VALENCIA, Spain (AP) Mikhail Youzhny claimed his 10th career title by beating top-seeded David Ferrer 6-3, 7-5 Sunday to win the Valencia Open.
The 31-year-old Russian dominated the No. 3-ranked Ferrer throughout, breaking the defending champion and local favorite four times on the indoor hard court.
Youzhny picked the Spaniard apart with well-placed ground strokes early on, breaking twice to take the first set. Ferrer appeared to have recovered with a break in the second, but Youzhny broke back and the Spaniard then started to berate himself after each miss.
Youzhny, meanwhile, methodically kept hitting his shots and broke Ferrer a final time to go up 6-5 before serving out the match.
"It was a great week for me and a great tournament," Youzhny said. "It was a great atmosphere. I felt nobody was against me, of course they were for David, but when I played well they applauded me."