Tomas Berdych has retained his Shenzhen Open title after a hard-fought 7-6 6-7 6-3 victory over Richard Gasquet.
It was a first ATP World Tour title for the Czech world No 8 since he claimed the Stockholm Open crown almost a year ago.
Berdych had his serve broken by his French opponent in the very first game of the final but fought back and took the opening set 7-5 on a tie-break.
But Gasquet was undeterred and saved a pair of match points in the second set before romping through the subsequent tie-break, which he won 7-2.
However, Berdych took charge in the final set, breaking in the sixth game to claim a 4-2 lead, and then holding serve twice to clinch the title after two hours and 40 minutes.
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The victory boosted Berdych's hopes of qualifying for the ATP World Tour finals in London for the seventh consecutive year - he is currently ninth in the race for the eight qualifying spots.
The 31-year-old, who missed the U.S. Open after suffering from appendicitis, has now won 13 ATP titles in his career.
"Five weeks ago I was in hospital, now I'm sitting here with the trophy," said Berdych. "Things are changing very quickly.
"Luckily for me, everything is going well. I'm feeling good, sitting here as a winner.
"I'm just taking all this as a bonus, that I __can play and win some matches."
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