NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Marin Cilic won his first ATP Tour event Saturday, beating American Mardy Fish 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 at the Pilot Pen, a U.S. Open tuneup.
Unseeded Caroline Wozniacki won the women's title, her second tournament victory this month, beating top-seeded Anna Chakvetadze 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.
Despite having the crowd against him, the 19-year-old Cilic broke the hard-serving Fish five times, three times in the final set, to secure the win in his first finals appearance.
His best decision of the night may have come at the coin toss, when the 6-foot-6 Cilic elected to receive. He broke Fish in the first game and made that hold up in the first set.
After dropping the second set, he broke Fish again to open the third, pumping his fist in the air.
With the crowd using its favorite cheer, "Anybody got an ace? Go Fish!," the 26-year-old American was consistently hitting first serves at between 125 and 130 mph.
But Cilic continued to return well, holding Fish to just five aces. After dropping his own serve in the second game, he broke Fish in the third and seventh games.
Fish, who lost to James Blake in the men's final a year ago, was trying for his third career win, and first since 2006.
In the women's draw, Wozniacki earned her second career victory. The 18-year-old Dane hadn't even been in a WTA final before August. She won her first WTA Tour win in Stockholm, then reached the third round at the Olympics, where she lost to eventual gold-medalist Elena Dementieva.
"Stockholm was in Scandinavia, it was my first tournament and it was smaller than this," she said. "Here, it's the tournament before the U.S. Open, and it's a really big tournament. You know, I have beaten some really great players on my way to win this tournament."
Her run included wins over eighth-seeded Dominika Cibulkova, third-seeded Marion Bartoli, and seventh-seeded Alize Cornet.
It didn't look good for Wozniacki early in the final. She was broken three times in the first set, and was in trouble in the second after Chakvetadze broke her again in the first game. But Wozniacki broke back and won the set when Chakvetadze double-faulted on the final point.
Wozniacki dominated the third set, breaking Chakvetadze in the fourth and sixth games before serving out the match.
