Granollers rallies to win Kitzbuhel title

Kitzbuhel, Austria – Marcel Granollers overcome a slow start to beat former champion Juan Monaco in Saturday's final at the bet-at-home Cup Kitzbuhel tennis event.

The eighth-seeded Granollers rallied from a bagel set to claim his fourth ATP singles title with an 0-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 victory on the red clay at Kitzbuhel Tennis Stadium. He improved his head-to-head record against Monaco to 3-1 and ended a championship drought that dated back to November 2011, when he fought past the Argentine in three sets at Valencia.

"I definitely didn't start well, but he played unbelievable, very solid with almost no mistakes," Granollers said. "But until you lose the last point, you are still standing and I kept on going."

Granollers became the first Spaniard to win in Kitzbuhel since Alex Corretja's triumph 11 years ago.

Monaco, the second seed, titled at this event in 2007. He fell to 8-10 in career finals.

"I probably played my best tennis of the year in the first set, which I need to be happy about, but Marcel started to play better and things turned around unfortunately for me," Monaco said.