Slovakian Martin Klizan staged yet another concerted fightback to claim the biggest title of his career as he saw off Gael Monfils at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam.
Fifth seed Monfils breezed through a first set tie-break after Klizan had failed to convert any of the six break points he had earned in getting there.
But the 26-year-old Slovakian, who had survived five match points against quarter-final opponent Roberto Bautista Agut and a further three in his semi-final win over Nicolas Mahut, refused to succumb and forced his way back into the match by breaking the Frenchman in the eighth game of the second second set, which he went on to take 6-3.
From there, it was one-way traffic as Klizan raced into a 5-0 lead in the decider, eventually claiming his fourth ATP World Tour title 6-7 (1/7) 6-3 6-1 in just under two hours.
"I cannot believe that it happened," he told the ATP Tour website. "It's an amazing feeling.
"Every day I was just fighting. Most of the time I had three-hour matches every day, so the only thing I could do was fight. In the end I saved so many match points."
