CINCINNATI (Ticker) -- Lleyton Hewitt's 10-match finals winning streak came to an end.

No. 16 seed Carlos Moya upset the world's top-ranked player, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5) on Sunday to capture the $2.95 million Tennis Masters Series - Cincinnati.

Hewitt entered the match having won his last 10 finals, including Wimbledon last month, and had not lost in a final since falling to Wayne Ferreira in five sets in the 2000 Tennis Masters Series -- Stuttgart.

But the day belonged to Moya, the former world No. 1. He became the first Spaniard to win in Cincinnati in the 103-year history of the event and improved to 3-0 against Hewitt this season after a pair of claycourt victories.

Moya moved into a tie for fifth place with fellow Spaniard Albert Costa in the ATP Champions race.

"Winning here and being in the Top 10 again is something I've been waiting for for three years already, since I was injured," Moya said. "I didn't expect to win this tournament. It's a big surprise for me."

Moya earned his fourth title of the season and first Tennis Masters Series title since Monte Carlo in 1998. He won all six of his matches here in straight sets.

It was at Monte Carlo this season where Moya served notice that he has fully recovered from back problems that have plagued him since 1999. Moya lost to countryman Juan Carlos Ferrero in the finals in April, his best finish this season at a Tennis Master Series event.

The players traded breaks of serve under threatening skies and battled to a 4-4 tie in the first set when the match was halted by rain for two hours and 18 minutes. When play resumed, each player held serve before Moya came up with the decisive break in the 12th game to take the first set.

Moya was broken twice in his first four service games as Hewitt seemed poised to even the match with a 5-2 lead in the second set. But Moya broke twice before each player held to send the second set into a tiebreaker.

Moya took a 5-2 lead in the tiebreaker before Hewitt pulled even at 5-5. The Australian had a serve for a set point but double-faulted to give Moya a match point. Moya immediately capitalized with a service winner to capture the title.

Hewitt defeated Andre Agassi in the quarterfinals but had struggled in dispatching surprising Chilean Fernando Gonzalez in three sets in Saturday's semifinals. The Australian also had trouble in a three-set battle with Finland's Jarkko Nieminen in the third round. Moya took notice and used his heavy topspin groundstrokes to give Hewitt problems.

"I had been watching his matches this week, and he was struggling with this kind of game," Moya said. "He feels better when the ball comes flat, like when he played Agassi. So I tried to put a lot of spin."

Moya took home $392,000 as first prize. Hewitt received $206,000 as the runner-up, but that prize money may be cut as he was fined for failing to take part in a mandatory pre-tournament press interview.