Moscow: Unheralded Igor Kunitsyn upset former world No.1 Marat Safin 7-6, 6-7, 6-3 in an all- Russian Kremlin Cup final to clinch his maiden title on Sunday.
Earlier, world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic overpowered Vera Zvonareva 6-2, 6-4 in the women's final to win her third title in a row.
Kunitsyn, the world No. 71, broke in the sixth game of the final set to take a 4-2 lead.
The 27-year-old, playing in his first ATP final, held his nerve and sealed victory by firing his seventh ace past Safin on his first matchpoint.
Safin, seeded seventh and bidding to claim his first title in almost four years, reached the final without hitting a ball when his semi-final opponent, German Mischa Zverev, withdrew with illness on Saturday.
The big Russian has not tasted success since winning the Australian Open in January, 2005.
Jankovic, making her debut in Moscow, broke Zvonareva twice to take the first set in just over half an hour.
The in-form Serbian, who also beat the Russian on her way to winning titles in Stuttgart and Beijing in the past two weeks, led 4-2 in the second but allowed the seventh seed to break back to level at 4-4.
The top seed, however, earned another break in the ninth game before going on to clinch victory after 81 minutes when Zvonareva overhit her forehand on matchpoint.
Best year
"I've played her twice in the last two weeks so I really knew what to expect and was focused right from the start," said Jankovic, who pocketed $196,900 for her efforts.
"I dominated in the first set but in the second my concentration slipped a little bit but I was able to get myself together in the end."
The 23-year-old has been playing almost non-stop in the last couple of months and must keep going for another week before taking a well-deserved rest.
"I've worked really hard in the last three weeks, winning three titles in a row. It's not easy," she said.
"But I still have my commitments to play next week in Zurich. Then, I'll take a two-week rest before playing (next month's season-ending WTA Championships) in Doha. I've had a tough season, overcoming a number of injuries but I'm quite close to finishing the year ranked number one and I'm really proud of it," she added.
Zvonareva, who reached her first Kremlin Cup final on her eighth appearance in Moscow, said she could do little to stop Jankovic. "It seems she had an answer for everything I tried," the 24-year-old Muscovite told a news conference.
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