Eighth seed Feliciano Lopez of Spain was made to work hard before landing his first ATP title on Sunday, playing 50 games and five sets before beating Guillermo Canas to claim the BA-CA trophy in Vienna.

After needing just 56 minutes to post a 6-3 6-3 victory over Italian Davide Sanguinetti on Saturday, Lopez outlasted sixth-seeded Argentinian Canas 6-4 1-6 7-5 3-6 7-5.

The 23-year-old Lopez, who lost to Roger Federer in the final of Dubai earlier this year, ended Canas' string of four consecutive finals victories.

Canas' previous loss in a championship match was to Russian Mikhail Youzhny at Stuttgart in July 2002.

Lopez, who turned pro in 1997, had advanced as far as the quarter-finals just twice this year entering this indoor hard court event.

He had a strong showing in the US Open, however, winning two matches before falling to Australian Lleyton Hewitt in three sets.

It was the second loss in the finals in Vienna for Canas, who fell to German Tommy Haas in three sets in 2001.

Canas had defeated Haas in the semi-finals here on Saturday.