old Queensland qualifier posted a 6-3 7-6 (7-4) victory over the 210cm tall American on Saturday in just under an hour-and-a-half in the first meeting between the pair.
Millman saved match points to beat Bradley Klahn in the first round of qualifying en route to the main draw. He has gone on to win six-straight matches in Tokyo.
The world No.80 won 86 per cent of his first serve points and saved both break points he faced to clinch victory over Opelka, who sent down 13 aces.
Millman broke Opelka’s opening service game on his way to a 3-0 lead. After staving off a set point in the 10th game of the second set to level at 5-5, he won the last four points of the subsequent tiebreak to wrap up the win.
Millman is expected to soar 22 places to No.58 when next week’s rankings are released. He reached a career-high mark of 33 in October 2018.
The Australian’s only other appearance in an ATP final was last year in Budapest, where he lost to Marco Cecchinato.
In the Tokyo decider, Millman will face Djokovic, a 6-3 6-4 winner over third-seeded Belgian David Goffin in the second semi-final.
The Serb on Saturday reached his fifth final this season, not dropping a set in his four matches at Ariake Colosseum. Competing in the Japanese capital for the first time, he is trying to win a title on his tournament debut for the 10th time.
After controlling the first set, Djokovic broke Goffin in the first game of the second with a perfectly placed volley. Down 15-40 in the second game, he fought back to hold serve and never looked back.
Goffin was the only former champion in the draw. He lost to Nick Kyrgios in the 2016 final before defeating Adrian Mannarino for the 2017 title.
Djokovic, retiring with a left-shoulder injury during his fourth-round match against Stan Wawrinka at the US Open, has shown no lingering effects in Tokyo.
The 32-year-old is pushing to finish as year-end No.1 for the sixth time to tie the mark held by Pete Sampras.
AP
