Norrie beats Opelka in Delray Beach final

British player outlasts American opponent 7-6, 7-6 for his third career ATP title

DELRAY BEACH:

Britain's Cameron Norrie captured his third career ATP title on Sunday, outlasting American Reilly Opelka 7-6 (7/1), 7-6 (7/4) in Sunday's ATP Delray Beach Open final.

The 26-year-old left-hander won after one hour and 51 minutes to hoist his first trophy of the year after taking crowns last year at Indian Wells and Los Cabos.

"I really enjoyed my time on court in Delray this week," Norrie said.

Opelka blasted 25 aces past Norrie but it was not enough for him to claim back-to-back titles after taking his third ATP title last week at Dallas.

World number 13 Norrie, a semi-final loser last year at the Florida venue, improved to 3-5 in career ATP finals.

World number 20 Opelka, 24, had split two prior matches with Norrie, the American winning a US Open tune-up at New York in 2020 and Norrie taking a 2021 indoor match at Paris.

"You're moving great. You're playing great," Norrie told Opelka. "I'm sure you're going to break into the top 10 real soon."

Opelka, who lives at Delray Beach, fired two aces and held at love in the opening game of the match and saved two break points in the seventh with an overhead smash and his ninth ace to hold for a 4-3 advantage.

Opelka saved another break point in the 11th game on the way to the first tie-breaker, which Norrie dominated to capture the opening set after 56 minutes when Opelka hit a forehand long.

Norrie had a break chance in the eighth game but Opelka fired his 18th ace to deny him and held with his 19th ace to equalize at 4-4 on the way to another tie-breaker.

Deadlocked at 4-4 in the decider, Norrie moved ahead when Opelka sent a forehand long and reached match point with a backhand volley winner. When Opelka sent a final forehand long, Norrie grabbed the title.