diff --git a/pystencils/datahandling/serial_datahandling.py b/pystencils/datahandling/serial_datahandling.py
index 248b1e611b372e49094f925f510658c46c36bf15..a3e6820f0c28deb57cd75083e6f5a99f23abd0dd 100644
--- a/pystencils/datahandling/serial_datahandling.py
+++ b/pystencils/datahandling/serial_datahandling.py
@@ -272,6 +272,8 @@ 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]