Second seed Tommy Robredo dropped his first set of the tournament but still managed to overcome Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci to claim the Brasil Open title with a 6-3 3-6 6-4 triumph.
Robredo had cruised into the final, dropping just 17 games in four matches prior to his encounter with Bellucci, who provided his stiffest test at the claycourt event during a two-hour, 12-minute thriller.
Appearing in his first tour final, the 21-year-old Bellucci was the first to even break serve against Robredo at Costa do Sauipe.
After dropping the first set, Bellucci converted a break opportunity to send the match to a third set in the first meeting between the two players.
Brazil's top-ranked player at 84th in the world, Bellucci had his serve broken to fall behind 4-2 in the third set. After Robredo held serve to take a 5-2 advantage, Bellucci did the same and followed with a break of his own to fight back to 5-4.
However, Robredo claimed the last break of the match to capture the title, marking the second consecutive year and third overall a Spaniard has won the tournament. Nicolas Almagro was victorious last year and Rafael Nadal won the title in 2005.
The 26-year-old Roberdo claimed his first championship since a victory over Czech Tomas Berdych at Bastad in July.
