Kohlschreiber Takes Munich Title Over Youhzny

Unseeded Philipp Kohlschreiber became the first German to win the BMW Open since 1994 on Sunday as he rallied to defeat doubles partner Mikhail Youzhny 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, and capture his first career ATP title.

The two later played in the doubles final against Czechs Jan Hajek and Jaroslav Levinsky and won that title in straight sets.

"It’s such an amazing thing to win your first ATP title and to do in Germany," Kohlscrheiber said. "I’m so happy! This is just a crazy day."

The 23-year-old who was making his ATP final debut, finished the tournament by knocking out three of the top five seeds -- No. 5 Jarkko Nieminen (2nd RD), No. 4 Marcos Baghdatis (SF) and No. 3 Youzhny (F) -- dropping only one set in the process. Michael Stich was the last German to capture the Munich title (d. Korda) 13 years ago.

Youzhny was appearing in his third title match of the season, having won in Rotterdam (d. Ljubicic) and reached the final in Dubai (l. to Federer).

"It was a tough match, Philipp played really well," said Youzhny. "I had some chances to break him early in the second set but I couldn’t do it."

In the opening set, Kohlschreiber went up 2-0 but Youzhny raced back to win the next six games and take an early advantage. In the second set, the German broke  early on to win 6-3. In the final set, the only break came in the fifth game as Youzhny was broken at 15-40. Both players held serve the rest of the way and Kohlschreiber sealed the victory by converting his third match point in the 10th game.

Both players won 86 points each in the two hour and one minute match and converted three of eight break points. The difference came down to second serve points won as Kohlschreiber won 63 percent and Youzhny only 43 percent.

Kohlschreiber becomes the fourth first-time winner on the ATP circuit this year, joining Gilles Simon (Marseille), Juan Monaco (Buenos Aires) and Ivo Karlovic (Houston). He is also the second German winner this season (Tommy Haas, Memphis).

This was the second meeting between the two and Kohlschreiber won the previous one in the first round of Moscow last year.