Garcia-Lopez wins first ever ATP title

Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez won his first career ATP title as he took the Kitzbuhel claycourt tournament with a 3-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-3 victory over Frenchman Julien Benneteau here on Saturday.

Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, seen here in action in 2008, won his first career ATP title as he took the Kitzbuhel claycourt tournament with a 3-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-3 victory over Frenchman Julien Benneteau here on Saturday.

After a titanic struggle that lasted three hours and 10 minutes the 25-year-old Garcia-Lopez, ranked 74 in the world, tasted his first tournament triumph over the right-handed Benneteau.

Benneteau finished on the losing side of the net in his third appearance in a final, as the Spaniard overcame the setback of losing the first set 6-3 when there were five breaks of serve.

Garcia-Lopez sharpened his game in the second set and Benneteau was forced to save two set points at 5-6, before falling apart in the tie-break which the Spaniard won comfortably 7-1.

The turning point of the match was in the seventh game of the final set when Garcia-Lopez capitalised on his 10th break point to go 4-3 up and he held serve the rest of the way to close out the match.

Benneteau suffered his third championship match defeat after losing at Lyon and Casablanca in 2008, while the two men have a slight chance of meeting again at the French Open which starts Sunday after both being drawn in the same side of the draw.

Garcia-Lopez takes on Italian Andreas Seppi in his first round tie, while the 27-year-old Benneteau has the daunting task of facing compatriot and ninth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.