Japan's Taro Daniel claimed his first ATP Tour title Sunday after defeating Tunisia's Malek Jaziri in straight sets to win the Istanbul Open.

Daniel beat Jaziri 7-6(4), 6-4 to win the 250-level clay court tournament at Garanti Koza Arena and cap off the best week of his career. The 25-year-old jumped 32 spots in the ATP rankings to a career-high No. 82 with the maiden victory.

Daneil is the fourth Japanese to win on the tour after Shuzo Matsuoka, Kei Nishikori and Yuichi Sugita.

"It was an incredible week. There was a little luck on my end (in the final)," Daniel said. "I'm obviously pretty surprised that I suddenly won an ATP (title). But I guess things like this happen."

Daniel held two match points while leading 5-3 in the second set and double-faulted on a third, but sealed the victory against the No. 62 Tunisian in 2 hours, 22 minutes after nailing a backhand winner down the line.

(Taro Daniel became an ATP title winner Sunday.)
[Getty/Kyodo]

"I think today was a great match, a lot of long rallies from the beginning until the end," said Daniel, who was born in New York, grew up in Japan, and trained in Spain.

"I was feeling pretty nervous before the match," he said. "I was nervous, but I told myself, 'I'm sure he's more nervous than me.' So that helped."

Daniel, who had never reached a tour semifinal before this week, earned his first win against a top-20 player in March when he defeated five-time BNP Paribas Open champion Novak Djokovic at Indian Wells.

In the doubles final, the top-seeded Japan-U.S. team of Ben McLachlan and Nicholas Monroe was defeated by British-Swedish duo Dominic Inglot and Robert Lindstedt 3-6, 6-3, 10-8.

McLachlan, a New Zealand-born player whose mother is Japanese, was looking to earn his second doubles title after claiming his first in Tokyo last season.