Stefanos Tsitsipas sails past Reilly Opelka

Four-time Barcelona Open finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas is off to a winning start at one of his favorite events. The Greek faced Reilly Opelka in the first round and earned a commanding 6-2, 6-2 triumph in an hour and ten minutes. 

Stefanos served at 50% and drew the most from that. He dropped 12 points in eight service games and denied all three break points in the second set to keep the pressure on the other side. Reilly could not follow that pace. 

The American dropped over half of the points in his games and suffered two breaks in each set to end his campaign in the first round.

¡A buen nivel!

🇬🇷 @steftsitsipas toma ventaja ante Opelka por 6-2, 2-0.@atptour | @ATPTour_ES | #BCNOpenBS pic.twitter.com/rK8XokzrCD

— Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell (@bcnopenbs) April 15, 2025

Tsitsipas hit seven winners and nine unforced errors, keeping his strokes under control while welcoming 35 mistakes from his opponent! Reilly sprayed errors from both wings and failed to overpower his rival in service winners. 

The better-ranked player dropped only a couple of players behind the initial shot in the opener and kept the pressure on the other side. Opelka stayed in touch early on with two fine holds. The Greek made a push on the return in game five. 

He welcomed the rival’s volley error at the net and secured a break at 15 that sent him in front. Stefanos held at love in the sixth game and stepped in on the return in the next one. The four-time finalist drew the rival’s mistake for another break at 15 and a 5-2 lead. 

Tsitsipas served for the set in game eight and held at love with an unreturned serve for 6-2 in 26 minutes. Reilly faced more issues at the beginning of the second set. He hit a forced error and experienced another break at 15 to find himself a set and a break down.

The Greek landed an ace in the second…