Rotterdam, The Netherlands (SportsNetwork.com) - Third-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych beat Croat Marin Cilic 6-4, 6-2 in Sunday's final at the $1.85 million ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament.
The hard-serving righties combined for 17 aces, including nine by the triumphant Berdych, who ended a 16-month title drought.
"It feels absolutely amazing," Berdych said.
Cilic was bidding to win titles in consecutive weeks, but he committed four double faults, had his serve broken three times and failed to convert all three of his break-point chances.
The world No. 7 Berdych was the lone player in the top 10 who failed to win a title last year, going 0-3 in finals. His last tournament victory came at Stockholm in October 2012.
Berdych captured his ninth career title and improved to 5-2 lifetime against Cilic.
The loss snapped a nine-match winning streak for Cilic, who successfully defended his crown at the Zagreb Indoors tournament in his native Croatia last week.
"I had a great run of nine (straight) wins and I hope to make that run soon again," Cilic said.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.