Scottish teenager Andy Murray claimed his first ATP Tour title with a thrilling 2-6 6-1 7-6 (7-3) win over Australian ace Lleyton Hewitt in the final of the SAP Open in San Jose on Sunday.
The 18-year-old, from Dunblane, went into the match full of confidence after his career-best 7-5 7-5 semi-final success over top-seeded American Andy Roddick.
And this time he showed he has the battling qualities to come from behind against one of the world's top players to secure a famous success.
Third seed Hewitt, who will be 25 next week, is a former Wimbledon and US Open winner who has amassed over £9million in prize money and took this title in 2002.
Murray, meanwhile, was the youngest player to reach the Bay Area tournament final since 1988, when 16-year-old Michael Chang won in San Francisco.
And while Hewitt had claimed 24 ATP titles since turning pro in 1998, Murray was playing in just his second final on the men's tour after losing in the Bangkok decider to world number one Roger Federer last October.
It was no surprise then when the Australian gained the early initiative by saving a break point on his own serve in the first game and then breaking Murray to go 2-0 ahead.
Murray, 18, hit back immediately with a break of his own but soon found himself 4-2 down after Hewitt secured his second break in game six.
Hewitt had little trouble in holding his serve in game seven and then wrapped up the set with another break.
What Murray lacks in experience, however, he makes up for in heart, and the youngster rekindled his hopes of victory by twice breaking Hewitt at the start of the second set.
With the Scot also holding his own serve twice, Murray was soon 4-0 up and looking good to take the match into a deciding set.
And that is exactly what happened when yet another break of Hewitt's serve three games later allowed Murray to take the set.
Murray also made a flying start to the final set when breaking Hewitt in the second game, but the Australian immediately hit back with a break of his own.
Hewitt is not known for his fighting qualities for nothing, and the Australian then saved three break points to make it 2-2.
The tension grew even further as both players suffered another break of serve before Hewitt held for 4-4.
Hewitt saved two match points when 5-4 and 6-5 down, the first with a 122mph ace, as the epic tussle went to sudden death.
But Murray would not be denied victory as he took the tiebreak 7-3.
