MUNICH: Fourth-seed Tomas Berdych picked up his first title of 2009 when he beat Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7/5) in of Munich’s ATP claycourt tournament final on Sunday. The match was decided on a nail-biting third set tie-breaker as Youzhny bolted to a 5-1 lead, only for Berdych to rally and win the title on his fourth match point. Having made a strong start by taking the first set 6-4, Berdych then allowed the unseeded Russian to take the second set 6-4.

Having been 4-1 down in the third, Youzhny rallied back to 5-5 before Berdych won the next game and then had three match points, but the Russian held his serve to take the final set to a tie-breaker. Youzhny had Berdych on the ropes at 5-1 up in the tie-breaker to stand on the verge of a match point just a few minutes after defending three himself. But Berdych kept his composure and produced some faultess tennis under pressure to pick up the $96,000 winners cheque having knocked out former World No 1 Lleyton Hewitt in the quarter-finals.