Dmitry Tursunov denied Frank Dancevic a fairytale ending at the Indianapolis tennis championships as he beat the Canadian 6-4, 7-5 to win the title.
The Russian added Indianapolis to his other trophy won last autumn in India.
‘At least this shows that wasn't a fluke,’ joked Tursunov, who lost a final last summer in Los Angeles.
The third-seeded Russian, who is based in California, never faced a break point and used his extra experience against Dancevic, who is poised to rise into the top 100 after the best week of his career.
‘I'm very pleased to win,’ said the 27th-ranked Tursunov.
‘I wasn't playing so well this week, but I've managed to lift my level with each match.
‘The best thing to come out of this week - in addition to winning the title - is knowing that I can win when I'm not playing well. That will boost confidence in future matches and for the rest of my career.’
Tursunov won in one hour, 16 minutes, breaking Dancevic in the penultimate game of the second set and serving out the victory a game later.
Dancevic was the first Canadian to play an ATP final since Greg Rusedski in Seoul in 1995.
‘I didn't return as well as I would have liked,’ said Dancevic, whose parents and sister drove down from Niagara Falls to watch him play.
‘I was nervous in my first final,’ Dancevic admitted. ‘He was more confident out there. I made my own errors and they came on my serve.’
Tursunov said he was pleased to ‘get the job done.’
‘A few years ago I would have lost it and probably walked away at the end with about one racket left. I've made some progress since then.
‘I knew I had my chances even if he was confident after beating Andy Roddick in the semi. I had to remind myself that I'm ranked 27th for a reason, not by chance.’
