Delray Beach Open: Reilly Opelka wins twice on Sunday to secure second ATP Tour title

Joe Wright

Delray Beach Open: Reilly Opelka wins twice on Sunday to secure second ATP Tour title image

Reilly Opelka overcame both Milos Raonic and Yoshihito Nishioka on Sunday to triumph at the Delray Beach Open.

With Saturday's play affected by rain, the big-serving American had only hours to prepare for the final after an impressive defeat of Raonic in 127 hard-hitting minutes.

Opelka edged the ace count 19 to 16 and also saved a match point against the Canadian in their semi-final, eventually coming out on top 4-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-3.

The world number 54 broke Raonic for the first time at 3-3 in the final set and then again to love to book his place in the final, where he showed no signs of tiredness when seizing the initiative by claiming the third of three set points to forge ahead against Nishioka.

However, Nishioka's return game began to click into gear and he levelled the match when Opelka sent a forehand long to lose a tense tie-break.

An immediate break put Opelka in charge of the decider, though, and he moved 5-2 up when a furious Nishioka sent a backhand wide having previously saved three break points.

Opelka secured his second ATP Tour title with a 27th ace, once again prevailing in a three-set tussle.

Joe Wright

Joe Wright Photo

Joe is a Senior Editor at Sporting News. He was previously a sub editor and writer for Goal.com before spending six years as part of the Stats Perform editorial news service, covering major global sports including football, tennis, boxing, NBA, rugby union and athletics. Joe has reported live on some of the biggest games in football, including two UEFA Champions League finals, Euro 2016, the Confederations Cup 2017 and the 2018 World Cup final at the end of a month in Russia.