Dominik Hrbaty won his second successive ATP title on Saturday after a hard-fought Heineken Open victory over young Spaniard Rafael Nadal in Auckland.

The Slovakian came from a set down to claim his ninth straight match of the new season, 4-6 6-2 7-5, and take his second career Heineken Open title following his 2001 success.

Nadal, playing in his first ATP final, was up 3-0 at the start of the third set, but Hrbaty clawed his way back and then broke Nadal at five-all before serving out the match for victory.

Nadal's previous best ATP showing was a semi-final appearance on clay at the Croatia Open in Umag in 2003 but experience told for his rival.

"For me it was a similar final to 2001," said Hrbaty. "Today was even harder. I was probably a little more tired than in 2001.

"Last week I played five matches and I played almost every day here. It's not so much physically tiring, but mentally tough.

"Nadal is going to be a great player. He could win at Roland Garros. He could be good."

Nadal admitted that the occasion got to him a little.

"I think that it was my first final and I was a little bit nervous," he said.

"The first match in every tournament is the most important and if you can win that match nobody knows what will happen."

In the doubles final, top seeds Fabrice Santoro of France and Mahesh Bhupathi of India won a superb three-set final against Jiri Novak and Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic 4-6 7-5 6-3.

Santoro and Bhupathi were down 6-4 5-3 before rallying for the win.

"With Fabrice's return of serve it is unwise to write us off," said Bhupathi. "It was a pleasure to have someone like Fabrice on my side with all his dinks, cuts and things. We were playing better every match."

"I think we got better and better during the week," added the Frenchman.

It was Bhupathi's 32nd career ATP doubles title and the 12th for Santoro, who will be looking to defend his doubles title at the Australian Open next week.