By Sean Rudolph
© Kremlin Cup

(October 24, 2010) Viktor Troicki bounced back from a one-set deficit to score the biggest win of his career. Serving with authority for the final set, the 24-year-old Serbian claimed his first career title with today's 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory over fourth-seeded Marcos Baghdatis in the Moscow final.

Troicki capped a week in which he took out two of the top four seeds  — he beat third-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the second round  — to make a career breakthrough.

"It feels really great to win my first (ATP World Tour) title; there are no words to describe what is going through my mind. I would say it is the biggest day of my career," Troicki said. "I had been waiting a long time for this. It is special it happened in Moscow as my father is Russian."

Two weeks ago, Troicki held match points against World No. 1 Rafael Nadal in the Tokyo semifinals. He did not close the match vs. Nadal and wound up suffering a heart-wrenching, 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-7(7) loss to the nine-time Grand Slam champion.

The 43rd-ranked Troicki recalled his near miss against Nadal when fighting back against Baghdatis today.
   
"Marcos played a great first set and a half, but then I was able to get into the match. I was nervous serving out for the title but I tried not to think too much about it," Troicki said. "The mistakes I made against Rafa (Nadal in the Tokyo semi-finals), when I served for the match but lost, helped me."

Troicki did not face a break point in the second set. He broke Baghdatis’ serve in the 10th game to level the match.

Saving a break point earlier int he third set, Troicki took advantage of Baghdatis losing range on serve to break for a 3-1 third-set lead.

"I lost a lot of matches in my career, but it is frustrating to lose in a final like this," said Baghdatis. "I thought I was in control of the first two sets. I still had a great week, played great tennis.”