Dmitry Tursunov of Russia won his first ATP Tour title Monday, defeating Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (5) in the final of the Mumbai Open that was twice interrupted by monsoon showers.

The monsoon lashed the city Sunday, forcing the final to be postponed a day. Rain disrupted the title match for 1{ hours during the second set and again for 30 minutes with the third set 5-5.

``The first title is always special,'' said Tursunov, whose victory lifted him from a No. 22 ranking into the top 20 for the first time.

Tursunov, seeded fourth, was playing in his second final of the year. Berdych, seeded third and ranked 13th, was going for his third title. He beat Tursunov in their only previous match a month ago at the U.S. Open and would have moved into the top 10 for the first time had he won.

Tursunov had a series of three-set victories during this tournament, and this time he went to a tiebreaker.

``It was definitely nerve-racking,'' he said. ``I don't want to make it a habit of taking matches to three sets, especially the finals.''

He won four successive three-setters for his first title. Little more than a week ago in Moscow, he was the surprise choice by Russia to play Andy Roddick in the Davis Cup semifinals, and won 17-15 in the fifth set to advance Russia to the final.

In the deciding set, Tursunov led 4-2, only to drop his serve in the eighth game. The rain delayed the match. When play resumed, Tursunov immediately broke but Berdych evened the score again and forced the tiebreaker, where Tursunov clinched the title on his first match point.

``I probably lost about 10 years of my life playing this,'' the Russian said. ``I think both of us were playing really, really tight and you know it was really a crap-shoot in the tiebreak.''