Tennis: Novak clinches BMW Open title

Czech player Jiri Novak captured his first title in more than three years at the BMW Open in Munich.

Novak ended the unlikely bid of unknown Frenchman Anthony Dupuis with a 6-4 7-5 victory.

Novak needed one hour 17 minutes to end the match in a battle of two players who had both won just one ATP tour match entering the event, which has been startling for the early exit of top seeds including Yevgeny Kafelnikov.

Dupuis, 28, jumped into a 3-0 lead in his first final since he decided to play tennis full-time three years ago instead of teaching tennis at his club in Paris.

But afterwards, Novak's variety and steadiness proved too much for the hard-hitting Frenchman, who mishit a return to end the match.

"I'm very happy to fight back from 0-3. He didn't have anything to lose so he was just hitting the ball very hard," said Novak, who was playing his fourth final and last won in Mexico City.

Novak collected £38,000 for the title while Dupuis took home £22,000 after winning just £24,000 for the entire year beforehand.

Dupuis said he started taking tennis seriously in 1998 after just occasionally playing tournaments, rarely practicing and getting along without a coach.

"When you're 25 you don't really know what to do with your life," said Dupuis. "I said to myself that I would give it two years and see what happens. Then I realised I could beat the best players."

Both Novak and Dupuis took advantage of all the upsets as not one seeded player reached the semi-finals.