STUTTGART (Germany), July 20: Unseeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny won his first place in an ATP final Saturday when he beat Germany’s Lars Burgsmueller in the $500,000 Mercedes Cup.

The 20-year-old Russian, who reached the last 16 at Wimbledon only to go out to eventual champion Lleyton Hewitt, took two hours 13 minutes to win 6-3 4-6 7-5.

Youzhny, who reached the semifinals in Casablanca and Munich in April, started the match strongly, but Burgsmueller, who knocked out title-holder and second-seed Gustavo Kuerten on Thursday, did not go down without a fight.

The 26-year-old broke Youzhny’s serve in the final game of the second set to take it 6-4. In the third set, Burgsmueller broke back twice, but lost his serve in the penultimate game and Youzhny settled the issue on his first match point as Burgsmueller hit wide.

The German, who beat fifth-seeded Romanian Andrei Pavel on Friday in the quarter-finals, felt not too disappointed.

In the day’s other semifinal, top seed Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic faces third seed Guillermo Canas of Argentina.

Quarterfinals: Jiri Novak (Cze x1) bt Tommy Robredo (Spa x8) 6-4, 6-2; Guillermo Canas (Arg x3) bt Alberto Martin (Spa) 1-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7/5); Lars Burgsmuller (Ger) bt Andrei Pavel (Rom x5) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2; Mikhail Youzhny (Rus) bt Younes El Aynaoui (Mar x4) 6-3, 6-2.—AFP