Giant-killer Guillermo Garcia-Lopez capped off a memorable week in Bangkok by winning his second ATP World Tour title after a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 victory over Finland's Jarkko Nieminen in the 2010 PTT Thailand Open singles final on Sunday.
Garcia-Lopez, who had defeated three seeded players (#8 Michael Berrer, #4 Ernests Gulbis, and top seed Rafael Nadal) en route to the final, continued his resilient performance, surviving all seven break points he faced in the first set, while taking his only opportunity to break the Finnish lefthander.
In the second set, Nieminen up the ante, playing more aggressively and coming to the net more often, and broke the Spanish world #53 in the second game in order to level the match.
In the final set, Garcia-Lopez broke the 60th-ranked Finn in the fourth game, but dropped his serve in the next game. The crucial moment came in the tense tenth game. Serving to stay in the match and with the capacity crowd of 9,000+ spectators on the edge of their seats, Nieminen saved three match points but the 27-year-old Spaniard did not waste his fourth chance, and claimed the victory.
By winning the title in Bangkok, Garcia-Lopez will move to around No. 40 in the ATP World Tour rankings. He achieved a career-high of No. 38 earlier this year on May 17. Garcia-Lopez also became the eighth different Spaniard to win an ATP World Tour title this season.
This is the second title for the Spaniard. He won his first in Kitzbuehel in May last year.
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