Spaniard shakes off poor start to take ATP 250 tournament in Austria.
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After dropping the first set at love, Marcel Granollers came back from the brink to win 0-6, 7-6(3), 6-4 over the Argentine Juan Monaco today. He became only the second man to win an ATP final after losing the first set 0-6. (Nikolay Davydenko beat Rafael Nadal in the 2010 Doha decider 0-6, 7-6(8), 6-4.)
Monaco came out very strong, while Granollers was erratic, most especially with his serving. He got his first break of serve early in the 2nd set, but was broken back when serving for the set at 5-4, and had to take the set in a tiebreak to stay alive.
In the 3rd set, both showed nerves and there were a few breaks of service, with the Barcelona native broken again when serving for the match at 5-3. He broke back in the next game to win the championship.
This is the Spaniard’s fourth ATP singles title — he has 10 in doubles — and his first singles title since 2011. The win will put Granollers back in the Top 40 of the world rankings. His career high was 19.
He also becomes the sixth different Spaniard to win a singles title this year, joining Rafael Nadal with 7, David Ferrer and Tommy Robredo with 2 each, and Feliciano Lopez and Albert Montañés with 1 apiece.
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