On May 9, Beijing time, the first round of the ATP1000 Rome Masters began to compete. The 14th seed Opelka met three-time Grand Slam champion Wawrinka, and after a fierce three-set match, Wawrinka reversed after losing one set first, eliminating his opponent 2-1 and winning the tour again after 15 months.
In the first set, Operka took the lead in the 6th set to break and take a 4-2 lead. After that, both sides saved the serve, and Opelka successfully saved the 9th set, winning the first set 6-3.
In the 5th set of the second set, Wawrinka lost four consecutive points to send the starting set, and in the 8th game Wawrinka broke the opponent's serve to tie the set to 4-4. In the 11th set, Wawrinka saved five break points and held on to his serve, then he broke successfully in the 12th set to win the second set 7-5.
Both sides saved serves in the first five sets of the decider, and in the sixth set Wawrinka broke to take a 4-2 lead. In the 8th inning, Wawrinka broke again in a set where the opponent had no way back, and won the decider 6-2.
In the end, in a game that took 2 hours and 5 minutes, Wawrinka defeated the world's 17th-ranked Operka 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 to successfully reach the second round of the men's singles. It was Wawrinka's first victory in 15 months since last year's Australian Open. In the next round, Wawrinka will face the winner between Jerry and Ciurić.