Top seed Fernando Verdasco of Spain won his second career ATP title with a 3-6 6-4 7-6 (7-4) victory over fourth-ranked

Russian Igor Andreev at the Studena Croatia Open on Sunday.

The 24-year-old Spaniard advanced to the final on Saturday with a 6-1 6-3 victory over number seven seed Fabio Fognini of Italy.

Ranked as high as 13th earlier this month and currently 15th, Verdasco now has 31 wins this season and has reached at least the semi-final in three of his last four main draw appearances.

Sunday's match was Verdasco's sixth championship clash, with his only other triumph coming in 2004 at Valencia.

In Sunday's final, Verdasco had a tough battle with Andreev, who dispatched unseeded Maximo Gonzalez of Argentina, 6-2 7-6 (7-2) in the semi-finals.

It was the second straight runner-up finish at an ATP event for the 25-year-old Andreev, who finished second at Gstaad before ending Gonzalez's surprising run here.

Gonzalez entered the week with a career-best ranking of 101st after winning the Challenger title at San Benedetto earlier this month.

He was playing in his sixth career ATP-level tournament and, prior to this week, had won just one match - a first-round victory at this year's French Open.

The Argentinian, who also turned 25 on Sunday, upset number two seed Ivo Karlovic of Croatia in the second round before running into Andreev.