The UAE's Omar Behroozian walked away with the men's open title at the Marbella Ramadan tennis championships in Sharjah on Sunday.
Behroozian was stretched all the way before escaping with a 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3) win against Tunisian Davis Cupper, Essam Jalali.
Scheduled to lead the UAE men's team at the GCC Men's Individual Tennis Championships in Kuwait later this week, Behroozian admitted to a certain "distraction".
"I have not been focused as I am already gearing up for the tournament," Behroozian said of his error-ridden final against his Tunisian opponent.
However, the UAE's top player made a sound start snatching an early break for a 3-1 lead.
After that, he simply failed to find the rhythm as both broke each other once to stay level at 5-5. Jalali broke Behroozian a second time for a 6-5 lead, but the UAE lad did enough to draw level with a break of his own and push the set into the tie-breaker, which he won.
In the second set as well, Behroozian held an edge as he moved clear 2-1.
And just when one thought he would consolidate his lost his serve a couple of times to hand Jalali a 5-3 cushion. Down 15-40 on his own serve, Behroozian fought back to hold serve and then break Jalali afresh to come to level terms at 5-5 once again.
He took the lead with another break, only to surrender his serve meekly on love to decide the result on the tie-breaker once again.
"I think what made the difference is that he's a smart player," Behroozian said of his opponent after their first-ever meeting here.
Winners
Men's Doubles: (Winner) Stephan Muller and Ryan Addison; (Runners-up) Attia Mahmoud and Ajaya Kumar. Boys U-16: (Winner) Hamad Abbas Al Dahnani; (Runner-up) Faisal Bastaki. Girls U-16: (Winner) Jennifer Smith; (Runner-up) Emily Leenen. Boys U-14: (Winner) Kaushik Murli; (Runner-up) Anirudh Bahl. Boys U-12: (Winner) Kaushik Murli; (Runner-up) Shokhrak Ergeshev. Boys U-10: (Winner) Majid Obaid; (Runner-up) Rami Ahmad Anwar Khalaf.
