Stan Wawrinka upsets 2021 Rome semifinalist Reilly Opelka for win since comeback

Stan Wawrinka did not play for over a year while he struggled in his first few matches the Swiss player was able to produce a spectacular comeback win over Reilly Opelka 3-6 7-5 6-2.

Reilly Opelka admitted last year that his semifinal in Rome was an outlier and not something people will see often from him. The American certainly proved that in his first match since that semifinal in Rome crashing out against Wawrinka who once again did not play that well. The first set was a rather close one as neither player served that well.

Both were pretty okay on first serves, but Opelka was a tiny bit better on his 2nd serve. He also used the only break point he faced and that proved enough to win it 6-3. The 2nd set featured an early break by Opelka and Wawrinka seemed on the verge of defeat. He continued battling though even when Opelka nearly made it a double break lead.

Eventually, he was able to make it 4-4 after battling back from a break down. His game improved quite a bit after that as he felt the adrenaline rush and he was able to totally overturn the score with a 7-5 2nd set victory. Opelka looked quite disinterested in tennis after that rushing and missing a lot. Wawrinka stayed patient and he was able to finish off the job with 6-2 in the final.

A huge confidence-boosting win for Wawrinka who never gave up and got the win despite not playing as well. He was quite lucky that Opelka was not interested in tennis at all today.