Real Madrid were made to work last night but they eventually defeated Banca Civica Seville 82-68 in the Spanish capital to draw first blood in their opening round series.

Kyle Singler led Madrid’s scoring with 14 points overall as the hosts built on their impressive start, leading 26-16 as their platform to victory.

Singler was helped by Sergio Llull and Felipe Rayes, who both got 13 points for the victors.

Despite their 26-16 opening period lead, Real started to take their foot off the pedal a bit and it allowed Seville to take their chances as they went on a 15-3 run in the opening five minutes of the second quarter.

It was obvious that Real Madrid were missing Nikola Mirotic’s presence inside as Seville were relentless throughout the second, forcing their opponents into numerous errors and taking advantage of them. The home fans were a little worried going into the half-time break down 40-38.

In the second half though, the hosts fought back, leading by one to set up a grandstand fourth period which they dominated, holding Seville to just 11 points while scoring 24 of their own to record the victory.

Txemi Urtasun led all scorers in vain for Banca Civica Seville with 19 points.