Rotterdam, Netherlands — Tomas Berdych buried a title drought lasting nearly a year and a half as he defeated Marin Cilic 6-4, 6-2 on Sunday to win the Rotterdam World Tennis.
The Czech third seed, ranked seventh in the world, handed Croatia's unseeded Cilic his first loss after nine straight wins which took him to the Zagreb title a week ago.
It was the ninth career title for the new champion, off to his best season start with a 12-2 record.
Berdych had not earned an ATP trophy since Stockholm, October, 2012, 16 months ago.
He suffered through 2013 as the only player in the top 10 not to win a title, losing finals in Marseille, Dubai and Bangkok. – Sapa-AFP