VIENNA, Austria -- Philipp Petzschner upset Gael Monfils 6-4, 6-4 on Sunday to win the BA Tennis Trophy and his first ATP Tour title.
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The 125th-ranked German had never been beyond the quarterfinals of an ATP event before.
He had to play two qualifying rounds to enter the main draw and became only the third qualifier this season to win a tournament on the ATP circuit.
"This is unbelievable, I can't describe my feelings now," Petzschner said. "I will enter the top 100, which makes a dream come true."
The 24-year-old Petzschner played his opening qualifying match last week less than three hours after getting off the plane from a flight from Tokyo. He went on to beat players including top-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka, former No. 1 Carlos Moya and 2004 champion Feliciano Lopez.
"This has been an incredible week for me, everything went perfect," Petzschner said.
The eighth-seeded Monfils has now lost five of his six career finals having won in Sopot, Poland, in 2005.
"I am disappointed but I had a good week anyway," said the 28th-ranked Frenchman, who had beaten Petzschner in straight sets in their only previous match last month. "Philipp was the better player today. He just was more aggressive so well done to him."
Monfils, who reached the semifinals at Roland Garros last June, will now enter the ATP top 20 for his highest ranking ever.
Sunday's final was a tactical battle with both players switching between powerful groundstrokes and sliced drop shots.
"I played my tactics well, changed the speed of the game a lot," Petzschner said.
Petzschner earned an early break with a backhand winner, but lost his serve while netting a backhand on the only break point against his serve.
He broke Monfils again when the Frenchman netted a volley at 4-4 and then served out the set without conceding a point.
The second set went with serve until Petzschner converted his third break chance at 4-4 when Monfils' backhand was deflected by the net and went wide.
Petzschner closed out the win with a volley on his first match point.
"This win gives me a lot of confidence, I now see what I have been working for all year," said Petzschner. "My goal next season will be to get into the top 50."
Petzschner later took part in the final of the doubles tournament with Alexander Peya of Austria. The pair lost to Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Andy Ram of Israel 6-1, 7-5.
