Bengaluru: Petr Bar Biryukov has known and seen enough of Ilya Ivashka to understand that anything slightly less than his best means risking going on the back foot on the court.

During their final encounter at the SM Krishna Memorial, Biryukov appeared well prepared as the Russian served big, ran wild and mostly returned well while fearlessly facing Ivashka's solid game head on. Despite falling short on the total points won statistically (49%), clutch saves and control during long rallies made the difference for Biryukov in his 7-6 (0), 4-6, 6-4 victory which helped him clinch the second ATP 50 Challenger here.

With both players successfully holding their serves, the first set went into a tie-breaker. Ivashka, a former top-40 player, gave away free points and fourth-seeded Biryukov capitalised on the opportunity to race away to a 7-0 lead and claim the opener.

The second set began with Ivashka not appearing in a good mood. But the 32-year-old fuelled his emotion in the right direction by packing an extra punch into his groundstrokes and winning a break in the fifth game to go up 3-2. Deploying high balls, deep hits and body serves, Ivashka began dictating play to grab the second set and force a decider.

Biryukov, who looked physically drained mid-match, pulled himself together in the third set.

Back to his attacking best, the 24-year-old's swift response troubled Ivashka even though the latter did well to guard his service games until the 10th game. At match point down, Ivashka's easy backhand put-away found the net, giving Biryukov the game, set, match and his maiden singles title.

"I have no words because I'm so happy," said the world No. 335 Biryukov who is set to jump to 268 on Monday.
"The tournament was so tough because I played both singles and doubles. This was my eighth match (singles final) of the tournament, so it was very hard. When I was playing the second set, I thought I would die, but I somehow managed to keep going and keep pushing in the third set."