diff --git a/pystencils/datahandling/serial_datahandling.py b/pystencils/datahandling/serial_datahandling.py
index ff7d09bdefb112a3bef88da0861d7a67c03b0e7f..dd49125f8bdf29e3ddb14696fd500609ff6e5176 100644
--- a/pystencils/datahandling/serial_datahandling.py
+++ b/pystencils/datahandling/serial_datahandling.py
@@ -271,6 +271,8 @@ class SerialDataHandling(DataHandling):
     def synchronization_function(self, names, stencil=None, target=None, **_):
         if target is None:
             target = self.default_target
+        if target == 'opencl':
+            target = 'gpu'
         assert target in ('cpu', 'gpu')
         if not hasattr(names, '__len__') or type(names) is str:
             names = [names]