Reilly Opelka won himself some birthday plans.

The American made sure he will be busy on Wednesday, his 22nd birthday, playing in the second round of the U.S. Open after knocking off No. 11 Fabio Fognini 6-3, 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 Monday in his first-round opener.

“I don’t celebrate my birthday in New York, usually,” said Opelka, who will meet Dominik Koepfer in Wednesday’s second round.

The unseeded Opelka failed to qualify for the U.S. Open last year and never got a wild card to play in the tournament. But he made his debut in this year’s main draw ranked No. 42 in the world and surged past the Italian Fognini at a packed Court 17.

Opelka had his way early before serving for the match up 6-5 in the third set. But Fognini broke and then won the tiebreaker 8-6, making Opelka work overtime for the win. He was happy with the way he controlled his focus after the crushing third set.

“I did a great job of not getting upset,” Opelka said. “It was tough. I was up a break earlier in the third and also served for it. It was just comfortable knowing I’ve had chances to break him multiple times each set. So I knew based on the history of the match so far, there was no reason why I wouldn’t have other chances to break.”

The 6-foot-11 Opelka flashed his powerful serve, topping out at 142 mph and collecting 26 aces. He said the wind and Fognini returning well forced him to “serve big,” which put his first-serve percentage under 50 percent early. But he finished putting 71 of 124 first serves in play and winning 79 percent of those points.

Opelka, who could be the next big American man to watch, said his game plan was to stay on the offensive. He also wanted to remain calm, not getting caught up in Fognini’s up-and-down nature.

The win was Opelka’s fourth career Grand Slam win after defeating No. 10 John Isner in the first round of the Australian Open earlier this year and beating Cedrik Marcel-Stebe and No. 19 Stan Wawrinka at Wimbledon.

“I didn’t set a goal, but I would say I’m ahead of schedule for what I was kind of expecting,” Opelka said. “It’s just been consistency throughout the whole year that’s helped me.”

Growing up, Opelka said his favorite players to watch included James Blake and David Ferrer, the latter for how feisty he was. Opelka appeared to have some of that in his game while upsetting Fognini on Monday.

Now he has a chance to make some more noise with the No. 11 seed out of his way, starting with his birthday match on Wednesday.

“It was fun,” he said. “I did a great job of staying within myself.”