Jankovic, Kunitsyn take home Kremlin Cup titles

Safin, who hasn't won a tournament since beating Lleyton Hewitt in the final of the Australian Open in January 2005, was playing in his first final since losing to Nikolay Davydenko in Moscow in 2006.

Kunitsyn was in control of the match and constantly kept Safin on the baseline. He prevailed in a first-set tiebreaker when Safin made two unforced errors and broke his racket in frustration.

"Had I won the first set it could have gone a different way," Safin said.

Safin won five consecutive points in the second-set tiebreaker to stay in the match.

In the third set, Kunitsyn got a break in the sixth game and served out the match at love, closing it with an ace.

"I was chasing him all the time," Safin said. "I could not capitalize on my chances. But he converted every time he had a chance and didn't make many mistakes. There's no surprise he won."