Melzer Wins 1st ATP Title at Bucharest

"To win your first title is so awesome, it's an unbelievable feeling," said Melzer, who had dropped his three prior finals with runner-up finishes in 2006 Houston, 2005 St. Poelten and 2003 Newport. "It is what you have been working for your entire tennis life."

Melzer was never broken, saving the lone break point he faced in the first set. The lefty broke Volandri twice in the first set and a final time with the match-winning break.

"To win against Filippo today, I focused on putting a lot of pressure on him," Melzer added. "He's one of the best baseliners on the tour and it didn't make sense for me to try to play him from the back. I tried to come in as much as possible, to risk a little more than usual, to hit winners in order to not give him any rhythm. Also, I think today I have been serving a lot better than the previous rounds and that helped me a lot."

In the first two rounds unseeded Melzer overcame set deficits to defeat Slovak qualifier Michal Mertinak and fourth seed Gilles Simon before claiming three consecutive straight setters en route to the win.

The win improves Melzer to 26-23 on the year and now has the opportunity to top 30 match wins in a season for the first time in his career following records of 26-26 last year and 27-27 in 2004.

Volandri slipped to 1-6 in career finals and recorded his second runner-up finish of the year (Buenos Aires). The Italian has reached the semifinals or better of his past three clay court events (Sopot SF, Umag SF).

"It was a really difficult match for me because he's left handed and he gives me a lot of problems, especially on my serve," said Volandri. "I knew that already before the match but I didn't expect he was going to be playing so good. It was however a great week for me and I am very happy with my performance this year in Bucharest."