Opelka raises singles title
Bryan brothers win doubles crown in their farewell tour
West Palm Beach resident Reilly Opelka managed to raise the Delray Beach Open singles championship in dramatic fashion on Sunday as he defeated Yoshihito Nishioka 7-5, 6-7, 6-2 at the Delray Beach Tennis Center.
Opelka, who also played earlier in the day in his semifinals match, overcame the obvious fatigue throughout the match to top the 24-year-old from Japan. The 6-foot-11 right-hander delivered 27 aces in the match and also went three for four in break points saved.
“We talked about it going to today, lets not think about possibly playing two matches today. Lets just take it one at a time,” Opelka said. “I’m pretty confident in my body. I’ve been spending a lot of time in the gym this year. So that definitely helped.”
Opelka reached the singles title in a thrilling semifinal after he rallied from a set down and held off a match point to beat Milos Raonic 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-3 earlier in the day. The semifinal match was originally slated for Saturday but was postponed to Sunday morning due to rain.
He also beat Mackenzie McDonald 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-6 (4) to open the tournament and followed by taking down Soon woo Kwon 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (0) in the quarterfinals. Opelka entered the event as the No. 4 seed in the competition.
“In the big picture, I want to win one slam,” Opelka said. “That’s my goal, so yea it’s great. In order to win a slam, you have to pretty much be seeded. This is a step towards that. I have along way to go before I can get to that.”
With the win, the 22-year-old claimed his second career single title and won his first tournament since the 2019 New York Open.
Nishioka advanced to the singles title match by beating No. 6 seed Ugo Humbert 1-6, 6-4, 6-0 in the semifinals. His win on Saturday against Humbert marked the third match he’s played this week where he has lost the opening set before orchestrating a comeback to win the next two sets.
In the doubles final, the Bryan brothers went out in a flame of glory as the duo defeated the team of Luke Bambridge and Ben McLachlan 3-6, 7-5, 10-5 in a 10-point super tie breaker.
Bob and Mike Bryan have raised the doubles hardware in six out of the last eight times at the Delray Beach Open, and won their final shot at the tournament title with the record-breaking brothers set to retire after this year’s U.S. Open.
“It’s just great to finish up strong here. We’ve always loved to play in Delray,” Bob Bryan said. “This feels kind of like our home
court and to win our court it feels great.”
After losing the first set, the Bryan brothers, who are the winningest duo in ATP Tour history, rallied from the early deficit as they began to benefit from their opposition’s fatigue.
The No. 4 seed team of Bambridge and McLachlan played in their semifinals match earlier in the day against Nikola Cacic and Hugo Nys, where they pulled out a 7-6 (7), 7-5 victory.
The Bryan brothers took down Marcelo Arevalo and Jonny O’Mara 6-7 (7), 6-4, 10-4 in their semifinals match on Saturday to reach the title match. They also earned a 5-7, 6-4, 10-7 victory over Divij Sharan and Artem Sitak in the first round to begin their run to the doubles championship.
“You just got hanging in there in that format,” Mike Bryan said. “You can be down and out for an hour and then just play good for 10 to 15 minutes. We finally got a break and we were able to turn the momentum.”
For the second consecutive season, the duo claimed the championship trophy in Delray Beach after they beat Ken and Neal Skupski the year before.
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Patrick Reed reacts after draining a birdie putt on the 17th hole Sunday.