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Reilly Opelka won two three-set matches on Sunday amidst a rain-delayed schedule to capture his first title of 2020 and second career of his career at the Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com.

The 6-foot-11 American defeated former world No. 3 Milos Raonic 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-3 in a morning semifinal, saving a match point before then outlasting Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka 7-5, 6-7(4), 6-2 in the afternoon for his second career title.

“I’m just really proud of the way I fought in the third set,” said Opelka, who won his first career title last year at the New York Open. “I got an early break and I broke again. Physically I was feeling pretty good. If he broke me and we had to play more tennis, I was fine.”

Nishioka double-faulted to give Opelka the break at the beginning of the third set, and was broken against later in the set.

“It’s very tough to break his service games,” said Nishioka, who watched his opponent land 27 aces during the contest. “In the third set a little bit I lost my mind and maybe he saw it, he came out and tried to be a little bit aggressive. It worked.”

Opelka is a resident of Delray Beach.

“I love playing at home,” he said. “I have a house not far from here, 10 minutes. So I base here, I’ve been here the past 10 years, so I’m very comfortable. It’s going to be an event I play a lot the rest of my career just because I plan on staying in South Florida. I love playing in Delray.”

Also loving Delray are the Bryan brothers who came from behind in the doubles final to win their sixth career Delray Beach Open title, in this their last year on tour.

The top-seeded pair in the championship match were 3-6, 7-5, 10-5 winners against Luke Bambridge and Ben McLachlan.

“It’s amazing to win this title again in our back yard,” Bob Bryan said. “I have been staying at home and I got so many friends and family here. They kept us fighting and they kept us focused. Those are the people that have your back.”

In a tactical change the brothers switched returning sides in the opening set with Mike Bryan playing in the deuce court and Bob Bryan in the ad court. After losing the first set the pair reverted to their traditional sides. The Bryans won every match in a third-set super-breaker during the week.

It is the third time the twins have taken home back-to-back titles in Delray Beach, winning in 2009-10, 2014-15 and 2019-20.

“We were down most of the match,” Bob Bryan said. “The other team was outplaying us for over an hour. Had it been any other place, it would have been easy to lay down. But here, they kept us in it until we got a little bit of luck.”

The 41-year-olds now own 119 doubles titles from 178 tour-level finals and have won at least one ATP title as a team for 20 consecutive years. To mark their 13th and final appearance in Delray Beach the two Florida residents were awarded the key to the city in honor of their positive impact on the tournament.

For more information, visit www.yellowtennisball.com.

Posted by USTA Florida

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