Ferrer beats Berdych in Qatar Open final

DOHA, Qatar (AP) - David Ferrer won his 22nd career ATP title when he defeated Tomas Berdych 6-4, 7-5 in the Qatar Open final on Saturday.

Ferrer made it six consecutive years he has won at least one title.

"The performance, it was very good," Ferrer said. "I'm happy, because it never is easy to begin the season winning one tournament."

The Spaniard improved his record to 8-5 against Berdych, whose finals record slumped to 10-15.

Berdych was not surprised by the quality of play from Ferrer, a day after the Spaniard battled through three tiebreak sets against seventh-seeded Ivo Karlovic of Croatia in the semifinals.

"First of all, David is never tired," Berdych said. "Not after the match he played yesterday after two-and-a-half hours. I have seen him playing five hours and then he played the next day."

The fourth-seeded Ferrer began the final by breaking the third-seeded Berdych in the first game, and raced to 4-1.

Berdych hadn't dropped his serve in 34 service games through the semifinals, but surrendered four of eight service break opportunities to Ferrer.

In the second set, Berdych had three set points on Ferrer's serve in the 10th game, but the Spaniard managed to hold for 5-5.

"In important points I got a little bit lucky," Ferrer said. "I tried to be confident in the bad moments. I played very good in those moments."

Ferrer received the advantage when Berdych double-faulted on a second break point he faced in the 11th game.