21-year-old Reilly Opelka of US ousts Wawrinka at Wimbledon

Reilly Opelka still is getting used to some aspects of visiting Britain.

The bed frame where he stayed during a Wimbledon tuneup tournament that wasn't quite big enough for the 6-foot-11 (2.11-meter) American, for example. The lack of air conditioning compared to back home in Florida. As for the grass-court tennis? Opelka is increasingly comfortable with that, as demonstrated by a 7-5, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 8-6 second-round victory over three-time major champion Stan Wawrinka at the All England Club on Wednesday.

"Every year I come here, and, like, 'Why is there no AC?' They're, like, 'Oh, it's never hot here.' Every year, it's over 80 degrees!" Opelka said.

Switzerland's Stan Wawrinka slips and falls as he plays United States' Reilly Opelka in a singles match during day three of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Wednesday, July 3, 2019. (AP PhotoBen Curtis)

He is ranked 63rd and is unseeded for his main-draw debut at Wimbledon, where he won the 2015 junior title.

But against a far-more experienced and far-more accomplished player, he pounded eight of his 23 aces and saved both break points he faced in the last set, fending off 10 of Wawrinka's 12 break chances in all. At 6-all in the fifth, Opelka erased a break chance with a 140 mph service winner, then followed with two more serves Wawrinka failed to put in play, at 133 mph and 137 mph.

It was Opelka's ability to adjust his style, serve-and-volleying only three times in the final set, and to hang in there on longer exchanges that made this upset possible.

United States' Reilly Opelka celebrates after beating Switzerland's Stan Wawrinka in a Men's singles match during day three of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Wednesday, July 3, 2019. (AP PhotoBen Curtis)

"I've always been a pretty good mover. Underrated, actually," said the 21-year-old Opelka, participating in only his fourth major tournament. "I think sometimes when I play guys for the first time, they don't expect it. It helps me win so many points, being able to (track) down some extra balls, especially in the key moments."

It was the 22nd-seeded Wawrinka's groundstrokes who failed him, with four errors that helped Opelka earn the only service break of the fifth set in the last game. When it ended, Opelka yelled, "Come on!" and then pounded his chest.

"At the end, he went for it," Wawrinka said. "He went bigger than me, and he deserved to win."

United States' Serena Williams plays a shot against Italy's Giulia Gatto-Monticone in a Women's singles match during day two of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Tuesday, July 2, 2019. (AP PhotoBen Curtis)

So maybe it's time for Opelka to stop downplaying his chances this fortnight.

Before facing Wawrinka, Opelka called it a "brutal matchup."

Afterward, Opelka referred to Wawrinka as "the main attraction."

Belarus' Victoria Azarenka returns to Australia's Ajla Tomljanovic in a Women's singles match during day three of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Wednesday, July 3, 2019. (AP PhotoBen Curtis)

On Friday, in his first appearance in third round of any Grand Slam tournament, Opelka will face someone else he labeled "the favorite" — 2016 Wimbledon runner-up Milos Raonic, who is seeded 15th.

"He's as good as it gets when it comes to grass, so really, really excited for that matchup," Opelka said. "It's going to be a really big challenge playing a guy as good as he is on this surface."

The same could be said of Opelka right now.

Romania's Simona Halep celebrates after beating Romania's Mihaela Buzarnescu in a Women's singles match during day three of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Wednesday, July 3, 2019. (AP PhotoBen Curtis)

"He plays aggressive. He goes for it. He tries to keep you off-balance. He's hard to get a rhythm on, because not only does he finish things off pretty quickly with his serve and getting ahead that way, but he's constantly swinging for his other shots," said Raonic, who entered Wimbledon dealing with a lingering back issue and had some issues with his left calf during Wednesday's straight-set win over Robin Haase. "He doesn't really hold back. It's hard to sort of work yourself into the points."

SERENA & ANDY

As it is, the All England Club was concerned about keeping British star Andy Murray away from crowds around the grounds on his way to and from his first men's doubles match with partner Pierre-Hugues Herbert, which will be Thursday on an as-yet-unannounced court.

Imagine what sort of rush there will be to try to catch a glimpse of Murray and his mixed doubles partner, Serena Williams.

"Hope they put them on Centre Court," 2018 French Open champion Simona Halep said, "because everyone is going to watch it."

In Wednesday's draw for mixed doubles, Williams and Murray were picked to face Andreas Mies of Germany and Alexa Guarachi of Chile in the first round.

Williams, who owns 23 Grand Slam singles titles, and Murray, who owns three, are as high-profile a team as could be.

He is limited to playing doubles at the moment as he returns from an operation for a hip replacement.

"I mean, good luck to everybody else," two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka said. "It's going to be a tough, tough, tough one to beat. They both take it seriously. But I feel like it's going to be just a pleasure for people to watch. It's going to be historic. So I'll be definitely watching, as well."

HALEP VS. AZARENKA

A pair of former No. 1s will match up in the third round Friday when Simona Halep and Victoria Azarenka face each other for the fifth time. Each has won two of the previous meetings.

Azarenka, who is ranked 40th, had quite a busy Wednesday. She dropped the opening two games of her singles match against Ajla Tomljanovic, before taking 12 games in a row for a 6-2, 6-0 victory. Then she and Ash Barty, the current No. 1 in singles, went out and won their first-round match in women's doubles.

Halep, the No. 7 seed, got past Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 in an all-Romanian match.

What will determine how she fares against Azarenka?

"The key," Halep said, "is the mental part."

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NEW YORK (AP) — Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine is joining Venezuela's president and the man charged with gunning down United Healthcare’s CEO in a notorious federal lockup in New York City.

The embattled 29-year-old artist, whose real name is Daniel Hernandez, reported to the Metropolitan Detention Center in his native Brooklyn on Tuesday to serve out his latest stint behind bars.

He drove up to the gates of the jail in a luxury van with internet personality Adin Ross and a camera crew streaming live as he turned himself in.

The facility is the only federal jail in New York City but is so troubled that some judges have refused to send people there and others have described it as “ hell on earth ” for its poor conditions and constant violence.

It currently houses Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, as well as Luigi Mangione, who is accused of killing Brian Thompson, the leader of the country's biggest health insurer.

Over the years, MDC Brooklyn has housed a constellation of other infamous inmates, including music stars R. Kelly and Sean “Diddy” Combs and longtime Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell.

Hernandez’s lawyers didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment Tuesday, but have said previously that the rapper looked forward to serving out his sentence so he could resume his music career.

Hernandez admitted last year to assaulting a man and possessing drugs, in violation of the terms of his supervised release in a gang-related case.

He was sentenced in December to serve three more months in federal custody. He was previously slapped with a 45-day sentence in 2024 for breaking the terms of his supervised release.

Hernandez shot to fame with the 2017 release of his song “Gummo,” but the following year he pleaded guilty to his involvement with a violent New York-based gang, the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods.

He was sentenced to two years in prison in 2019, followed by five years of supervised release for his cooperation in the racketeering case against other gang members.

He was released from federal prison several months early during the height of COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Hernandez's latest sentence is related to small amounts of cocaine and ecstasy found at his Miami home during a police raid. Prosecutors say he also punched a man who taunted him at a Florida mall over his cooperation against gang members.

FILE - Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine watches a baseball game between the Miami Marlins and New York Mets, Aug. 3, 2021, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)